Explosive Cannonballs

[Doc Ivory]

Good morning.
I searched the forums here but didn't find an explanation. My apologies if this has been discussed before.

How are Cannonballs made to be explosive?
I would think loading them with powder would be problematic as the cannon discharged, the powder within would ignite from the heat.

I'm just curious how it was done.

Thanks,
Doc Ivory

 

[Hillbilly Delux]

 

[Capn'D]

excellent cut ball. That looks like a confederate 12 pounder ball. The confederate balls tend to have random sized shot in them while Yankee balls are usually full of the same size shot. Also the Confederate balls tend to be full of pine tar as a matrix for the shot. That appears to be what you have here. But its more complex than that. This is "spherical case shot" which if you google it is a story in itself. In earlier years, especially the Napoleonic Wars period, they actually made just exploding cannon balls. They were cast with multiple flat sides in a large powder cavity similar but thicker that a mortar ball. When they exploded they only broke into 5 or six pieces. So they were more a weapon of terror in those times than an actual danger to men on the field.. It was the development of fused "spherical case shot" later named "Shrapnel" after its inventor that made exploding shells an effective tool of war. Regarding fuses, the heat/flame from the cannon shot lights the fuse as the ball exits the bore. There were a number of types of fuses from rolled paper to metal plugs with timers. But all were designed to keep sparks out of the ball until it was a safe distance from the gun...didn't always work. But at least with most, the forward acceleration of the ball caused any pieces to continue forward from the gun and save the crew if the ball should go off prematurely. Does that make sense?

 

[Treestalker]

Get a copy of the book 'Round Shot And Rammers'. In it are descriptions and drawings of various types of shells and their manufacture. Harold Peterson, it is available in hardcover or soft from Amazon and others.

 

[FishDFly]

Good morning.
I searched the forums here but didn't find an explanation. My apologies if this has been discussed before.

How are Cannonballs made to be explosive?
I would think loading them with powder would be problematic as the cannon discharged, the powder within would ignite from the heat.

I'm just curious how it was done.

Thanks,
Doc Ivory

Thanks for asking, that question was on my list of things I was wondering about and was going to ask.

 

[Treestalker]

Please be advised that it is against Federal law for us peasants to own or shoot exploding projectiles. Big Brother says no!

 

[tenngun]

Through most of muzzleloading cannon era cannons shot non exploding shot. Shells busting on the field of battle or explosions going on all over sailing ships is a myth.
Solid ball, bags, or tin cans of musket ball, balls cut in half joined by an expanding bar or chain were what was shot.
Mortar did shoot bombs that looked like the cartoon bomb, and grenadiers could throw what looked the same only smaller, or launch them from a hand mortar. But bombs from cannon was rare till reliable fuses were developed.

 

[Doc Ivory]

Get a copy of the book 'Round Shot And Rammers'. In it are descriptions and drawings of various types of shells and their manufacture. Harold Peterson, it is available in hardcover or soft from Amazon and others.

Just ordered, Thanks!

 

[Doc Ivory]

Does that make sense?

It does and thanks.
I'm having a tough time envisoning a timing device for a cannonball though.
It would have been a clock timer of sorts able to withstand and function on heavy "G" loads.

I need to research that! Interesting!

 

[Loyalist Dave]

I'm having a tough time envisoning a timing device for a cannonball though

Well the mortar tech then went into cannon shot, and then into cannon conical projectiles, which is why they are now not called "shot" but "shells" as their older ancestors, mortar shells, and even older ancestors, fireworks shells.

The original mortars were very similar to their much improved CW munitions..., in the 17th and 18th centuryies..., a wooden plug holding a fuze was inserted into a hollow iron "shell" that had been filled with black powder. The idea was that the fuze would be protected in flight, and would be apart from the black powder within the shell, until the fuse burned far enough and the fire reached the black powder within, and burst the shell..., but this was inconsistent, so over time, additional projectiles as you see in the above photo of a CW era shell, were added...

So at first, the mortarman lit the fuse on the shell, and then fired the mortar. The fuse had been tested a short while before the plug was inserted into the bomb with an unlit portion of the same fuse. Thus in theory, if the gunner knew the bomb would land on the target in 10 seconds, and 2" of fuze was burned per second..., then a fuse a bit shorter than 5" would set off the bomb just as it arrived overhead of the target. OR a little longer fuse in a very heavy shell would allow the shell to impact through the deck of the ship, and detonate within the gundeck, below.


Serious problems for the gunner, IF the fuze was "too quick", or if the mortar failed to fire!

THEN they found that the fuze would actually be ignited by the fire from the mortar, as the shell was launched, and the gunners stopped manually lighting the fuse before firing.

The principal and use then transferred over time to cannon shells.

'The bombs bursting in air" in our National Anthem refers to ship fired mortar shells...

LD

 

[Okie Hog]

It would have been a clock timer of sorts able to withstand and function on heavy "G" loads.

Sorry, no.

Artillery time fuzes of the era used black powder trains. i spent over 20 years in US Army EOD units. For three years i was stationed at Fort Bragg, NC where we responded to numerous calls involving Civil War explosive ordnance. The most prevalent time fuze was the Bormann.

http://www.civilwarartillery.com/fuzes/bormannfuze.htm
For a good understanding of Civil War explosive ordnance buy this book by my late friend John Bartleson:

https://www.ebay.com/i/154178407674...74&pmt=0&noa=1&pg=2386202&algv=DefaultOrganic
There are also fuzes that cause detonation on impact. Rounds having the Tice concussion fuze are very dangerous. That Tice fuze contains a vial of acid that breaks on impact. We responded to the home of a man who was inerting and selling Civil War projectiles. The round that detonated had contained a Tice concussion fuze. i'm personally familiar with several deaths caused by Civil War explosive ordnance.

A USMC EOD man was seriously injured in the late 1980s while inerting a Civil War Parrot round. The last Marine casualty of the Civil War.
.

 

[SDSmlf]

Good morning.
I searched the forums here but didn't find an explanation. My apologies if this has been discussed before.

How are Cannonballs made to be explosive?
I would think loading them with powder would be problematic as the cannon discharged, the powder within would ignite from the heat.

I'm just curious how it was done.

Thanks,
Doc Ivory

Might want to watch this.

 

[Zonie]

Well the mortar tech then went into cannon shot, and then into cannon conical projectiles, which is why they are now not called "shot" but "shells" as their older ancestors, mortar shells, and even older ancestors, fireworks shells.

The original mortars were very similar to their much improved CW munitions..., in the 17th and 18th centuryies..., a wooden plug holding a fuze was inserted into a hollow iron "shell" that had been filled with black powder. The idea was that the fuze would be protected in flight, and would be apart from the black powder within the shell, until the fuse burned far enough and the fire reached the black powder within, and burst the shell..., but this was inconsistent, so over time, additional projectiles as you see in the above photo of a CW era shell, were added...



So at first, the mortarman lit the fuse on the shell, and then fired the mortar....


Serious problems for the gunner, IF the fuze was "too quick", or if the mortar failed to fire!

THEN they found that the fuze would actually be ignited by the fire from the mortar, as the shell was launched, and the gunners stopped manually lighting the fuse before firing.

The principal and use then transferred over time to cannon shells.

'The bombs bursting in air" in our National Anthem refers to ship fired mortar shells...

LD

One of the reasons the wall thickness between the bore and the outside of a mortar is so great is so the mortar could withstand the blast if a mortar failed to fire and the "bomb" went off while it was still in the bore.
The thick walls of the mortar also added a lot of weight to it and this weight helped to reduce the recoil from firing a heavy mortar shell.

A little off topic, the mortar ships, which had multiple mortars on board used leather for their sails. Although the sails were usually furled during bombardment, cloth sails could catch fire from the blasts of the mortars.

 

[Doc Ivory]

That's interestingly, leather sails..

 

[Doc Ivory]

The depth of knowledge on these forums slays amazes me.

 

[tenngun]

And most were flat bottomed ketches. Meaning the ship had two mast. A tall main mast and a short mizzen aft that. Not to be confused with a brig, a tall main mast and a shorter fore mast. The mortars were set fairly far forward in a well. Set on heavy timbers both cross ways and running down to another heavy frame built in to a mounting on the keel. Most were about a hundred feet long and around thirty feet wide. Slow and sluggish sailors. Anchored fore and aft with four anchors in a big x in as shallow a water to flout the vessel at low tide. Commanders were generally older Lt. And very experienced on the Managment of their big guns.

 

[JeffG]

Irrespective of laws on exploding projectiles, it is way too dangerous to make and use them. You can't bring back dead people. Many, many black powder arterialists in the black powder age, were killed launching(explosive) military projectiles; and they knew what they were doing.

 

[Zonie]

No doubt.
During that fraction of a second as the mortar first fires, if the shell explodes out of the bore it would have the same effect as a incoming round fired at the mortar exploding right when it gets there. Any crewmen in the area would be killed.

 

[Rob Dinwiddie]

It does and thanks.
I'm having a tough time envisoning a timing device for a cannonball though.
It would have been a clock timer of sorts able to withstand and function on heavy "G" loads.

I need to research that! Interesting!

No, the timers were all fuses almost like firecracker fuses that could be adjusted for length. In the early 1800s they were all cigar thickness and fitted tightly into wooden plugs that tightly sealed the balls. Once cut to length they allowed the balls to be airburst or penetrate before exploding. By the CW, many types were used, all still basically a firecracker fire but many housed in metal screw in caps etc. The Round Shots and Rammers book they suggested will show you diagrams of this. Interestingly, I just gave my much loved copy of that book to my eldest grandson

 

[Okie Hog]

The larger Civil War shells (hollow round balls filled with black powder) are very powerful. In about 1961 another member of the 864th EOD unit at Fort Bragg and i responded to a call in Washington, NC. A resident had found a 10" shell and was brazing a lug on same for use as a boat anchor. The round detonated destroying the out building and blowing out windows in several homes. We retrieved two live 12 pounder case shot rounds that were on the property.

At Fort Bragg i rendered safe numerous items of Civil War ordnance. In WV in 2003 i committed an act of industrial strength ignorance: For a display, i drilled and washed the powder out of a 3" Parrott round. 3" Parrott rounds are made of cast iron or wrought iron. But that one was made of steel and drilling took a long time.

This VA collector was killed while drilling a Civil War round. A chunk of shrapnel hit a house 1/4 mile away:

https://www.foxnews.com/story/virginia-man-killed-in-civil-war-cannonball-blast