Carronade
Captain
- Joined
- Aug 4, 2011
- Location
- Pennsylvania
In Napoleonic times, "case shot" was similar to canister; some sources characterize it as an alternative term for canister. Either way it was like a large shotgun load, firing a blast of balls directly from the mouth of a cannon, effective at close range.
Shells of course were hollow iron spheres filled with gunpowder, fused to explode at a set time/distance.
As @Rhea Cole mentioned, Henry Shrapnel's innovation was to include small balls inside a shell which would explode over or among enemy troops, giving an effect similar to case shot, hence his term "spherical case".
Shells of course were hollow iron spheres filled with gunpowder, fused to explode at a set time/distance.
As @Rhea Cole mentioned, Henry Shrapnel's innovation was to include small balls inside a shell which would explode over or among enemy troops, giving an effect similar to case shot, hence his term "spherical case".