Congreve Rocket

Congreve Rocket

Congreve Rockets were first used in the Napoleonic Wars. Their design was based on rockets used against the British in 1780, during the Second Anglo-Mysore War in India. They were designed by Sir William Congreve, who by 1804 had begun studying and refining captured Indian rockets at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich in London. Congreve’s earliest efforts produced an elongated, larger version of the Indian rockets, designed to be launched from ships.

Congreve Rockets were made up of an iron case containing black powder, which was similar to gun powder in that it was made from sulphur, saltpetre and charcoal – but in different quantities. The black powder would be ignited via a fuse, which would provide the propulsion for the rocket. The rockets were attached to wooden guide poles to help stabilise their flight and were launched in pairs from half troughs on simple metal A-frames. A flintlock mechanism was triggered by pulling a long cord, which would trigger two fuses; one would ignite the black powder in the iron case creating the thrust, whilst the other fuse ran around the outside of the iron casing to ignite the warhead at the top.

Perhaps the most famous use of Congreve Rockets came in 1814, when they were fired from the British ship Erebus against the Americans at Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Maryland. The use of the rockets was immortalised in Francis Scott Key’s poem ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’, where he referred to the

“...rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there”.

Key’s poem would go on to become the national anthem of the USA, commemorating the Congreve Rocket in American history.