Heated Shot - History

History

The idea of setting fire to enemy warships can be traced back to the ancient world, where fire arrows and early incendiary materials such as Greek Fire were used. In 54 BC heated clay balls were used by the Britons to attack Roman encampments, while in medieval siege warfare, catapults were used to hurl fire balls and other incendiaries into besieged castles and settlements.

• The first successful use of heated shot fired from cannon was by King Stephen Bathory of Poland in 1579 against the Russians at Polotsk. From that time on the use of heated projectiles became increasingly important, especially against the wooden warships of the period.

• During the American Revolutionary War, American and French artillerymen destroyed the 44-gun British warship HMS Charon using heated shot during the Battle of Yorktown in 1781.

• In 1782 during the Great Siege of Gibraltar, French and Spanish forces attempted to use large floating batteries to bombard the British defenders. The batteries were of extremely heavy construction and were considered to be invincible. However, British artillery in Gibraltar used heated shot to destroy 3 of the 10 batteries, inflicting a loss of 719 crewmen. The remaining 7 were scuttled by the Spanish due to heavy damage.

• In 1792 the Austrian forces besieging Lille used heated shot against the city, which was described as a war crime by the French Republican press.

• In 1801, several days after the Battle of Algeciras Bay, took place an incident during which two Spanish ships of the line exploded killing near 1700 sailors. According to various sources, the fire that caused the explosions of both ships was originated by heated shots fired from HMS Superb.

• One of the last significant uses of heated shot in naval warfare occurred in 1862, at the Battle of Hampton Roads, when the CSS Virginia used heated shot to great effect against USS Congress, setting her on fire.