The Poor Man of Toggenburg - Autobiography of Ulrich Bräker

February (no exact date) Once a month Bräker enjoys going out for a few hours with likeminded men. In between whiles he "seldom goes into company - does not seek it - but when one once in a while meets with a little sound sense - sound human reason - when with a glass of wine and a cheerful mood one can laugh away all the cares of this world". [Chronik, p 443]

"But the mad and raging makers of war are not deterred by storms nor bad weather nor cold - they are always ready to cut each other's throats - one can still hear the thunder of the hellish fire-thrower

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- what an invention to destroy the human race - is that hellish sowing of fire - hatched out from Hell - what scenes of murder and horror has that powder sown among human beings and their machines and homes - [...] - In our time the instruments of death may well have increased and new inventions been continually devised - until now - when the art of killing seems to have reached its height - when by means of the hellish sowing of fire and the monstrous fire-thrower whole files of men can be felled by thousands in a few minutes - neither size nor strength will help them.

There must be a desperately evil and deadly demon ruling on our round earth - keeping the ants, the inhabitants of this anthill in continual discord. But our earth still bears many good inhabitants too - more than we think - for they do not make such a stir as those raging murderers - "you noble souls who feel in your bosoms revulsion and horror at these scenes of terror and murder - who hate all unrighteousness - you live unnoticed and quietly in remote places, insensible of our atmosphere full of roaring and thundering instruments of death - of cries of alarm and the shrieks of the poor unlucky victims of battle - But Heaven who sees all knows you and allows you to enjoy the fruits of the earth in contentment and peace.

Come, we will go out into the open air - not with inimical thoughts towards the human race and deadly weapons - but with brotherly loving hearts, to observe the works of Nature and to raise ourselves by stages towards the incomprehensible, all-generous, loving Creator - Every night we see an innumerable army of stars twinkling on the vault of heaven - how great even the least of them may be - how great and majestic must be the Creator and Architect of all these shining worlds - Let us in silence and adoration seek this Creator on our own dwelling place, in His works -" [Voellmy, v 2 pp 289-291]

What was this? I have not been able to find a clear reference to any incendiary shell or rocket in use as early as this, though research into them was being carried out. It should be noted that Bräker speaks quite definitely of a weapon in use, not just invented, but does not claim actually to have seen it, and reports of its destructive power may well have been exaggerated. The most plausible reference that I have found is in a biography of the American privateer John Paul Jones by James Mackay, which mentions "brand-cougles" as being used by the Russian navy against the Turks in the Black Sea in June 1788: "...hollow cannon-balls filled with combustible material. These incendiary devices were fired with deadly effect from the mortars and created more havoc and destruction than conventional gun-fire". Elsewhere he refers to the mortars "lobbing fire-balls". "Brand-cougle" is a French version of "Brandkugel" = fireball, which suggests that this weapon was devised by a German or English-speaking inventor. So incendiary artillery was in use in Bräker's lifetime, but it could still be the case that it was used only in naval warfare.