An Archaeological Bombshell at Waterloo
In the summer of 2019 we excavated at Mont-Saint-Jean, the main Allied field hospital during the Battle of Waterloo, with a group of archaeologists, veterans and serving military personnel. Check out the explosive discovery we made on the reverse slope!
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Here in Vermont the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum had to deal with a box of spherical shells from the American Civil War. Someone had disposed of them in the 1870s by dropping them in a pond. They were sealed and still quite functional. They rigged a remote control low speed hydraulic drill press to get into them. Then they used a water jet to clean out the gunpowder. Turns out the shells were filled with musket balls in melted sulfur around a gunpowder core. The fuse was in a lead disc with a rubber seal. The gunner would puncture the seal just before firing. Stayed solid under water for 150 years.
Seriously a high pressure hose would have confirmed the shell was empty. Even if 200 years under the soggy Belgium soil hadn't washed out the black powder, which you can be sure had. It's not as if it was filled with TNT.
Really, grow a set you pansy. Brits and their love of officialdom. You could safely bowl with it.
It should be noted that the department of archaeology is located next door to the ministry of silly walks.
Dropped in a bucket of water overnight ,fine,health and safety for insurance purposes, tragic,
Gross over reaction, any excess B.P, I have just goes on the grass, Fertilizer ! It's hydroscopic
Even if it was 'live' there is no need to destroy it. It can be safely deactivated unlike the ww1 shells..
Needed a fuse old son , has not other ignition source so it was inert . There was no need to have destroy it .
I live in an area where U.S. Civil War battles were fought. It seems every few years we have someone blow themselves up with an ‘inert’ shell they’ve found in some field. The fuse may be gone, but the powder may still be active and just awaiting that one little spark.
To clarify, as archaeologists we are required to alert the Belgian police if we come across any unexploded ordnance, no matter how small the risk. Although we stressed the archaeological importance of the find, the experts felt it was safer to dispose of it off-site. We have not received an update on what happened to the howitzer shell since it was taken by the bomb disposal team, so are unsure at this time whether it has been destroyed or whether an attempt was made to preserve it.
My money is on it being flushed out with a pressure washer and is now sitting on the captains mantelpiece.
As the gun powder was 200 years old and had no firing mechanism I doubt it was dangerous. Talk about damp powder .
If they detonated it, then hopefully they did so in a way the pieces were collected up to glue it back together. A big piece would make a great cigar ashtray though! (Hint...lol).
@Fred Smith Other than a direct flame, what could have ignited wet ,250 year old black powder ? There is obviously no fuse. I have canisters of the stuff in my gun room and luckily I'm not a smoker ;)
@Fred SmithI suppose you have a point. These folks are academics without any experience handling this sort of thing. I was in the military in a previous life so this sort of thing is familiar to me. Back in the '70s our unit was tasked with clearing "expended" ordnance from an old tank range. The pioneer types would stick a red flag near anything that looked dangerous and the rest was chucked into the back of my truck. When we were full, I'd drive to the dumping pit, drop the tail gate, reverse at speed, slam on the brakes and let inertia do the work. The first time I did it, the SGT. who was my passenger, nearly gave birth. Fun times ;)
Nothing a common garden hose wouldnt have fixed.
What, the Belgian law?
A bit like deodorant salesmen....tell you you've got a problem and then sell you their expertise and a cure
so sad this was destroyed as black powder is a mixture of potassium nitrate and x and x this would have dissolved out over the 250 years in the damp earth , a garden hose through the fuse hole would have washed it out the rest . unlike say cordite in 303 rounds 80 years in the river Humber dry it out and it burns ..
@Fred Smith My Gilbert chemistry set had the ingredients and instructions on how to make black powder. Also sulfur you could get at the hardware store, charcoal was available anywhere, and potassium nitrate was available at the photo shop.
@Fred Smith Yep. I would. As would countless reenactors who deal with LIVE blackpowder each and every day.
Those who work in this area love blowing stuff up. They have zero interest in preserving historical artifacts. Their decision to destroy it was made within the first 15 seconds of the phone call.
I was thinking garden hose too lol
reg stones...I’m reasonably certain Fred Smith is the kind of guy who wears safety glasses blowing up party balloons, either that or he’s just being pedantic & bloody minded, nobody’s talking about hitting the damn thing with a sledge hammer or sawing it in half with a grinder, not that much would of happened anyway, but as I said, nobody is or was suggesting any such thing, after all... safety first! Besides, the incident Uncle chuckles is referring to involved a 75 pound, 9 inch naval shell with an intricate fuse system which contained a highly potent explosive, much more powerful than was normally used for land based artillery by the army at the time as it was designed primarily to be used against the new Iron clad battle ships of the era, as such the shell was also waterproofed because apparently it was meant to skip along the surface so as to strike an enemy vessel along the waterline. I could go on about the notoriously poor quality of French black powder during the Napoleonic wars & how much munitions & explosives had improved during the intervening 45 to 50 years, but I shall simply conclude by saying that as “firework Fred” posted the link in the first place he might of bloody well looked into it before shoving in his overly dramatic two penny’s worth. In short, I’m with you on this one Reg.
Beware experts and those who "know best"
I took the long and lonely walk, what a drama queen
I mean he's recounting a tale to help publicise archaeological work they're doing, I'm sure he's allowed to use some flowery language!
Ya for sure. It's funny. Imagine the horrors of the actually battle as it was taking place, and then here this guy is, holding an archaic explosive, that probably has a 1 in 50,000 chance of being active, and he feels like a hero
Just an idea, but perhaps an opportunity was lost here to use this item to observe the detonation of one of these devices. If it could be detonated in a safe environment, with high-speed still and video cameras trained on it, it might well add to the history of explosive devices in war.
If there was any black powder left in the shell it would have deteriorated to the point of being useless. Stick a hose in the fuse hole and fill the cavity with water or leave it in a bucket of water for a few hours and whatever powder was left would dissolve and you could pour it out. There's no reason to destroy the artifact. I shoot black powder firearms and I can attest to the fact that wet powder will not ignite.
It was totally inert, they used wooden fuse plugs then, not metal. Totally harmless. What a waste of history.
@Fred Smith Fred Smith is prone to hysteria. He reads a sensationalist news story and gets the vapors over round lumps of iron. He obviously has never used black powder, but like any Karen, considers himself an expert.
@Fred Smith Um... a degree in chemistry. Take your black powder, soak it in dihydrogen oxide, then flee, cuz she's gonna blow! Careful son, watch where you're pointing that underwater flintlock!
Former US Army EOD here-yes, black powder artillery from this period still kills people periodically. Usually "experts" who know tons and tons of historical details about units and their equipment, nomenclatures, capabilities, etc but very little about fuze function or the properties of black powder. Yes, black powder will not burn if it's damp. That's not infrequently how these items end up buried in the ground instead of detonating when they were originally fired. However, *once black powder dries out again,* it is just as dangerous as the day it was made. When my unit encountered Civil War ordnance that had had a charge, we retained control of it. It wasn't worth the effort of ensuring it was 100% free of black powder to incur the liability of turning it back over to a civilian.
@@smarmyeod8557 Interesting. From someone who actually knows what he's talking about. And crucial word there - liability.
Perhaps flushing out with a high pressure hose just to be on the safe side but other than that I totally agree with you.
Easiest would have been to put it into a 5 gallon bucket of water for a soak. No bomb squad needed. Black powder is a water soluble substance, meaning you can wash it out.
yah ida soaked it for a month, then cut it in half with a drop saw from a safe distance, with maybe even an oil squirter to cool the blade.
Bring me a bucket of water and hold my beer.
I read the memoirs of a survivor... way WORSE than you could possibly imagine... people hacked in bits, gutted, limbs shredded .... it was just as horrible as WWI but A SLOWER DEATH....
PAOLO RICCI yes, absolutely ghastly.
What was the memoir called? I’d like to read that myself
Please give the name
A fair percentage of wounds from cannon fire were actually caused by pieces of the first guys hit going on as secondary 'fragmentation' :/
The gun powder would have been rendered inert long ago. I would have just put it in a bucket of water again making sure the water goes into the fuse hole and then use a wooden stick to break down what remains of the gum powder. I like your channel and I would be interested in coming to help locate artifacts.
Black powder does not become "inert" like this. It just won't burn while it's damp... the problem is that if you take it out of the ground, it starts to dry out again. This is how one or two Civil War enthusiasts blow themselves up every couple-few years in the US.
It should be easy to disarm. Put it under water, drill through the fuse and wash the black powder out. Using a drill which can be used from a safe distance is the only technical problem, and a half decent engineer can whip up something easily.
A Brass Drill bit comes to mind, no chance of sparks, but it would have to be turned slowly to avoid Friction/Heat.
What a waste of a fantastic artefact. There is NO way there was any remaining danger of that thing going bang. Not only has it been underground for over 200 years and the powder if not completely gone would have long ago been rendered useless by water but come on there was no fuse in it!!!
I would rather follow the advice of the DOVO-SEDEE demining specialists.
If the fuse/plug was out, which it appeared to be, fill it full of water. Wet black powder doesn't burn worth beans. Or at all. More than likely it had absorbed enough water to decompose year ago.
It doesn't just decompose. I once responded to a 10" cannon ball that had been dredged out of Galveston Harbor. It still had viable black powder in it. We didn't turn it over to the local museum either.
@@smarmyeod8557 Was it sealed with a simple wooden plug? If so, was the wooden plug covered over with pitch or tar?
Great story.
Is there a legal requirement to report any such find despite of age and it being likely tone inert, for reasons of dig licenses etc? ie Not putting it through official channels might mean not being given permission to dig again? Just wondering really.
A small factor that many in this comment section seem to overlook.
I would say after 200 years in the ground and no fuse the gunpowder is inert.
The powder will be fully active, it does NOT decay, especially when sealed and airtight. As for the fuse, its a wick which burns as per a firework. You could drop it, and the only worry is a broken toe. Disarming has a risk, when its drilled out, any spark would blow it up, but its not impossible to do it underwater and from a remote location, and save the shell.
@@BluntofHwicce having seen them pulled out of the ocean fully sealed, i know thats innacurate. And even if wet at some point, that powder will still burn once ignited. Its charcoal, which does not degrade, sulphur, which does not, and saltpeter, which also lasts.
@@christianbuczko1481 Not even a little bit. Black powder is worthless when wet.
@@christianbuczko1481 It didn't have a fuse. and if it did, it was wooden and rotted away.
How many ten ten tans took part in the battle, do you know?
thank you
I see a lot of comments about how it could have been saved.. on the other hand, who wants to be the last casualty of the Battle of Waterloo?
French shell finally had the satisfaction of going off with a bang.
Amazing find. Good to know that everyone is safe.
I would hate to be as unpractical as this person
It is not "impractical" to follow the laws of the foreign country one happens to be in. Since BREXIT Belgium is even more "foreign" than it was before.
@@Frank-mm2yp I would hate to be as impractical as you as well. Are you the kind of person that calls the police on children when they use a 'finger' gun? Just more proof that so called 'experts' are not.
@@jaykay8570 Whether or not you like it, that is the law in Belgium. This team is working there on and off, so they need to stay on the right side of the authorities.
@@alonsocushing2398 Funny, I've traveled all through Belgium, and they have all kinds of artillery shells in their museums, and planes, cannons, etc etc. Surprised it all isn't detonated, as it all might detonate. A harmless archeological artifact was destroyed. Law or not, it's an outrage.
@@jaykay8570 I agree with you entirely. However, that's the law in Belgium.
Amazing really.... A charge can be 200+years old and still be active.
I wish these videos were longer
does anyone know if these also come in musket size? i got a few musketballs from a bro and one of em also has a fuse hole.
Just the act of washing it out fixes any chance of detonation..As the plug and fuse are gone... Why it never detonated to start with..
A few years ago an experienced American battlefield collector was killed when a civil war shell he dug up exploded on his driveway. It had lain buried all that time.
Source?
@@carbidegrd1 www.pantagraph.com/news/civil-war-cannonball-explodes-kills-relic-collector/article_86607e91-89df-5e6f-9229-02d450ab0195.html
Literally a bombshell
There was absolutely no reason to destroy it, these things can be deactivated very easily, someone needs to be there that knows what they are doing, this was a historical waste and completely mishandled
Wow!!
Pure Grand Standing....
Any help me here. When he says the fuse is light does he mean by hand or just due to the fire in the actual howitzer?
JBTheMighty lit by the explosion that propels it from the gun. If it is lit before firing then someone is dropping a burning fuze down a short barrel on to a large gunpowder charge. Are you volunteering to do that?
@@davidwright7193 haha yeah I was thinking you either have to be incredibly brave or stupid if that was the case.
Holy crap, thats very interesting. I find it hard to believe it would be justa small block of area with them. There ahould be shells for a mile along the track the others were found on, am i wrong?
If there was any risk bomb disposal wouldn't have taken it away and instead dealt with it there. They should be capable of rendering it entirely harmless. Not sure if they'll return it though.
amazingly quick thinking there by Tony, well done sir! what a find!
This video highlights the lamentable knowledge of firearms, and in particular those utilising Black Powder, to be found amongst the Brits. I would very much like to see how an American team would have handled this item - probably reluctantly popped it into a bucket of water to please Health and Safety and them logged it a usual as another interesting exhibit!
They're archeologists, not experts on Napoleonic ordnance, so I can understand the caution. However, next time I would hope they'd call in some people who are more knowledgeable about early black powder ordnance as opposed to modern demolition teams whose historical explosive knowledge starts around WWI. The only way that ordnance could have gone off is if you applied plenty of spark or heat, and that's assuming the powder was still dry after 200 years buried in the dirt, and the only way that was going to happen is if they had feed a cannon wick down the hold, or tried cutting it in half with a blow torch. A little water down that fuse hole would have destroyed any powder that may have remained and the shell could have been saved.
Pfft, It's just an old explosive howitzer shell, what's the worst that could possibly happen.. 😋
I like his last words
wow
So what happened to the shell?
Gendarme: "Zees English are taking ze piss out of us!"
Those things are only dangerous before they explode.
Have you not heard of the saying "Keep your powder dry"
Got one from off Drakes Island Plymouth 150 years underwater defused it!!
Like to know what the end result was...
Amazing how many bomb experts there are on youtube.
Amazing how many people expect these Brits to risk their permits by ignoring Belgian law.
@@spikespa5208 Wait isn't the EU Headquarters in Belgium?. Might add to some amount of red tape
Except, no, there was no fuse, and no, the gunpowder wasn't there, and no, there was no reason to get the panties in a wad and call the police.
You could have just splashed some water down the fuse hole and it would be safe. The fact that 200 years of moisture would have totally discovered and rendered inter the gunpowder is obvious
For all the 'It wouldn't be harmful after this long' Brigade. All explosives are inert right up until they go bang. 'That old muzzle loader has been hanging there for years. We have snapped it off a few times let me show...OOPS !! There lethal till you know they are definitley not.
In today’s world, a drawing of this shell, from this time period is dangerous, according to experts! High pressure water hoses are now available to empty out this and other tight compartments. Let the collectors proceed with caution. There is a risk in every investment!
That thing is over 200 years old and nothing but a paper weight.
Iff you'd washed it out with a high pressure jet of water you'd still have it.
Someone should try to modify that demand to report such old and primitive explosive shells to the authorities, because it wastes too much time and money!
Gad And you dont think after 205 years the rain may not have destroyed the powder???
Black powder is not a danger. Soak it in water, rinse it out with a hose.
My gggggrandfather was a British officer in the battle of waterloo
If it didn't go off when metal shovels were hitting it, would think shooting water into it would solve the issue.
Black powder + 200 years, inert.
amazing how many smartie pants there are here. science means othing. Research & respecet for professionals. SAD
A ball with black powder how many 1lb tins of black powder are there in peoples sheds for making bullets in the USA? Aren't they the same thing?
You people are silly. Many professional conservators can deactivate a “live” shell so future generations can enjoy.
hey frank, you ar'nt gonna get any change out of rosslynstoneface. ( he dos'ent understand the politics involved - or, if he does, he should know better.)
Rubbish a small hose with high pressure steam would do it
Is this guy a nervous Nellie or a Drama Queen or both???
Or, neither?
He is a television archaeologist and go to guy for dramatic interpretation.
Should have put it in a fire and stood back. If it exploded, no harm done. Most likely it would get red hot then cool down.
Death, destruction, cruelty and human suffering is considered ‘normal’ for our species.
william beaumont ..shit,I'd hate to live near you,.if that's normal..you need to find some new mates..
Mark Letts . It’s fairly quiet where I am right now but it seems we’re being led down that same path toward our ‘normal’ condition of murder and mayhem.
william beaumont ❤️🇬🇧
Pour water into it ??
Ordnance,not a bomb.
Steamed it out would be enough....
Wash it out with water.
What a load of balonely the fuse had burnt out and over the 180+ years it was in the ground the gunpowder would of been that degraded from water it would be inert 100% I’m a qualified shotfirer in the mines
Elf and safety strikes again, you should watch the Russian War Diggers if you need a lesson on ordnance
Glad to see the law being followed when dealing with weaponry, Europe has much better management than the US.
Put it in a bucket of water...Waste of police,army time and the artifact itself
How silly as soon as any water got in there it would have been chemically become safe. How sad, grow a pair.
One of the things they do in making gun powder is to wet it grind the powder and let it dry it makes for a much better mixture of the chemicals. But as long as it was wet you could dig the black powder out with no danger though i would use a wooden or plastic tool to dig the wet powder out.
@@lambastepirate Indeed
Go have a look at Russians digging up battlefields and see how silly this is
simplefranky1 Do you think they would show the “accidents”? Nah, those videos are just for rich guys paying top dollar for battle relics. Probably pretty lucrative occupation in Russia considering.
Sean Cope maybe for some, but a lot of the Russian digs are about locating lost soldiers giving them a burial . Some are from the Russian army And University students . You can’t paint them all with the same brush
simplefranky1 I’ve watched these videos and seen with my own eyes. Disturbing a war grave and giggling and grinning for the camera. It makes me sick. I’m a veteran and you just don’t do that, but apparently not in Russia. There is a special place in hell for people like that.
MAGA 2020 bullshit that’s not what they’re doing. These guys are grave robbers. They’re not taking pictures, taking notes measuring locations gps etc. they’re rooting through pockets playing with guns stuffing handful of bones in bags. Is it one body? Is it two? Don’t support this crap every soldier and vet would stomp these guys given the chance nationality be damned.
MAGA 2020 you’re funny, a trump fan concerned about being shamed....
Far too full of himself is this fella, and something of a drama queen.
a hero??
This bloke got form as does his old partner from their TV show days. Takes forever to do anything but hey when you are University raised and getting paid and having the students on hands and knees doing the ork, well life is great. Spend 2 days talking about a shovel hole etc. watch Time Team to get an idea of these people's mindset. Of course, the fluoro vests and hard hats worn by all while digging in a field says it all about these wankers. Life is good when your a tenured Prof. Can't stand the bloke or his Scot mate.
Why you watching, then?
This guy could put Jesus to sleep. What a boring monotonous human being