Mysorean rockets

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Mysorean rocket
Indian soldier of Tipu Sultan's army.jpg
A Mysorean soldier, using his rocket as a flagstaff (Robert Home, 1793/4).
Type Rocket
Place of origin Kingdom of Mysore
Service history
Used by Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan
Wars Anglo-Mysore Wars
Specifications
Length200 mm (7.9 in)
 length1,000 mm (39 in)
Diameter38–76 mm (1.5–3.0 in)
Crew1
Propellant Black powder
References

Mysorean rockets were an Indian military weapon. The iron-cased rockets were successfully deployed for military use. The Mysorean army, under Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan, used the rockets effectively against the British East India Company during the 1780s and 1790s. Their conflicts with the company exposed the British to this technology further, which was then used to advance European rocketry with the development of the Congreve rocket in 1805. [1] [2]

Contents

Technology and deployment

There was a regular rocket corps in the Mysore Army, beginning with about 1,200 men in Hyder Ali's time. During the Second Anglo-Mysore War, Colonel William Baillie's ammunition stores are thought to have been detonated by a stray rocket at the Battle of Pollilur in 1780, which contributed to British defeat in the battle. [2] At Pollilur rockets restricted East India Company vanguard movement, skimming along the surface, lacerating troops, and in one specific instance, shattered an Ensign's leg. With rocket bombardment and harassment, East India Company forces were caught in a double envelopment movement by Mysore cavalry, encircled and routed. [3]

Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan deployed them against the larger British East India Company forces during the Anglo-Mysore Wars. The British took an interest in the technology and developed it further during the 19th century. Due to the use of iron tubes for holding the propellant, higher thrust and longer range for the missile (up to 2 km (1.2 mi) range) could be achieved. Rockets also existed in Europe, but they were not iron-cased and their range was far less than their Indian counterparts. [4] These hammered soft iron rockets were crude, but the bursting strength of the container of black powder was much higher than the earlier paper construction, and a greater internal pressure was possible. These rockets were used with considerable effect against the British East India Company in battles at Srirangapatam in 1792 and 1799. [5]

By the order of Tipu Sultan, his general Mir Zain-ul-'Abidin Shushtari compiled a military manual called Fathul Mujahidin [6] in which 200 rocket men were assigned to each Mysorean cushoon (brigade). Mysore had 16 to 24 cushoons of infantry. The rocket men were trained to launch their rockets at an angle calculated from the diameter of the cylinder and the distance to the target. In addition, wheeled rocket launchers were used in war that were capable of launching five to ten rockets almost simultaneously.[ citation needed ]

Rockets could be of various sizes but usually consisted of a tube of soft hammered iron about 8 inches (20 cm) long and 1.5 to 3 inches (3.8 to 7.6 centimetres) in diameter, closed at one end and strapped to a shaft of bamboo about 4 ft (1 m) long. The iron tube acted as a combustion chamber and contained well-packed black powder propellant. A rocket carrying about one pound (450 g) of powder could travel almost 1,000 yards (910 m). In contrast, rockets in Europe could not take large chamber pressures, not being iron cased, and were consequently not capable of reaching such distances. [7]

The entire road alongside Jumma Masjid near City Market and Taramandalpet, Bangalore was the hub of Tipu's rocket project where he had set up a laboratory. [8]

Use in Mysorean conflicts

A painting showing the British forces confronted with Mysorean rockets Rocket warfare.jpg
A painting showing the British forces confronted with Mysorean rockets
Use of rockets in an assault by Mysorean troops on Travancore Line fortification (29 December 1789) NL-HaNA 1.11.01.01 1276 1R Brief van J.G. van Angelbeek, gouverneur van Ceylon, uit Cochin, aan de heer Decker, berichtend over de strijd tussen Tipoe en de vorst van Travancone. 1790 januari 14 (cropped).jpg
Use of rockets in an assault by Mysorean troops on Travancore Line fortification (29 December 1789)
Rocket being lit by a Mysorean soldier (Illustration by Robert Home) Mysore rocket man, by Robert Home (watercolour).jpg
Rocket being lit by a Mysorean soldier (Illustration by Robert Home)
Illustration depicting two rocket-men (Baan-daar) carrying rockets with flags hoisted on their bamboo shafts. Two men carrying a sword and a backpack with a pennant. Gouache painting by an Indian artist. Wellcome V0045652.jpg
Illustration depicting two rocket-men (Baan-daar) carrying rockets with flags hoisted on their bamboo shafts.

Two rocket units were fielded by Tipu Sultan in 1792 during the Third Anglo-Mysore War, one of 120 men and the other of 131 men. Lt. Col. Knox was attacked by rockets near Srirangapatna on the night of 6 February 1792 while advancing towards the Kaveri River from the north. The Rocket Corps ultimately reached a strength of about 5,000 in Tipu Sultan's army. [2] Mysore rockets were also used for ceremonial purposes. The Jacobin Club of Mysore sent a delegation to Tipu Sultan, and 500 rockets were launched as part of the gun salute.

Rockets were again used on several occasions during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. One of these involved Colonel Arthur Wellesley, later famous as the First Duke of Wellington. Wellesley was almost defeated by Tipu's Diwan Purnaiah at the Battle of Sultanpet Tope. [11]

Wellesley launched a fresh attack with a larger force the following day, and took the whole position without losing a single man. [12] Rocketeers worked their way around to the rear of the British encampment on 22 April 1799, 12 days before the main battle, and fired a large number of rockets at the same moment to signal the beginning of an assault by 6,000 Indian infantry and a corps of Frenchmen, all directed by Mir Golam Hussain and Mohomed Hulleen Mir Mirans. The rockets had a range of about 1,000 yd (910 m). Some burst in the air like shells, while others (called ground rockets) would rise again on striking the ground and bound along in a serpentine motion until their force was spent. A young English officer named Bayly observed: "So pestered were we with the rocket boys that there was no moving without danger from the destructive missiles". He continued:

The rockets and musketry from 20,000 of the enemy were incessant. No hail could be thicker. Every illumination of blue lights was accompanied by a shower of rockets, some of which entered the head of the column, passing through to the rear, causing death, wounds, and dreadful lacerations from the long bamboos of twenty or thirty feet, which are invariably attached to them.

A British shot struck a magazine of rockets within Tipu Sultan's fort during the decisive British attack on Srirangapattana on 2 May 1799, causing it to explode and send a towering cloud of black smoke with cascades of exploding white light rising up from the battlements. Baird led the final attack on the fort on the afternoon of 4 May and was again met by "furious musket and rocket fire", but this did not help much; the fort was taken in about an hour's time. Perhaps within another hour Tipu had been shot (the precise time of his death is not known), and the war was effectively over. [2]

British adoption of the technology

After the fall of Srirangapattana, 600 launchers, 700 serviceable rockets, and 9,000 empty rockets were found. Some of the rockets had pierced cylinders, to allow them to act like incendiaries, while some had iron points or steel blades bound to the bamboo. By attaching these blades to rockets they became very unstable towards the end of their flight.

These experiences eventually led the Royal Woolwich Arsenal to start a military rocket research and development program in 1801, based on the Mysorean technology. Several rocket cases were collected from Mysore and sent to Britain for analysis. Their first demonstration of solid-fuel rockets came in 1805 and was followed by publication of A Concise Account of the Origin and Progress of the Rocket System in 1807 by William Congreve, [13] son of the arsenal's commandant. Congreve rockets were systematically used by the British during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. They were also used in the 1814 Battle of Baltimore, and are mentioned in "The Star-Spangled Banner", the national anthem of the United States: And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air. [14]

Discovery

In 2002, a cache of metallic shells was unearthed during restoration of an old well in Nagara, 60 kilometres from Shivamogga. About one hundred of these rusted cylindrical shells were stored in Shivappa Nayaka Palace Government Museum identified only as 'shells' and without being registered in museum catalog. In 2010, these shells were identified to have a possible link to Tipu's rockets. And only in 2013, these shells were recognized for their significance. [15]

In April 2017, 102 unused rockets of varying sizes were found in Shimoga district. [16]

In July 2018, another 500 rockets (or 1,000, according to one source) were found in an abandoned well in the same area, confirming it as a major repository and fort under the Tipu Sultan. [17] [18]

As of November 2019, more than 3,000 such rockets have been recovered during debris clearances undertaken in Nagara. [15] [19] [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tipu Sultan</span> Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1782 to 1799

Tipu Sultan, commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was the Indian Muslim ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery. He introduced a number of administrative innovations during his rule, including a new coinage system and calendar, and a new land revenue system, which initiated the growth of the Mysore silk industry. Tipu was also a pioneer in introducing Channapatna toys. He expanded the iron-cased Mysorean rockets and commissioned the military manual Fathul Mujahidin. He deployed the rockets against advances of British forces and their allies during the Anglo-Mysore Wars, including the Battle of Pollilur and Siege of Srirangapatna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congreve rocket</span> Type of artillery missile

The Congreve rocket was a type of rocket artillery designed by British inventor Sir William Congreve in 1808. The design was based upon the rockets deployed by the Kingdom of Mysore against the East India Company during the Second, Third, and Fourth Anglo-Mysore Wars. Lieutenant general Thomas Desaguliers, colonel commandant of the Royal Artillery at Woolwich, was impressed by reports of their effectiveness, and undertook several unsuccessful experiments to produce his own rocket weapons. Several captured Mysorean rockets were sent to Great Britain following the annexation of the Mysorean kingdom into British India following the death of Tipu Sultan in the siege of Seringapatam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyder Ali</span> First Sultan and de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore

Hyder Ali was the Sultan and de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's rulers. Rising to the post of Dalavayi (commander-in-chief) to Krishnaraja Wodeyar II, he came to dominate the titular monarch and the Mysore government. He became the de facto ruler of Mysore as Sarvadhikari by 1761. During intermittent conflicts against the East India Company during the First and Second Anglo–Mysore Wars, Hyder Ali was the military leader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Srirangapatna</span> Town in Karnataka, India

Srirangapatna is a town and headquarters of one of the seven Taluks of Mandya district, in the Indian State of Karnataka. It gets its name from the Ranganthaswamy temple consecrated around AD 984. Later, under the British rule, the city was renamed to Seringapatnam. Located near the city of Mandya, it is of religious, cultural and historic importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet</span> British politician (1772–1828)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Pollilur (1780)</span> Battle of the Second Anglo-Mysore War

The Battle of Pollilur, also known as the Battle of Polilore or Battle of Perambakam, took place on 10 September 1780 at Pollilur near Conjeevaram, the city of Kanchipuram in present-day Tamil Nadu state, India, as part of the Second Anglo-Mysore War. It was fought between an army commanded by Tipu Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore, and a British East India Company force led by William Baillie. The EIC force suffered a high number of casualties before surrendering. It was the worst loss the East India Company suffered on the subcontinent until Chillianwala. Benoît de Boigne, a French officer in the service of 6th Regiment of Madras Native Infantry, wrote, "There is not in India an example of a similar defeat".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingdom of Mysore</span> Monarchy in India (1399–1947)

The Kingdom of Mysore was a realm in the southern part of Deccan Plateau traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 by two Hindu brothers, in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. From 1799 until 1950, it was a princely state, until 1947 in a subsidiary alliance with British India. The British took direct control over the princely state in 1831. Upon accession to the Dominion of India, it became Mysore State, later uniting with other Kannada speaking regions to form the state of Karnataka, with its ruler remaining as Rajapramukh until 1956, when he became the first governor of the reformed state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Anglo-Mysore War</span> War in south India from 1780 to 1784

The Second Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company from 1780 to 1784. At the time, Mysore was a key French ally in India, and the conflict between Britain against the French and Dutch in the American Revolutionary War influenced Anglo-Mysorean hostilities in India. The great majority of soldiers on the company side were raised, trained, paid and commanded by the company, not the British government. However, the company's operations were also bolstered by Crown troops sent from Great Britain, and by troops from Hanover, which was also ruled by Great Britain's King George III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglo-Mysore Wars</span> Conflicts mainly between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company (late 1700s)

The Anglo-Mysore Wars were a series of four wars fought during the last three decades of the 18th century between the Sultanate of Mysore on the one hand, and the British East India Company, Maratha Empire, Kingdom of Travancore, and the Kingdom of Hyderabad on the other. Hyder Ali and his succeeding son Tipu fought the wars on four fronts: with the British attacking from the west, south and east and the Nizam's forces attacking from the north. The fourth war resulted in the overthrow of the house of Hyder Ali and Tipu, and the dismantlement of Mysore to the benefit of the East India Company, which took control of much of the Indian subcontinent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third Anglo-Mysore War</span> Conflict between the Kingdom of Mysore and the English East India Company and its allies

The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Confederacy, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the third of four Anglo-Mysore Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fourth Anglo-Mysore War</span> 1799–99 conflict in the Kingdom of Mysore

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Seringapatam (1799)</span> Mysorean-British battle

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rocket artillery</span> Class of rockets used as artillery

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<i>Fathul Mujahidin</i>

Fathul Mujahidin is a military manual that was written in 1783 by Zainul Abedin Shustari at the instruction of Tipu Sultan, the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in South India considered a pioneer in the use of rocket artillery. Mysore started to equip their army with rockets in the 1750s and during the Second Anglo–Mysore War (1780–1784) Tipu and his father Haider Ali used this technology against British troops. Tipu Sultan used rockets in battle with the British Army in the 1792 Siege of Srirangapatna, a battle at the end of the Third Anglo-Mysore War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Mallavelly</span>

The Battle of Mallavelly was fought on 27 March 1799 between forces of the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. The British forces, led by General George Harris and Colonel Arthur Wellesley, drove the Mysorean force of Tipu Sultan from a defensive position designed to impede the British force's progress toward Mysore's capital, Seringapatam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purnaiah</span> Prime Minister of Mysore

KrishnacharyaPurnaiah, popularly known as DewanPurnaiah, was an Indian administrator, statesman, and military strategist who served as the first dewan of Mysore from 1782 to 1811. He was instrumental in the restoration of the rule of the Kingdom of Mysore to the Wadiyar dynasty. After the death of Tipu, he continued to advice Lakshmi Devi, the queen regent to the newly installed monarch Krishnaraja Wodeyar III.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battle of Nedumkotta</span> Historical Event

The Battle of Nedumkotta took place between December 1789 and May 1790, and was a reason for the opening of hostilities in the Third Anglo-Mysore War. This battle was fought between Tipu Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore and Dharma Raja, Maharaja of Travancore. Mysore army attacked the fortified line in Thrissur district at the Travancore border known as the Nedumkotta. The Mysore army was successfully repulsed by the Travancore army under the leadership of Raja Kesavadas, Dewan of Travancore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siege of Seringapatam (1792)</span> 1792 siege in Mysore, India

The 1792 siege of Seringapatam was a battle and siege of the Mysorean capital city of Seringapatam (Srirangapatna) at the end of the Third Anglo-Mysore War. An army led by Charles, Earl Cornwallis, consisting of British East India Company and British Army forces, along with allied forces from the Maratha Empire and the Nizam of Hyderabad, arrived at Seringapatam on 5 February 1792, and after less than three weeks of battle and siege, forced Tipu Sultan to capitulate. With his agreement to the Treaty of Seringapatam on 18 March 1792, the war came to an end.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mysorean invasion of Malabar</span>

The Mysorean invasion of Malabar (1766–1792) was the military invasion of the Malabar region of Kerala, including the territories of the Zamorin of Calicut, by the then-de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore, Hyder Ali. After the invasion, the Kingdom of Cochin to the south of Malabar became a tributary state of Mysore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colonel Bailey's Dungeon</span>

Colonel Bailey's Dungeon in Srirangapatna was the place where Tipu Sultan, ruler of Mysore Kingdom used to imprison all the British officers who were captured during the Anglo–Mysore Wars fought by him and earlier by his father Hyder Ali. Colonel Bailey, also spelled Baillie, fell into Tipu's hands in the Second Anglo-Mysore War at the Battle of Pollilur (1780), and spent several months in the dungeons of Srirangapatna. It is near the burial memorial of Tipu Sultan and is surrounded by gardens on all four sides. Colonel William Bailey (Baillie) was the only British officer who died in that place in 1782 as he could not sustain the inhuman conditions, and so the dungeon was later named after him. In this context it is said that prisoners were tied to fixtures in the stone slab of the dungeon and were immersed in water up to their necks.

References

  1. ↑ A. Bowdoin Van Riper (29 October 2007). Rockets and Missiles: The Life Story of a Technology. JHU Press. pp. 14–. ISBN   978-0-8018-8792-5.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Narasimha, Roddam (27 July 2011). "Rockets in Mysore and Britain, 1750–1850 A.D." (PDF). National Aeronautical Laboratory and Indian Institute of Science. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011.
  3. ↑ "The Battle of Pollilur: Revisiting the Footnotes of History". The Wire. Retrieved 9 September 2022.
  4. ↑ Biography, Mysore History Tipu
  5. ↑ Frederick C. Durant III; Stephen Oliver Fought; John F. Guilmartin, Jr. "Rocket and missile system". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  6. ↑ Husain, Mahmud (1 January 1953). "Fath-Ul-Mujahidin: A treatise on Sultan Tipu's Army Regulations". Journal of the Pakistan Historical Society. 1 (1). Karachi. Archived from the original on 5 October 2021. Retrieved 5 October 2021– via ProQuest.
  7. ↑ Tipu, Biography, Mysore History
  8. ↑ "Tiger of Mysore's strong ties with city". The Hindu . Bangalore, India. 3 May 2011. Archived from the original on 9 May 2011. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  9. ↑ "Missiles mainstay of Pak's N-arsenal". The Times of India . 21 April 2008. Archived from the original on 24 September 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2011.
  10. ↑ Mulki, Muhammad Adil (4 May 2014). "Personality: The fire-breathing tiger of Mysore". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  11. ↑ Forrest D (1970) Tiger of Mysore, Chatto & Windus, London
  12. ↑ Holmes, Richard (2003). Wellington: The Iron Duke. HarperCollins. p. 58. ISBN   0-00-713750-8.
  13. ↑ Stephens, Henry Morse (1887). "Congreve, William (1772–1828)"  . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 12. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 9.
  14. ↑ Eugene Van Sickle. "The Congreve Rockets in the War of 1812" (PDF). Dalton State College . Retrieved 9 December 2014.
  15. 1 2 Datta, Sravasti (20 November 2019). "Unearthing a historical treasure". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  16. ↑ "Rockets recovered from open well are from Tipu era: Experts". The Hindu. 19 January 2018. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  17. ↑ "Blast from the past: Another haul of 500 Tipu-era rockets has been found on a farm in Hosanagara, the same place as the last find a few years ago". Bangalore Mirror. 25 July 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  18. ↑ "Indian warrior king's rocket cache found in abandoned well". The Guardian [UK]. 27 July 2018. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
  19. ↑ Mysore Rockets: Recent progress on study of rockets of the Tipu era recovered from Nagara, Karnataka (Video). 6 November 2019.
  20. ↑ "'The first time, the British saw a rocket was in Mysore'". Deccan Chronicle. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
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