Battle Of Lake Erie, 1813

C.W. Jefferys' notes about this picture from The Picture Gallery of Canadian History Volume 2

It is said that in the battle of Lake Erie, owing to insufficient and defective fuses, the cannon of Barclay's fleet had to be fired by discharging pistols into their touch-holes. Notice the officer shouting his commands through a speaking trumpet, and the boy in the left foreground carrying a pail of powder (and commonly called a "powder-monkey"), with thumb against his ear, to deaden the concussion caused by gun fire. It was the custom of artillerymen to thrust their thumbs into their ears, and to rise on their toes when their guns were fired. Mrs. Simcoe in her Diary relates that Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe suffered long and severe head pain from the discharge of a cannon from the rampart of Fort Niagara, beneath which he was standing.