Preparing, Handling, and Loading Naval Hot-Shot

[DaveBrt]

yupper... referred to as ricochet fire, basically "bowling" the shot or shell at the enemy. It was both a way to extend the range a bit and to increase the likelihood of a hull or waterline hit. It could only be done reliably with smoothbores, though; non-spherical projectiles from rifled guns tended to take off at unpredictable angles.

That is the reason water batteries existed. They were as close to water level as possible so that the balls would skim along the surface of the water.

 

[Mr. King]

Reports stated that Sam was cleaning a ball that had been a water recovery with a wire brush attachment in an electric drill when he hit a watercap fuse that was not obvious because of the rust and sediment. Because of their design, these fuses are perhaps the most dangerous fuse to deal with in Civil War ordinance, also it has always been debated as to whether or not the ball had already been drilled and the powder removed. Pieces of the cannonball hit residences several hundred yards away. Several years after this incident, another collector-Lawrence Christopher of Dalton Georgia was seriously injured when a 30# Parrot Shell that he was cleaning exploded. This hit particularly close to home as I had been at Lawrence's home the day before picking up a shell and he showed me the Parrot shell that later exploded. Cleaning and defusing these balls/shells are best left to the experts who defuse them remotely. If you wish to see how this is one, go to youtube, put Steve Phillips in the search box and view the video titled: Unloading a James Shell.

I tend to stay away from explosives. I'm cool under pressure, but not that cool.

Religiously speaking, I think I'd have to be a Stonewall Jackson styled Calvinist to be a bomb squad guy. As it stands, I believe God gave me the brain and sense to understand when I'm in trouble, and the fight or flight reaction to keep me safe. He also gave me the free will to be as stupid/brave as I want to be.

Looking at Calvinism through that angle, do you think Jackson would be a fan of Evel Knievel?

 

[Carronade]

the cannonball was still powerful enough to send a chunk of shrapnel through the front porch of a house a quarter-mile from White's home in this leafy Richmond suburb.

Pieces of the cannonball hit residences several hundred yards away.

It's one thing if people want to work on these things, accepting the danger, but it's irresponsible to endanger others. They should work in a basement or some other secure location.

 

[redbob]

It's one thing if people want to work on these things, accepting the danger, but it's irresponsible to endanger others. They should work in a basement or some other secure location.

People that defuse/deactivate them for a living usually do it in a bunker/building that is in a remote location using a remotely controlled drillpress.

 

[Mike Serpa]

Furnace used for making red-hot shot inside of Fort Moultrie

National Archives #524000

 

[Republican Blues]

Couple years ago, they cranked up the Hot Shot furnace at Ft McAllister and got a 32 pounder solid shot White hot.. took em quite a while IIRC