[Teaser] Units of History: Fire Ships

We have some very exciting videos coming up including a special series on Roman empresses and the Druzhina. For now, though, I'm excited to share with you all a teaser for the next installment in Units of History: Fire Ships, the follow up to the Byzantine Flame Throwers and Grenadiers video we posted recently. 

Here's a snippet of the script, enjoy!

Intro:

In the year 717 AD, the Byzantine Empire was on the verge of collapse. Arab conquests devoured their lands and now a massive Umayyad force, 20 years in the making, was bearing down upon Constantinople itself with over 100,000 men and nearly 5,000 ships. Defending the city were a meager 15,000 soldiers of the Empire. However in their darkest hour, they would be saved by secret super-weapons of the Byzantines. At the critical hour dragons emerged to bathe the invaders in streams of hellfire. These were the Fire Ships which would protect the city for centuries to come and change the course of history.

Origins:

Fire has been man’s greatest ally and his greatest enemy since long before written record. From the warm light of the hearth and the deadly roar of the forest fire our species learned very quickly not to drift too closely to the flames. And from that fear and respect came low cunning. In the age of close packed wooden cities, thatched roofs, great granaries, and vast fields, fire became a potent weapon. Such was its reputation that it became synonymous with unrestrained violence. For many militaries this was a selling point in and of itself. However there was always a desire to exert some control over this most destructive force of nature.

It is in this search that early man turned to his environment. Here natural products such as pitch, oil, resin, and animal fat proved ideal for the creation of incendiary payloads. Some of our earliest records of this come from Assyria where 9th century BC reliefs can be seen depicting the use of fire arrows and exploding pots. Over the years, this technology would undergo further research and development by the various civilizations of the age. Much of this activity is unfortunately lost to us and we are only left with a few contemporary accounts testifying to its details. In India for instance, the Arthashastra documents the advancements being made to fire weapon technology and tactics at the time while the Laws of Manu further reveal how prohibitions were put in place to attempt to limit their devastation. It's a fascinating glimpse into the ripple effects of the ongoing evolutionary arms race taking place across the world.

Our story today though, will be focused around the specific developments of the eastern Mediterranean and near-east. The two regions had long been intertwined economically, politically, and militarily with various incendiary technologies being advanced within this ecosystem. One example was the Boeotian flamethrower deployed in 434 BC against an Athenian garrison during the Peloponnesian War. The device featured a tube through which air could be forced into a pot of burning charcoal, pitch, and sulfur which in turn would erupt outwards towards a target. It proved successful in clearing the walls and was added to the growing list of tools attackers might bring to bear in their sieges. Over the centuries, yet more innovations would slowly emerge. One of the most popular among these was the use of naphtha weaponry. This was the rather broad name for petroleum-derived mixtures which proved both highly flammable and portable, a potent combination. The Parthian and later Sassanid Empires were particularly successful in pioneering its applications when it came to siege warfare. Soon the Greeks and Romans too began toying with their own mixtures. This would ultimately lead to a pivotal breakthrough.

In the early 7th century AD, the Islamic Caliphate was sweeping across the land and threatening to overrun the eastern Byzantine provinces. Among the refugees who fled in their path was a man by the name of Kallinikos from the Syrian city of Heliopolis. Sources claim he brought with him a new incendiary recipe known simply as “Greek Fire.” To this day, its contents remain a mystery. Part of the confusion comes from the fact that ancient observers seem to use the label as a catch-all term for various combustible materials which were used in that era. On top of this we have to consider that the Byzantines were very secretive when it came to revealing any specifics of their new super weapon. That being said, researchers tend to believe that the core components of Greek Fire were likely Naphtha, Quicklime, and Sulphur. Naphtha is a mixture of crude oil and other fossil fuels such as peat or coal. Quicklime is a white powder refined from limestone or seashells in a ‘lime kiln.’ And Sulphur, also known as brimstone, is a naturally occurring substance known for its acrid stench and flammability. Other likely components are resin, wax, and saltpeter. But how they were mixed, and in what quantities, is the subject of ongoing debate.

The Byzantines would have spent some time testing and further refining the new Greek Fire. This would have encompassed not just the ingredients but also its mode of production and delivery. The first trials likely involved the use of hand thrown grenades made from ceramic pottery, several of which have been found by archaeologists. Such weapons would have been fairly straightforward to implement as the Sassanids had previously pioneered their use with Naphtha. The upgrade to Greek Fire simply meant a more powerful and longer lasting explosion. The next trials aimed to further exploit its destructive potential by increasing the volume of incendiary payload. The end result was apparently the creation of a siphon device capable of spewing fire as if it were a dragon. Here is an evocative, first hand account recorded by a crusader who faced suce a weapon:

“This Greek fire was such that seen from the front as it darted towards us it appeared as large as a barrel of verjuice, and the tail of fire that streamed behind it was as long as the shaft of a great lance. The noise it made in coming was like that of a thunderbolt falling from the skies; it seemed like a dragon flying through the air. The light which this huge, flaming mass shed all around it was so bright that you could see right through the camp as clearly as if it were day.”

Now let us take a closer look at the inner workings of this equipment.