Shrapnel shell

W.G. Armstrong & Co, 1868

This shrapnel shell has been sawn down the middle, showing how deadly it was, for there are balls of lead shot, with a diameter of 24 mm, packed above the explo-sive charge. These shells were produced by the British firm of Armstrong from 1868. Although the Royal Nether-lands Navy certainly used 18 cm calibre artillery made by Armstrong, it is not known whether the navy also used this type of shrapnel, which is of the same calibre.

  • Artwork typechest, grenade (ammunition)
  • Object numberNG-MC-1281
  • Dimensionsshell: height 8.8 cm x width 49.2 cm x depth 17.6 cm, box: height 19.8 cm x width 53.5 cm x depth 27 cm
  • Physical characteristicsiron, bronze, brass, lead and wood

Identification

  • Title(s)

    • 18-cm Shrapnel Shell in a Wooden Box
    • Shrapnel shell

  • Object type

  • Object number

    NG-MC-1281

  • Description

    Een halve overlangs doormidden gezaagde puntvormige 18 cm granaat-kartets in een houten kist. De granaat is 49.2 cm lang en heeft een kaliber van 176 mm. De granaat heeft twee ringen ingeperste nokken voor een getrokken loop met drie trekkende velden, een ballistische kap gevuld met hout, een buisgat, een vuurgeleidingspijp naar de springlading in de bodem en een kartetslading van loden kogels van 24 mm diameter bovenop de springlading, ervan gescheiden door een ijzeren ring.

  • Inscriptions / marks

    inscription, on the lock of the box: ‘John Shaw & Sons / Wolverhampton / Safety patent lever lock.’

  • Part of catalogue

Creation

  • Creation

    manufacturer: W.G. Armstrong & Co, Newcastle upon Tyne

  • Dating

    1868

  • Search further with

Material and technique

  • Physical description

    iron, bronze, brass, lead and wood

  • Dimensions

    • shell: height 8.8 cm x width 49.2 cm x depth 17.6 cm
    • box: height 19.8 cm x width 53.5 cm x depth 27 cm

Explanatory note

  • Deze granaat is waarschijnlijk een Boxer Shrapnel Mk II 7 inch RML, die Armstrong vanaf 1868 produceerde. Hij was bedoeld voor getrokken voorlaadgeschut. De Nederlandse Marine gebruikte vanaf 1869 18 cm Armstrong-geschut, maar heeft naar ons weten nooit granaat-kartetsen van dit type gebruikt.

This work is about

  • Subject

Acquisition and rights

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    ...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

Documentation

    • Charles Orde Brown, Ammunition, A Descriptive Treatise on the Different Projectiles, Charches, Fuzes, Rockets etc at Present in Use for Land and Sea Service and on Other War Stores Manufactured in the Royal Laboratory, 2 vols., London, no date [1870], dl. 2, p. 75 ff.
    • J.H. Haakman, Handboek over de zee-artillerie voor konstabels en matrozen-kanonniers, Nieuwendiep 1871-1872, dl. 2, p. 121.
    • Treatise on Ammunition, 1874, p. 334.

Persistent URL

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W.G. Armstrong & Co

18-cm Shrapnel Shell in a Wooden Box

1868

Inscriptions

  • inscription, on the lock of the box:John Shaw & Sons / Wolverhampton / Safety patent lever lock.

Provenance

...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883

Object number: NG-MC-1281

Entry

One half of an 18-cm pointed shrapnel shell, cut lengthwise, in a wooden box.

The shell is 49.2 cm long and has a 176 mm calibre. It has studs for a rifled barrel with three grooves. The nose is filled with wood and has a fuse hole, and from there a channel to the powder charge in the bottom of the shell; the shrapnel charge, consisting of lead balls with a 24 mm diameter, is situated between the wooden nose and the powder charge and is separated from the powder charge by an iron ring.

This shell is probably a Boxer Shrapnel Mk II 7-inch RML, which W.G. Armstrong & Co of Newcastle started producing in 1868. It was used for muzzle-loading rifled ordnance. The Dutch Navy used 18-cm Armstrong ordnance from 1869 onwards, but, as far as is known, these particular shells were never used in the Netherlands.

Literature

C. Orde Brown, Ammunition: A Descriptive Treatise on the Different Projectiles, Charges, Fuzes, Rockets etc. at Present in Use for Land and Sea Service and on Other War Stores Manufactured in the Royal Laboratory, 2 vols., London (1870), vol. 2, pp. 75 ff.; J.H. Haakman, Handboek over de zee-artillerie voor konstabels en matrozen-kanonniers, 4 vols., Nieuwediep, 1871-72, vol. 2, p. 121; Treatise on Ammunition, London 1874, p. 334; J.M. Obreen et al., handwritten inventory list for items 944 to 1431, 1884, manuscript in HNA 476 RMA, inv. no. 1089, no. 1281

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'W.G. Armstrong & Co, 18-cm Shrapnel Shell in a Wooden Box, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1868', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200316138

(accessed 21 mei 2026 19:39:33 UTC+0).