The hot shot furnace was very important during the era of wooden ships. Cannon balls were heated to red hot in this coal-fired furnace, then fired in the hope they would set the ships they were engaging on fire. A fork used to remove the cannon balls from the furnace, and a tool used to carry the heated cannon balls to the guns are leaned against the furnace.
The casemates along the front of the fort are not divided by interior walls, and are open at the rear. After the Civil War, thirteen 10-inch Rodmans were mounted in these casemates.
The individual casemates used Totten embrasures, which were iron throats with heavy iron shutters which were closed except when the gun was fired to protect the gunners. This design also minimized the size of the embrasure compared to earlier designs.Fort Massachusetts is located in the Gulf Islands National Seashore, 13 miles south of Gulfport, Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico. It can be reached by private boat year round, and by tour boat from Gulfport Harbor from April until September. It is a very well preserved fort, staffed by knowledgeable Park Service personnel, and well worth a visit if you are interested in fortification.
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