Catapult

“ The addition of a sling to the arm of a catapult increases its power by at least a third. For example, the catapult described in Chapters LV., LVI., of my book,6 will throw a round stone 8 lbs. in weight, from 350 to 360 yards, but the same engine with the advantage of a sling to its arm will cast the 8-lb. stone from 450 to 460 yards, and when its skein is twisted to its limit of tension to nearly 500 yards. ”

“ Catapult has given place to cannon, pike has given place to musket, iron mail-shirt to coat of red cloth, saltpetre ropematch to percussion-cap; equipments, circumstances, have all changed and again changed; but the human battle-engine, in the inside of any or of each of these, ready still to do battle, stands there, six feet in standard size.
"Strange, interesting, and yet most mournful to reflect on. Was this, then, of all the things mankind had some talent for, the one thing important to learn well, and bring to perfection—this of successfully killing one another? ”

“ A Catapult.
"Aha! a good shot!" cried Baldwyn of Burgundy.
The tall knight retired. The besiegers hooted him. He reappeared on the platform of the barbican, his [Pg 160] helmet being just visible above the parapet. He seemed very busy, and soon an enormous Turkish catapult made its appearance on the platform, and, aided by the elevation at which it was planted, flung a twenty-pound stone two hundred and forty yards in the air. The next stone struck a horse that was bringing up a sheaf of arrows in a cart, bowled the horse over dead like a rabbit, and split the cart. ”

“ The spear, the arrow from the bow, or the bolt from the catapult and other engines can be driven into the body of only one man, while the iron cannon-ball fired through the air, can go through the bodies of many men, and there is no marble or stone object so hard that it cannot be shattered by the force and shock. ”

“ The basic idea developed by Captain Chambers is still used in Navy catapults. In the modern device, the airplane rests on a car riding on a catapult rail which can be mounted on all types of surface craft. The rail is so constructed that it can be swung in any direction, permitting the plane to be launched into the wind. The power that shoots the catapult car and sends the plane off the rail is furnished by a five-inch shell fired in a mechanism at the rear of the rail. ”

“ As a catapult or a balista was required not only to cast its missile among the soldiers on the ramparts of a fortified place, but also to send it clear over the walls amid the houses and people within the defences, it is evident that the9 engines must have had a range of from 400 to 500 yards, or more, to be as serviceable and destructive as they undoubtedly were. ”

“ When the arm is fitted with a sling, it is practically lengthened by as much as the length of the sling attached to it, and this, too, without any appreciable increase in its weight.
The longer the arm of a catapult, the longer is its sweep through the air, and thus the farther will it cast its projectile, provided it is not of undue weight. ”

“ Like a modern field gun, the ballista shot low and directly toward the enemy.
The catapult was the howitzer, or mortar, of its day and could throw a hundred-pound stone 600 yards in a high arc to strike the enemy behind his wall or batter down his defenses. "In the middle of the ropes a wooden arm rises like a chariot pole," wrote the historian Marcellinus. "At the top of the arm hangs a sling. When battle is commenced, a round stone is set in the sling. Four soldiers on each side of the engine wind the arm down until it is almost level with the ground. ”

“ Another historian explains that to shoot a man from the sling of an engine he must first be tied up with ropes, so as to form a round bundle like a sack of grain.
The engine with which such fiendish deeds were achieved was the trebuchet.
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A catapult was not powerful enough to project the body of a man. ”

“ If the skein of my largest catapult is fully tightened up by the winches, three strong men are unable to draw the arm back with a rope even an inch from the cross-beam, though the windlass has to pull it down from six to seven feet when the engine is made ready for action. ”

“ The catapults and slings make a great din on all sides; arrows and round stone fly likewise in confusion as thick as rain mingled with hail. Thus they toil all day: these defend, and those attack until night separates them, one from the other, nor need they trouble to flee, nor do they see. ”

“ As may be seen by reference to the illustration, it consists of one or more india-rubber straps attached to a fork-like handle, and carrying a small pouch in which is contained the missile. Although it is not remarkable for accuracy, it can throw a stone or a bullet a considerable distance, and its power can be very quickly increased by adding to the number of the straps. Thus a catapult has been made which was capable of sending a small pistol bullet through a wooden board, so that the child’s toy might really become a dangerous weapon. ”

“ Looking at an old-time cannon, most people are sure of just one thing: the shot came out of the front end. For that reason these pages are written; people are curious about the fascinating weapon that so prodigiously and powerfully lengthened the warrior's arm. And theirs is a justifiable curiosity, because the gunner and his "art" played a significant role in our history.
THE ANCIENT ENGINES OF WAR
To compare a Roman catapult with a modern trench mortar seems absurd. Yet the only basic difference is the kind of energy that sends the projectile on its way. ”

“ When this occurred the huge stone or other projectile flew on through the air and struck its target with tremendous force.
The trebuchet and the mangonel were very like the Roman ballista, and acted much in the same way as the catapult, except that the motive force was the fall of a heavy counterweight instead of tension. The springald, or espringald, was a large-sized steel cross-bow, mounted on a pivot, hurling heavy iron darts, with great force, which had considerable penetration. ”

“ The military engines in use in attacking or defending castles, or other fortified places, were the Loup de Guerre, or war-wolf, a frame formed of heavy beams, with spikes, and made to fall on the assailants in the manner of a portcullis—the Scorpion, a large stationary cross-bow of steel, which discharged darts of an uncommon size, and the Balista, Catapulta, and Trebuchet, which were engines of great power in throwing large stones, which were often heated to a high temperature. ”

“ Mangonels, catapults, and other projectile machines were placed on these towers and platforms. The big ships especially carried terrible engines of destruction, sometimes a heavy beam which worked horizontally like an ancient battering-ram against the sides of a hostile vessel, sometimes an immense bulk of timber, which was worked vertically from the top of the mast in order to shatter and sink a smaller craft. Around the masts, too, and nearly at their tops, châtelets or platforms were suspended, in which were hidden, behind a low parapet, slingers, archers, and stone-throwers. ”

“ The decks were covered by the black shields, above which appeared a forest of spears, sparkling in the morning sunlight. As they reached the shore the Northmen sprang to land, while from the decks of the vessels a storm of missiles flew towards the walls. Vast numbers of catapults, which they had manufactured since their last attack, hurled masses of stone, heavy javelins, and leaden bullets, while thousands of arrows darkened the air.
The bells of the church sounded the alarm, which called every citizen capable of bearing arms to the walls. ”

“ Not only did their cumbrous weight and the rude construction of their carriages render them extremely difficult of transport, but, intended as they were to be employed as catapults, they were generally constructed for hurling heavy projectiles, by causing these to describe a curved line, like modern shells; and their shape is, in fact, much more like that of our mortars than of cannon (Fig. 63) .
Fig. 63.—Bombards on fixed and rolling carriages. (From the MSS. 851 and 852, Bibl. Imp. de Paris.) ”

“ This contains the Explication of the Catapulta, which was a Machine of War used by the Ancients to dart Javelins of an extraordinary bigness. A are the two Beams one against the other, and joyn'd, which after having been drawn, pushed the Javelin with great force when they were unbent. ”

“ From an Illustrated Manuscript, Fifteenth Century (No. 7239) , Bibl. Nat. Paris.
The mediæval catapult was usually fitted with an arm that had a hollow or cup at its upper end in which was placed the stone it projected, as shown above in fig. 5.4 I find, however, that the original and more perfect form of this engine, as employed by the Greeks and ancient Romans, had a sling, made of rope and leather, attached to its arm.5 (Fig. 6, following page.)
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4 See also The Crossbow, etc., Chapters LV., LVI., illustrations 193 to 202. ”

“ The precious interval was employed in preparing catapults and armour; day and night all, without distinction of age or sex, were occupied in constructing machines and forging arms; the public buildings were torn down to procure timber and metal; women cut off their hair to furnish the strings indispensable for the catapults ”

“ Change to heavy projectiles.Enormous javelins and darts were hurled by cross-bows of corresponding size, termed Catapulta.Catapultæ, (plate x.) , and stones, &c., were thrown by Balistæ.Balistæ (plate ix. and xii) ; and secondly, Sling principles.instruments formed on the principle of the sling.
Projectiles used with Catapulta.
These machines threw not only large darts and stones, but also the bodies of men and horses. Athenæus speaks of a Catapulta which was only one foot long, and threw an arrow to the distance of half a mile. ”

“ Criticism.—In this picture the balistas are fairly correct, but the catapults are too small.
From Polybius. Edition 1727.
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It is, indeed, impossible to find a complete working plan of any one of these old weapons, a perfect design being only obtainable by consulting many ancient authorities, and, it may be said, piecing together the details of construction they individually give.
* * * * *
We have no direct evidence as to when the engines for throwing projectiles were invented. ”

“ A night bombardment is at once a beautiful and a terrible spectacle. The ceaseless flashing of the great guns, lighting up with a lurid glare the dense clouds of smoke that hang over the scene of battle; the roar of the artillery; the shriek of the shell as it leaves the cannon's mouth, slowly dying into a murmur and a dull explosion, as, with a flash of fire, the missile explodes far away,—combine to form a picture, that, despite the horrors of wounds and death, rouses the enthusiasm and admiration of the beholder. ”

“ But I saw stabbing flames that struck upward from the ground to make a wall of sharp, fiery spears, and I knew that every darting flame was launching a projectile from our anti-aircraft guns.
The skies were filled with the red aircraft of the enemy, but their way was an avenue of hell where thousands of shells filled the air with their crashing explosions. There were torpedoes, the unmanned airships whose cargo was death, and they were guided to their marks despite the inferno that raged about the red ships above. ”

“ Any one of these blows upon the sides may stave out the vessel. How divine its awful gyrations! One has to deal with a projectile which thinks, seems to possess ideas, and which changes its direction at each instant. How stop the course of something which must be avoided?
The horrible cannon flings itself about, advances, recoils, strikes to the right, strikes to the left, flees, passes, disconcerts ambushes, breaks down obstacles, crushes men like flies. The great danger of the situation is in the mobility of its base. How combat an inclined plane which has blind caprices? ”

“ That cannon was never again fired by me. The hair-breadth escape of that small boy haunts me even now. I have never fired a gun in my life; but for experimental purposes I have handled the strongest explosives, including the notorious dynamite; yet never in my life has such a thrill passed through me as did when I realized the almost miraculous escape of my playmate, when the doubled-up projectile was picked up on our parlor floor.
Boys, let an old one beg of you to be careful in handling explosives. ”

“ I saw a rifle hanging in the air ten feet above me, and a steel boat rising a dozen feet over the mast. Suddenly it came to me that something had negated the gravity of the metal parts of the ship. I thought of the story of the gravity-destroying bombs used in the raid of the night before upon the thorium stores.
The forward gun was still firing steadily, though the terrorized men had deserted the others. I saw a man point above us, and looked. A red airplane, with thick fuselage and short wings, was flying silently and swiftly across our bows. ”

“ When an attack or an artillery bombardment is on and you go to as high ground as possible for a bird's-eye view of battle, all that you see is the explosion of the shells; never anything of the guns which are firing. In the distance over the German lines and in the foreground over the British lines is a balloon, shaped like a caterpillar with folded wings—a chrysalis of a caterpillar. ”

“ Then came an amazingly instantaneous burst of lead-colored smoke covering a circle some forty yards in diameter, accompanied by an explosion of surprising violence. I could see no flash of fire at all.
Next came the new aerial torpedo fired from the new gun. (The old little mortar with the black powder was not used.) The new gun made practically no report in discharging the torpedo. It was beautiful to watch the slender [97] fishlike projectile go sailing in a high and graceful arc up, up, up, against the sky and then down, down, down, until it landed just beyond the wire entanglements. ”