As someone that has sailed a traditional sailing warship, for a time, has stood at the spot (on the deck of the Victory) where Lord Nelson fell, and fired cannons in Greenwich, Portsmouth, Newport and Lisbon (almost Cadiz), I offer these observations:
1. Those mf’ers are heavy. If they started rolling around once, I bet changes were made such that it didn’t happen again. Victory had 32 pounders (cannons that fired 32 pound cannon balls).
2. They were at sea. Oftentimes the Atlantic, which can be nasty. The ships rolled around a lot. The notion that these cannon balls we’re sitting around watching the thermometer drop and then, “voila!” sorta defies common sense. Imagine the ship bouncing and rolling around a bunch.
3. Most of these sailors were uneducated. The saying about the British Navy was it was run by rum, sodomy and the lash. I doubt they spent much time thinking about metal thermodynamics.
I think people like the story because it blends a little history with a little salty talk. There is more interesting and better history about naval warfare. Some of it salty too.