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The Grenadoe
(a.k.a. Smokepot, Grenade)
 The
precursor to the modern day Grenade, the
Grenadoe was a round cast iron hollow
ball roughly about the size of a soft
ball or mature grapefruit. A hole would
be be drilled to allow access to the
interior, and then the sphere would be
filled with gunpowder, grape shot, and
other painful shrapnel.The
specifications of the Grenadoe were
fairly inconsistent, measuring from as
small as 2.5" to 4.5" diameter depending
on their intended use. Some examples
have a slight dimple in the bottom/side
(apparently to keep it from rolling
around on the deck) and maybe a
3/8ths-3/4th inch hole in the top (for
the wooden dowel/fuse).Again, the
skin of the Grenadoe varies with each
unique batch but in general the
thickness is approximately 1/4 inch in
the top half and gradually gets thicker
to about 5/8" toward the bottom (most
likely due to the imperfections of the
casting process).
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