elevating your piece to the zenith, you may proceed to the firing of it, which must be after this manner: provide two matches ready lighted, having one in each hand, and first fire your ball with one hand and presently give fire to your piece with the other, alwaies holding your head under the horizontall line of your piece, for fear the blast annoy you: this having done you shall see your ball mount very high with a fair taile of fire, and when at its highest, shall break forth into a goodly showre of starres."
This somewhat unconvincing account gives one to wonder
if the worthy gunner had indeed fired a shell such as he describes,
and if so, whether he was not more than "annoyed"
at the result. He gives the lifting charge as exactly one ounce,
but gives no indication of the size of the shell or mortar. It
seems probable that he had never seen a shell of this nature,
and was giving his idea of it without practical experience;
this is the more curious as, generally speaking, his book is
wonderfully advanced for the period, and indicates personal
experience of the matters under discussion.
John Bate, although less fluent, gives greater indication of practical knowledge of the matter. His "balloone" is rather oblong in section, and is made by rolling canvas on a former, using eight or nine turns. The ends are choked in the same way as a rocket case, one end being choked on to a "little cane rammed full of a slow composition." The shell is placed in the mortar with the fuse downwards, which is ignited by the flash of the mortar charge. Bate takes the precaution of having a time fuse at the touch-hole of the mortar, and concludes his instructions for firing by saying, "and while that burneth, retreat out of harms way." Altogether a more practical and convincing description.
Frézier (1747) makes the following prefatory remarks to his chapter on shells:
