The Best Laid Plans…
First and foremost, nobody was physically hurt in this incident, but I gotta believe that there WAS some fervent finger pointing in the aftermath.
Warwick Castle cannonball show sets fire to medieval boathouse.
“Hundreds of tourists have been evacuated from Warwick Castle after a burning cannonball fired from the world’s largest working siege machine destroyed a medieval boathouse by fire. “
Okay, I’ll admit a certain ignorance of medieval “cannons”, but I have never considered a trebuchet to be a cannon? My personal experience begins and ends with 5in Naval Guns. Regardless, we’re talking cannonballs.
And the “cover-up” begins… “A spokesperson for Warwick Castle said the trebuchet would continue firing shots but only dry ones rather than fireballs until the investigation into the blaze is completed. “
I dunno… if the shooters can make this kind of mistake – what difference does it make. The verbal depiction in the article that viewers had to be evacuated which suggests they were downrange:
“There was a lot of panic and people were scrambling up the bank because they had no idea if the fire would spread.”
“The place was packed with lots of young children and families. We were all evacuated and it was quite scary.”
So the tourists/fans were in a position to be threatened?
Just struck me as odd. YMMV
Category: Geezer Alert!
So did the tourists/fans evacuate their bowels before being evacuated to safety?
Or does the proper English phrase of “We were all evacuated and it was quite scary” mean they were scared shitless before scrambling up the bank?
We, the American Revolutionists from the west side of the Atlantic Ocean, want to know.
This does not sound like an evacuation as much as a mass ‘run away’ event.
Kind of sounds like something out of a Monty Python sketch.
But as Jerry Lee Lewis would say “Goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire”
Damn Claw… I shoulda thought about Monty Python.
LOL. It does, doesn’t it!?
The “medieval” boathouse was built in 1896 to store some Earl’s electric boat; it’s about as authentic as Cinderella’s Castle at Disneyland.
And what’s with calling the fire trucks that responded “appliances.” Did all those flaming projectiles create a sudden need for refrigerators and microwave ovens? Or did they also need to deliver custom kitchens and color TVs because they were in dire straits…
Stupid story is stupid.
Caught that, too. “1896” is pre-WWI.
1273 AD would be more in the ballpark “medieval,” eh?
First things first! INVESTIGATION!!
Did the range safety yeoman verify the following:
1. Original safety card and overlay filed with Ye Range Controllee?
2. Copy of safety card and overlay at trebuchet pit prior to going “hot”?
3. Current range fan at trebuchet pit?
4. Range fan limits listed? (Note: As of 1453 must be in Englishe, not Norman-French anymore; Latin still acceptable.)
5. Was trebuchet within 100 yards of benchmark (village milk cow, hobbled, one each, for the use of)?
6. Was trebuchet within 25 yards of aiming posts (serfs wearing red & white livery)?
6. SIC (Squire-in-Charge) had a training plan with Tasks-Controls-Standards?
7. The trebuchet safety card applies to the unit and exercise.
8. The firing pit is correct and applies to the safety card, and the base trebuchet is within 100 yards of the surveyed firing point.
9. The plotting board, trebuchet ballistic computer (fingers) or lightweight handheld trebuchet ballistic computer (serf with two hands) is correct.
10. The forward observer has been briefed on the firing exercise and knows the limits of the safety fan.
11. The lay of each trebuchet is correct.
12. The safety stakes (two pikes painted red over white) are placed along the right and left limits.
13. Each safety yeoman and gynour (troop operating seige engine) has been informed in writing of
–Right and left limits (deflection).
–Maximum elevation and charge.
–Minimum elevation and charge.
–Minimum time setting for fuzes.
14. All personnel at the firing position have been briefed on hangfire procedures.
15. Noble guests, clergy, villeins, and serfs who observe trebuchet training are in possession of stout boots/shoes so they may hastily depart should a shot fly outside the range fan into their direction.
16. If the safety card specified overhead fire, firing is in accordance with King’s Regulations 385-63.
BY ORDER OF THE EARL MARSHAL
Brian de Bois-Guilbert
Shire-reeve
Your Lordship(?):
You know, I was thinking, “crew served weapon” … they clearly need a range safety SOP brainstorming session.
I think you hit the nail on the head! 🙂
Regards,
Rebel Colonial
The Hi-Vis safety vests. You forgot the Hi-Vis safety vests.
Dammit! Where’s the “like” button?
Okay that was fun 🙂 Regardless, it is a very cool castle.
Damn, now that is what I call a show. I’d have paid extra for that. Beats the elephant charging my jeep in Tanzania or eating live termites in The Yucatan by far.
The article says the boathouse was ignited by sparks falling from the “cannonball” as it apparently passed over.
I’m willing to bet no one was near the thing, but freaked out on general principles. All the Englishmen with testicles have left the country by now.