Hellburner: The 16th Century Weapon of Mass Destruction

In the age of sail, when ships were made of wood, fire was the number one enemy of sailors, and this fearsome tool was used in diabolic ways at times of war to sink enemy ships. A devious method pioneered by the ancient Greeks was to set on fire one of their own ships, loaded with combustible material such as tar and turpentine, and push it towards the enemy fleet. Such a fireship could wreck havoc upon the enemy with terrifying rapidity. In the 7th century, the Greeks discovered that naptha when mixed with quicklime produced a product so violently combustible that it actually ignited when it came in contact with water. This was the world’s first incendiary weapon, and the Greeks made good use of it on fireships. Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 8 August 1588, by Philip James de Loutherbourg, 1796 Advancement in shipbuilding and the invention of gunpowder increased the destructive potential of these weapons. Fireships were no longer mere tools to set fire to enemy fleet or docks, but floating bombs designed to destroy as many ships as possible with monstrous explosions. In the winter of 1585, Antwerp was besieged by the army of Alexander Farnese, the commander of the Habsburg forces in the Spanish Netherlands, who had constructed a bridge across River Scheldt between Antwerp and the sea, effectively closing off the city's waterways. The idea was to starve the population. To break the blockade, the Dutch employed an Italian military engineer named Federigo Giambelli who had gained a considerable reputation for his knowledge in various departments of science. Giambelli promised that he would destroy the bridge, and demanded that he be handed over three large merchant ships which he selected from the city’s fleet. Giambelli’s request was denied and he was allowed to take only two smaller vessels, named Fortuyn and Hoop .