Bullet and Shell Civil War Projectiles Forum
Relic Discussion => Artillery => Topic started by: pipedreamer65 on February 08, 2017, 03:03:11 PM
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A POS 30# Parrott shell, no sabot, but has this iron ring inserted into the fuse hole, which makes it unique. Can't tell if the ring is threaded or if it was hammered or pressed into the hole. I've ran it twice and messed around with it some but cannot remove it. I believe in the old medical oath "First, do no harm" so I have not put a lot of force to it. The ring is wrought iron and appears to be contemporary with the projectile.
Anyway, it came from Fort Fisher. Anyone ever seen such a thing? I've heard converted to anchor, but I don't buy that. Throwing rope or cable? Make shift bolt conversion?
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possibly gate weight, buoy anchor, probably not a throwing weight, you can't throw a 30 lb parrot very far, I found a 10'' Columbiad with an eyebolt blacksmith welded into the fuse hole. I had a small artillery shell.3.4 Dahlgren with an eyebolt in it years ago that came from Camp Wyatt
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I meant attaching a cable to it and firing it from the cannon, ship to shore for a tether.
May never know exactly. Many thanks for advising me of the two other examples. That is really interesting!
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I don't think it was meant to be fired that way. The loop would be made much smaller. Is the loop width wider than the shell? If so it couldn't go down the bore. Plus all that extra nose weight would probably cause it to tumble. And given they only had hemp rope then it would take a ton of rope to reach as far as it could fire in a minimal sense.
Hard to tell what it might have been. Maybe a Fort Fisher bombproof door weight?
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The ring is smaller than the shell.
Maybe it was a weight for the fort volleyball net posts.... lol...
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POW Parrott and chain weight?
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What are your plans for it Pipe?
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all of the above are possible or it could have been any other home made contraption that some farmer made up or something he needed.
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I go with boat anchor.
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But it was found at Fort Fisher - and if it was, it probably served as a military rowboat anchor.
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ok, I missed the Fort Fisher part. :-[
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Anchor for fish net
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What are your plans for it Pipe?
I reckon I'll use it for an anchor Garrett....
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The most common use for shells with these rings in them is as a post war gate closing weight. I have seen dozens of them some years ago in Charleston, before the city was gentrified. It is possible of Civil War use for the same purpose or as an anchor, of which I have seen only a few. As to how it was put in, they seem mostly to have been hammered in.
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Thank you for all the replies and ideas guys. The projectile has a 21st century finish now.