May
5, 2008: The U.S. Civil War continues to
kill. Sam White, a Virginia based
collector of Civil War munitions, died recently while cleaning up a nine inch,
75 pound, cannon ball. White had previously
restored or examined over 1,500 of these shells. But the one that killed him
was different. It was fired from a ship board gun, and was designed to be more
waterproof than shells used by land based artillery. This kept the fuze, and
black powder explosive charge, dry and viable after 150 years. Mister White was
using metal tools to clean up the shell, which apparently set off the fuze, and
detonated the shell more than 150 years after it was fired off the Virginia
coast.
There
are still thousands of Civil War era shells buried, or sitting on the bottom
off the coast. But a far more dangerous threat are unexploded munitions from
more recent wars, especially the two World Wars. Over a thousand bombs, hand
grenades, mines and shells from these conflicts are uncovered each year in
Europe alone. Still more are unearthed in Asia and North Africa. People
continue to die from the World Wars, and will for decades to come.
