Archeologists in northern Germany have discovered two projectiles from the 17 century that suggest exploding cannon balls have been around longer than thought. A complex fuse system may have led the bombs to detonate when they reached their targets.
Posted on 06/19/2011 7:35:58 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
By dint of hard work and strict devotion to God, Christoph Bernhard von Galen (1606-1678) managed to attain the rank of prince-bishop. The man also liked to rub shoulders with generals and was fond of using gunpowder to lend authority to Jesus' words. His contemporaries nicknamed him "Bombing Bernd."
The freedom-loving Dutch, in particular, felt the wrath of this Catholic weapons-fanatic from Münster. In 1672, Galen sent heavy mortars rolling north, which his artillerymen filled with hollow iron shot weighing over 70 kilograms (154 pounds). These odd explosives shot high into the sky with a mighty boom. One fell into a moat, where it extinguished.
Nearly 350 years after that missed shot, the unexploded bomb has come to light again in the swampy soil of East Frisia, a coastal region in northwestern Germany. Archaeologists discovered it during excavations at the Dieler Schanze, a defensive fortifications site dating from 1580, near the town of Diele.
The object is larger than a medicine ball and cast from iron, with sides five centimeters (two inches) thick. "It still contains around seven kilograms (15 pounds) of gunpowder, and even the fuse is still there," explains archaeologist Andreas Hüser.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Archeologists in northern Germany have discovered two projectiles from the 17 century that suggest exploding cannon balls have been around longer than thought. A complex fuse system may have led the bombs to detonate when they reached their targets.
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It is amazing that they could forge round balls (not too round as other pictures suggest).
Recent program on the bombards used to take Constantinople by the Turks show how powerful medieval canon could be. The bombards used solid rocks as projectiles which in themselves had to be carved into spheres.
It is amazing that they could forge round balls (not too round as other pictures suggest).
Recent program on the bombards used to take Constantinople by the Turks show how powerful medieval canon could be. The bombards used solid rocks as projectiles which in themselves had to be carved into spheres.
“...and was fond of using gunpowder to lend authority to Jesus’ words.”
A Gunpowder Jesus? LOL! Maybe he should have hired the Terminator to protect him!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pUrsUORF4Y
“During the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865, the two sides still shot each other using solid iron balls.”
But not ONLY solid shot. Exploding shells were common for field and siege artillery in the American Civil War. This article seems to imply otherwise.
Thanks!
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