Three Fire Pots

Entry

Three round earthenware pots with a narrow neck.

Only one pot (NG-MC-945-C) has its original three handles. The second pot (NG-MC-945-B) had three broken handles. The three vertical handles of the third pot have broken off neatly and are lost. This pot (NG-MC-945-A) still contains the dried contents of its original incendiary mixture. All three pots have a cork stopper.

The pots were found in 1857 in a fissure in the town wall of Flushing.¹ Their age can only be estimated. They contained a mixture of chemicals and other substances, which was analysed at the time by chemist B. Flander and consisted of finely chopped Spanish pepper, charcoal, tar, antimony, asafoetida and saltpetre or gunpowder.² In total twenty-five pots were found, both in the towns of Flushing and Veere.³ Obreen only mentions three pots,⁴ however. Three other pots of a similar design, but possibly from Veere, also came to the museum and are now listed as NG-NM-5985-A, NG-NM-5985-B and NG-NM-5985-C.⁵

The contents resembled that of the ‘stench pots’ or ‘fire pots’ described in seventeenth-century works on ammunition:⁶ their use was therefore established. They were used as a type of hand grenade, but thrown by means of ropes attached to the handles. The contents were ignited with a fuse. The contents could either be an incendiary or a substance producing toxic fumes and smoke, even temporarily blinding the enemy.