'Superguns' of Elizabeth I's navy

[seedy]

Veddy In-terestink...if a bit hyperbolic in the title...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7899831.stm

[Peerie Maa]

I watched the Timewatch programme. They fired four test shots at a thick oak panel visible in the distance on that clip, the ball passed clean through and knocked lumps out of the quarry face behind.
Very impressive.
The same sequence of dives bought up a matchlock musket intact enough to be replicated. That fired a ball through a mild steel plate, of the same thickness of the Elizabethan armour that was able to defeat a modern hand gun.

P S. the title refers to the innovation that these were the first cast guns of common calibre allowing a ship to deliver a broad side. Previously guns were of mixed caliber, ruling out rapid fire, and were faggot welded from staves and hoops, so were inclined to burst.

[Tom Robb]

"Faggot welded"?
Not especially PC here in the States.
Is the welded with burning cigarette butts or forge welded?

[Captain Blight]

Bundles of iron rods are welded together; the bundles of rods resemble a faggot of twigs.