Naval boarding weapons

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capsoda

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(an 1800s painting of one lying on the deck of a ship next to a cannon.) Yep, it was there cause the salior just empetied it when he saw that he was about to die by the sword of John LeFeet the bare foot pirate!!!!

Some people are just so ignorant that it hurts. Your supposed to through these things (with their 1/2 inch glass thickness) aganst a wooden ship and do what????? Dent it????? It would take a giant gorilla type dude to throw one hard enough to breake it against wood. [sm=rolleyes.gif] Cavet Emptor or Stupid!!!!
 

aridice53

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Hi All,
I found this topic fascinating, so I did a little research. Until I read these posts I had never heard of these "Boarding Weapons". and other than this guy's listings at Ebay, there's no other reference to them by that name (nor "Deck Sweepers") on the internet. But, the concept of exploding bottles is indeed viable.
If anyone's interested, here's what I found.....
http://books.google.com/books?id=GmQVan-M3ykC&pg=PA182&lpg=PA182&dq=crimean+war+grenades&source=web&ots=cTKEHG154V&sig=45uJ-G8Xe4gImP0Quq9i3y1mDjw&hl=en#PPA180,M1
page 180-183 covers the history of grenades, and yep, there were some made of glass. But it seems most were improvisation, not, the norm.
Found this reference I guess its an exact transcript of the letter, a little hard to understand):

In a letter to his sister, Colonel Robert Hugh Hibbert, described an improvised grenade used during the Crimean War (1854-1856): We have a new invention to irritate our friends in their pools. It consists of filling water bottles full of empty soda powder, twisted and old nails or other sharp cut you get at the moment, remains a little trailer in a fuse for lighting and then throwing quickly in the pit where our Rays neighbours, to his great annoyance. You can imagine his anger at seeing a bottle of water with gas are falling into a hole full of men with a little burning fuse far as proud as a veritable explosion of shell and burying itself in soft flesh.

And this is a reference to the Cofederates using bottles as grenades during the battle at Vicksburg.
http://www.historynet.com/magazines/american_civil_war/9647007.html

Interesting.....glass was used for this purpose but, it does seem that the preferred material was metal.

Char
 

JGUIS

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Everything I've read about glass "boarding weapons" wasn't grenades, but molotave cocktails. "A bottle full of rum, stuffed with a bit of cloth."
 

aridice53

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Josh,
If you read the "grenade" article, it refers to glass filled with flamable liquid, as well as powder and schrapnel. All of them were fused.
Aside from the guy selling them on ebay, there is no other reference to them being called "boarding weapons" or "deck sweepers"
They were designed to explode, not break on impact.

Char
 

GuntherHess

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If they did implement these grenades they would have used contemporary black glass spirit bottles not modern fantasy bottles.
 

kungfufighter

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Well said. Not only are the referenced bottles modern "junque" but in a more general sense, the notion that there were bottles specifically designed for such a purpose is pure and simple bunk.
 

aridice53

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Hello All,
Look, I'm sorry if I've reopened a "can of worms" here.
I saw references to things call "deck sweepers" and "boarding weapons". I had never heard of such things. It piqued my curiousity. I did a bit of research on the internet and posted my findings. I am not arguing for or against this guy on ebay selling these things. I just found out about the use of glass in weaponry. Thats it.
I just posted it in case someone else might be curious.
Sorry!!!
Char
 

GuntherHess

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You have nothing to be sorry about.
We just dont like scam artists.
The more light shed on these people , the less they can survive.
 

tigue710

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they removed him at one point last year, but he was only suspended. He did his time and started right up again! guys a "thought he had a pubic hair till he pee'd out of it" puss ball...
 

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