Age of Sail live firing video

This is an amazing site. Basically a mock-up of part of a War of 1812 warship is used to demonstrate the destructive power of the cannons of the time. This is the real deal not Hollywood fakery so you can see what it really would have been like at the time of Hornblower and his ilk. The recoil of the guns, the flying splinters - it's all there - spectacular and educational.