He and three other prisoners, including the future foreign minister Maxim Litvinov, pulled off a daring escape from the prison, using ropes, grappling irons, and false passports, after they had overpowered two of the prison staff.
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A ghostly vessel appearing astern is dashed against Daland's vessel by the sea and the grappling irons hold the two ships together. Invisible hands furl the sails. A man of pale aspect, dressed in black, his face framed by a thick black beard, steps ashore. He laments his fate.
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Smash and grab raids became common in the 1930s, and were particularly prevalent in the 1940s, but decreased in frequency as shopkeepers took to strengthening their windows and/or fitting protective grilles. By the 1950s, forced entry to shops was being effected by using cars and grappling irons to pull window bars off windows, a precursor to the 1980s phenomenon of ram- raiding.
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The White squadron suffered the greatest damage. Harman led the van of the English fleet and was soon in the center of the Zeeland squadron, where his ship became completely disabled. An enemy fire ship grappled the Henry on the starboard side, but through extraordinary exertion his boatswain managed to detach the grappling irons. A second fire ship grappled the Henry on the larboard side, and the sails caught fire.
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This did not actually sink an ancient galley unless it was heavily laden with cargo and stores. With a normal load, it was buoyant enough to float even with a breached hull. Breaking the enemy's oars was another way of rendering ships immobile, rendering them easier targets. If ramming was not possible or successful, the on-board complement of soldiers would attempt to board and capture the enemy vessel by securing it with grappling irons, accompanied by missile fire with arrows or javelins.
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While crossing the narrow bridge Rushbrook caught her foot on a beam, and fell into the lock below. Although Witts tried to catch her he failed to do so, only managing to grab her shawl. Witts, still holding Rushbrook's shawl, approached a police officer in the High Street and informed him of what had happened, and soon afterwards police arrived at the scene with grappling irons. The water level in the lock was lowered, and at 3 am Rushbrook's body was recovered.
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The cavalry was entirely covered in iron, with helmets. Similar to medieval knights, their only exposed spots were the end of their noses and small openings in front of their eyes. Their foot soldiers were issued spears, swords, and pikes, and (in line with Persian fashion) trained to stand so solidly that, one contemporary wrote "you would have thought them held fast by clamps of bronze." The Abbasid army amassed an array of siege equipment, such as catapults, mangonels, battering rams, ladders, grappling irons, and hooks.
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To make it look more heavily armed, additional portholes were cut in the hull and logs placed to resemble cannons. Barrels of powder were placed in the ship and grappling irons laced into the ships rigging, to catch the ropes and sails of Magdalen and ensure the vessels would become entangled. Morgan destroys the Spanish Armada de Barlovento at Lake Maracaibo 1669 On 1 May 1669 Morgan and his flotilla attacked the Spanish squadron. The fire ship plan worked, and Magdalen was shortly aflame; Espinosa abandoned his flagship and made his way to the fort, where he continued to direct events.
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The other merchant vessels initially lay out of danger, while five of the galleys laid on board the Centurion, which they made themselves fast with their grappling irons, two to a side with a fifth galley on the stern. On both sides of the ship the Spanish were repelled; the ropes and grapples were cut successively and fire was maintained to cripple the Spanish ships. The Centurion was set ablaze several times, but was extinguished each time with little damage. In every one of these five galleys there were about 200 soldiers; who battered the Centurion and shot her mainmast through.
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Just as the beak was about to strike, Nightingale, by a clever stroke of the helm, evaded the galley and turned her broadside to it, so close that the galley's oars were broken. Nightingale secured La Palme with grappling irons, and fired a broadside of grapeshot; at the same time a hail of grenades came from aloft. Nightingale then sent fifty men aboard, to deal with any men still alive. With La Palme rendered useless, de Langeron himself hoisted the distress signal to summon his squadron to his aid, even though the four galleys had already forced most of the convoy to strike sail.
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He refused, so the Jeune Richard ran alongside the Windsor Castle deploying grappling irons, and attempted to board. The Windsor Castle′s crew mustered with pikes and repelled the boarders, killing or wounding between eight and ten of the French. The Jeune Richard′s crew attempted to cut the lines and pull away but the Windsor Castle′s main yard remained locked in the privateer's rigging, holding the two ships together. The fighting continued for several hours, but by 3pm one of the Windsor Castle′s 9-pounder carronades had been brought up on deck and loaded with double grape, canister and 100 musket balls.
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The fuses were designed and made by George Frederick Masterman, chief apothecary to the Paraguayan Army: they were glass capsules of sulphuric acid which, when broken by striking a heavy object, ignited a potassium chlorate/sugar mixture. Although most of these devices failed to go off, except prematurely,They were set of by pieces of drift-wood, "or perhaps by inquisitive alligators" (Masterman, 139). one did sink the 1,000 ton Brazilian ironclad Rio de Janeiro killing 155 men, so they had to be taken seriously. Since a "torpedo" (simulated or real) was released almost every night, the Brazilian navy had to have patrol boats out rowing in three shifts which tried to spot the floating torpedoes; if they did, they attempted to hook their floats with grappling irons on long lines.
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FitzRoy chose the Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean, and on arrival there on 1 April 1836, the entire crew set to work, first erecting FitzRoy's new design of a tide gauge that allowed readings to be taken from the shore. Boats were sent all around the island to carry out the survey, and despite being impeded by strong winds, they took numerous soundings to establish depths around the atoll and in the lagoon. FitzRoy noted the smooth and solid rock-like outer wall of the atoll, with most life thriving where the surf was most violent. He had great difficulty in establishing the depth reached by living coral, as pieces were hard to break off and the small anchors, hooks, grappling irons, and chains they used were all snapped off by the swell as soon as they tried to pull them up.
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The impact of this was so intense that the seismograph at Kidderpore registered it as an earthquake and a Hindu temple on the shore was destroyed, although it was subsequently rebuilt. While muck was being cleared, numerous varieties of objects were brought up, including anchors, grappling irons, cannons, cannonballs, brass vessels, and coins dating back to the East India Company. The job of sinking the caissons was carried out round-the-clock at a rate of a foot or more per day. The caissons were sunk through soft river deposits to a stiff yellow clay 26.5 m below ground level. The accuracy of sinking the huge caissons was exceptionally precise, within 50–75 mm of the true position. After penetrating 2.1 m into clay, all shafts were plugged with concrete after individual dewatering, with some 5 m of backfilling in adjacent shafts.
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Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 2 When Ambiorix and the Eburones rebelled in 53 BC, the remaining Nervii joined the uprising and besieged Quintus Tullius Cicero – brother of the orator – and his legion in their winter camp until they were relieved by Caesar in person.Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 5.38-52 They were able to rapidly build a rampart around the Roman fortification, using only swords to dig, "in less than three hours they completed a fortification of ten miles in circumference; and during the rest of the days they began to prepare and construct towers of the height of the ramparts, and grappling irons, and mantelets". Caesar reported that this technique was learned from the Romans, and under the advisor of captured Roman soldiers.Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 5.42 > On the seventh day of the attack, a very high wind having sprung up, they > began to discharge by their slings hot balls made of burned or hardened > clay, and heated javelins, upon the huts, which, after the Gallic custom, > were thatched with straw.
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