Grapeshot is a type of

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

round invented by a British Officer during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

. It was used mainly as an anti infantry round, but had other uses in naval combat. Grapeshot treatise closeup

, a grapeshot is a type of

ammunition Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...

that consists of a collection of smaller-

caliber In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the f ...

round shot A round shot (also called solid shot or simply ball) is a solid spherical projectile without explosive charge, launched from a gun. Its diameter is slightly less than the bore of the barrel from which it is shot. A round shot fired from a la ...

s, which in most cases are about the size of a golf ball, packed tightly in a

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...

bag and separated from the

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

charge by a metal

wadding Wadding is a disc of material used in guns to seal gas behind a projectile (a bullet or ball), or to separate the propellant from loosely packed shots. Wadding can be crucial to a gun's efficiency, since any gas that leaks past a projectile as i ...

, rather than being a single solid

projectile A projectile is an object that is propelled by the application of an external force and then moves freely under the influence of gravity and air resistance. Although any objects in motion through space are projectiles, they are commonly found in ...

. Grapeshot also comes packaged in clusters of three by iron rings, and in three tiers, with the shot being held in by cast iron rings. When assembled, the shot resembled a cluster of

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years ago, ...

s, hence the name. Grapeshot was used both on land and at sea. On firing, the canvas wrapping disintegrates and the contained balls scatter out from the muzzle, giving a ballistic effect similar to a giant

shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...

. Grapeshot was devastatingly effective against massed infantry at short range and was also used at medium range. Solid shot was used at longer range and canister at shorter. When used in naval warfare, grapeshot served a dual purpose. First, it continued its role as an anti-personnel projectile. However, the effect was diminished due to a large portion of the crew being below decks and the addition of hammock netting in iron brackets intended to slow or stop smaller shot. Second, the shot was cast large enough to cut rigging, destroy spars and blocks, and puncture multiple sails. Canister shot, also known as case shot, fired a larger number of smaller projectiles loosely packaged in a

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

brass Brass is an alloy of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn), in proportions which can be varied to achieve different mechanical, electrical, and chemical properties. It is a substitutional alloy: atoms of the two constituents may replace each other with ...

container, possibly guided by a wooden

sabot Sabot may refer to: * Sabot (firearms), disposable supportive device used in gunpowder ammunitions to fit/patch around a sub-caliber projectile * Sabot (shoe), a type of wooden shoe People * Dick Sabot (1944–2005), American economist and busi ...

. The later shrapnel shell contained similarly smaller projectiles, and used a timed bursting charge to expel those projectiles from the front of the container. So, unlike grapeshot, canister shot is more precise and could be more deadly, as grapeshot wasn't guided, nor did it have a timed bursting charge. Langrage is a type of improvised round that uses chain links, nails, shards of glass, rocks or other similar objects as the projectiles. Although langrage can be cheaply made, its

ballistics Ballistics is the field of mechanics concerned with the launching, flight behaviour and impact effects of projectiles, especially ranged weapon munitions such as bullets, unguided bombs, rockets or the like; the science or art of designing and a ...

are inferior to grapeshot's. Even though grapeshot, canister shot, and langrage are three different types of shot, the idea behind them remains the same; anti-infantry. That is because at the time in history grapeshot was around, which was during the

line infantry Line infantry was the type of infantry that composed the basis of European land armies from the late 17th century to the mid-19th century. Maurice of Nassau and Gustavus Adolphus are generally regarded as its pioneers, while Turenne and Monte ...

was heavily used. With grapeshot, a handful of soldiers manning the

could kill dozens of infantry with one round of grapeshot. File:Grape shot.JPG, An example of grapeshot File:CSS Georgia cannonball and holder.jpg, A small cannonball and holder for a grapeshot recovered from the CSS ''Georgia'' in 2015 File:Munitions at Fort McAllister, GA, US.jpg, Munitions at

Fort McAllister Fort McAllister was a Confederate earthen-work fort used to defend Savannah, Georgia during the American Civil War. It was the southernmost of the forts defending Savannah and was involved in the most battles. It was located on the Ogeechee Rive ...

, showing a grapeshot projectile

References

External links

{{commons category, Grapeshot Artillery ammunition Projectiles

See also

References

External links