Bourbon fuse

anonymous, 1845

This type of detonator was screwed into round grenades to ensure they exploded at the appropriate moment. The purchase of this ‘secret weapon’ by the Dutch government caused a parliamentary crisis in the Netherlands in 1849, due to its astronomical price. The device was sometimes referred to as the Bourbon fuse, because its inventor, Karl Wilhelm Naundorff, claimed to be Charles Louis de Bourbon, and heir to the French throne.

  • Artwork typepercussion tubes
  • Object numberNG-MC-1889-35
  • Dimensionsheight 7 cm x diameter 6 cm
  • Physical characteristicsiron and brass

anonymous

Percussion Fuse

Netherlands, unknown, 1845

Provenance

...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1889

Object number: NG-MC-1889-35

Entry

Percussion fuse for a round shell. It consists of three parts: the outer casing with a brass threaded cap that screws into the shell, and the inner channel for the spark, which is screwed into the outer casing from below and has to be topped with a percussion cap, and a ring around the inner channel. The brass cap is a safety cap to prevent premature ignition by accidental knocking.

This fuse was screwed into round shells. To ensure that the shell would hit target fuse first, it had a stabilising rod at the opposite side. Karl Wilhelm Naundorff’s (1785-1845) percussion fuse was the first percussion fuse with a high success rate and the only one ever used for round shells. It was the Dutch Navy’s secret weapon for more than twenty years, until the introduction of pointed shells and rifled ordnance.

This secret weapon was only once reported used in action, during the Dutch bombardment of the coastal batteries of the Japanese blockade of the Strait of Shimonoseki in 1864.

Inventor Naundorff himself was a famous pretender to the French throne, declaring himself to be Louis XVII of Bourbon. The percussion fuse was therefore known as the ‘Bourbon fuse’.

Literature

J. Gibbon, The Artillerist’s Manual: Compiled from Various Sources and Adapted to the Service of the United States, New York 1860; H. van Goens, Handleiding tot de kennis van de zee-artillerie, Rotterdam 1861-65, p. 194; F. de Casembroot, De Medusa in de wateren van Japan in 1863 en 1864, The Hague 1865; J.H. Haakman, Handboek over de zee-artillerie voor konstabels en matrozen-kanonniers, 4 vols., Nieuwediep, 1871-72, pp. 129 ff.; H. Romberg, Rechèrches theoriques et pratiques sur les fusées pour projectiles creux. Description des fusées en usage. Étude sur les fusées a double effet, Brussels 1871 ; H. Tutein Nolthenius, Artillerie cursus 1878/1879, s.l. 1878-79, manuscript in KIM PTV 9 (1-2); W.B. Westhoff, Oorsprong, ontwikkeling en tegenwoordige toestand der artillerie-inrichtingen te Delft, benevens de feestelijke herdenking van het 200-jarig bestaan op 22 November 1879, The Hague 1880, p. 48; P. Oosterbaan, Het Naundorff mysterie, Amsterdam 1951; L.C. Suttorp, ‘De betekenis van het verblijf van Naundorff in Nederland’, Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis 65 (1952), pp. 86-98; W.G.M.H. Canisius, ‘The Bourbon Fuse: An Explosive Invention’, Journal of the Ordnance Society 7 (1995), pp. 6-17 (orig. pub. ‘De buis van Bourbon. Een hoogst explosieve uitvinding’, Tijdschrift voor Zeegeschiedenis 12 (1993), no. 2, pp. 129-40); W.G.M.H. Canisius, ‘De ontwikkeling van scheepsgeschut bij de Nederlandse marine in 1780-1880’, Erfgoed van Industrie en Techniek 2 (1993), no. 2, pp. 43-62, no. 3, pp. 80-87, p. 60; H. Stevens (ed.), The Art of Technology: The Navy Model Collection in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam/Wormer 1995, pp. 54-57; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 194-95

Citation

J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Percussion Fuse, Netherlands, 1845', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200316222

(accessed 6 December 2025 18:12:49).