Stray Rounds with Jeff Edel

Historic City News has learned from U. S. Park Ranger Jeffrey Edel that, in the colonial era, a peculiar type of cannonball was used in our area with a purpose greater than to blow holes in attacking ships.

Edel, who is the Historic Weapons Supervisor for the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, describes an incendiary cannon shot that was composed of an iron spike with a ball of pitch, sulfur, antimony and other combustibles molded around the center.

Called “Spanish shot”, when fired, the round would ignite from the cannon blast and was intended to embed the spike into the side of a wooden ship, setting it ablaze and forcing the crew to stop fighting their enemy and start fighting the fire.

“The origins of the name are not known,” Edel told Historic City News. “Wrecks of many nationalities have been found with these aboard — which certainly gives rise that they were introduced and used by Spain.”

Photo credits: © 2011 Historic City News contributed photograph