Accession Number

1986.008.1893

Creation Date

circa 1700

Description

A hollow, cast-iron sphere from the 1700 slave ship Henrietta Marie is a hand-thrown weapon called a grenadoe.  The ball was filled with gunpowder, which was ignited via a fuse set in a wooden plug that filled the large center hole. (The two smaller holes cast along either side are where the ends of an arching iron handle were set).  The device was a forerunner of the modern grenade.  An 18th century marine dictionary says of these weapons: “The sailor fires the fuse with a match and throws the grenadoe as directed: the powder being inflamed, the shell instantly bursts into splinters that kill or maim whomever they reach on the decks of the enemy.”