Mysorean rockets

"The iron-cased rockets of Mysore alarmed the British. That this was something new that they were encountering becomes evident in the British chronicles, like those of Innes Munro who gives an account of how these rockets operated: Hyder Ally also employs some thousands of men for throwing rockets. This is a missive weapon, and made in the same form as those used by schoolboys, with this difference, that the stalk is a thick bamboo, eight or ten feet long, which has a tube of iron, from six to twelve pounds weight, fixed to the end of it, in which the fuse and powder are placed. In wet weather, or marshy grounds, these are set off flying in the air, and will reach to the distance of a mile and a half; but upon dry grounds they are pointed horizontally, and bound in a very uncertain direction, often creating great damage, particularly amongst cavalry and ammunition tumbrils. Hyder’s train of artillery is chiefly composed of French and Danish guns of different calibers, but most commonly heavy metal, which are doubly yoked with trained bullocks; and are as well and expeditiously served as ours."

"An eyewitness of these incidents in Srirangapatna in April 1799, Col Bayly, records in his diary: The rockets and musketry from upwards of 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 its rear, causing death, wounds and dreadful lacerations from the long bamboos of twenty or thirty feet, which are invariably attached to them. The instant a rocket passes through a man’s body it resumes its original impetus of force, and will thus destroy ten or twenty until the combustible matter with which it is charged becomes expended. The shrieks of our men from these unusual weapons was terrific: thighs, legs, and arms left fleshless with bones protruding in a shattered state from every part of the body, were the sad effects of these diabolical engines of destruction."