Eleven muskets are on display; ten chained to racks. on the stairs and one in a display case. All eleven have 42" black barrels (apparently blued) three ramrod pipes but no tailpipe, nosecap or escutcheon. The ramrods are wooden. Bayonets associated with these weapons appear to have narrower than usual slots and the two outer faces are fluted..

Locks are marked as follows:

Edge 1759
Grice 1759
Wilson 1758
Edge 1759
Galton 1759
? 1759
Grice 1759
Edge 1758
Galton 1759
Edge 1758
Willit(?) 1759

The lock faces are rounded and in most cases appear to have a crown in the centre although this is not so deeply incised as the maker'sname and date.

The description would appear to answer to that of the Short Musquets of the New Pattern for Marines or Militia apparently introduced in 1757 although it differs quite markedly from a 1762 example in the Tower marked MILITIA NEW PATTERN in lacking tailpipe and nosecap and of course in having a wooden rammer see H. L Blackmore British Military Firearms 1650-1850 pp 58, 59 and plate 15/3. These muskets were supplied by the Government to the burgh in 1759 for the arming of the militia during the Seven Years War (French privateers caused some apprehension) and were afterwards used by the Royal Aberdeen Volunteers during the Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic War.