Pontoon bridge Earl of Shrewsbury crossed the Oise river across a pontoon bridge of portable leather vessels in 1441. Ottoman engineers built a pontoon bridge across the Golden Horn during the Siege of Constantinople (1453), using over a thousand barrels. The bridge was strong enough to support carts. The Ottoman Army constructed a pontoon bridge during the Siege of Rhodes (1480). Venetian pioneers built a floating bridge across the Adige at the Battle of Calliano (1487). The Spanish Army constructed a pontoon bridge at the Battle of Garigliano (1503). The Spanish Army of Flanders under Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma built an
Pontoon (card game) D9 = doubling on 9–11 only) As all Australian casino Blackjack games have house edges greater than 0.5%, Pontoon is the superior of the two games. In general, casino staff and Blackjack players erroneously believe that Pontoon has a higher house edge than Blackjack, because the removal of the ten-spot cards creates a 2% disadvantage for the player. In Pontoon, the player can draw to "21" and win against a dealer Blackjack; this combined with "not-last-chance" doubling, forfeit, player "21" always wins, player Blackjacks always get paid at 3:2, and bonuses on certain hands, actually "overcompensates" for the 2% disadvantage.