Rocket, Congreve
Production date
Circa 1860?
Description
A badly corroded Congreve rocket which is made up of three pieces. One piece is a long cylinder, another piece is a short, conical nose and there is a small cylinder is sitting loose inside the nose.
See full details
Object detail
Production date
Circa 1860?
Credit line
This
badly
corroded
projectile
is
an
example
of
a
British
Congreve
rocket
used
during
the
First
Taranaki
War
(1860-1861).The
rockets,
named
after
their
inventor
Sir
William
Congreve,
were
designed
to
be
fired
from
simple
frames
elevated
from
2½
to
5
degrees.
Maori
thought
the
rockets
possessed
minds
of
their
own,
with
a
malicious
delight
in
spiralling
in
pursuit
of
fleeing
targets.
Little
is
known
about
this
example
apart
from
that
it
is
thought
to
have
been
used
during
the
Battle
of
Waireka.
See
the
Alexander
Turnbull
Library
collection
for
an
illustration
of
a
congreve
rocket
in
action
in
the
Northern
War
in
1845
http://mp.natlib.govt.nz/detail/?id=36329&t=items&q=&f=nameid$9299&u=0&s=a&l=mi&tc=0&recordNum=0&numResults=20&p=0
Accession number
A71.384
Collection type
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