It was also during this period that some genius created the first "practical" infantry firearms, great clumsy things several feet long overall, consisting of a very light cannon, firing perhaps a one-inch ball, mounted onto one end of a long, heavy wooden stock. Such an early "musket" was extremely heavy, 40 to 60 pounds. Richard II's nine 43 pound "cannon" appear to have been precisely such devices. But they could be carried and fired by one man, though in order to do so the man had to make use of a sturdy forked brace. These weapons were fairly popular, if not particularly effective. First reported in the 1360s from Italy, they had spread through much of Europe by 1380, undergoing considerable evolution in the process. Infantry firearms, however, had a long period of development ahead of them before they began to be useful on the battlefield. Nevertheless, by the end of the 14th Century such weapons, reduced to perhaps three feet in length and 20 or 30 pounds , were becoming useful in the defense of towns, and were probably the first firearms used aboard ships.