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Good day. I recently came into possession of part of a collection of battlefield pick ups artifacts which had been picked up by the collector around the Ladysmith area during the 1960's. One of the artifacts is a shell fragment which was labelled as a fragment of a "Long Tom shell?". I am certain that its not a Long Tom shell and is more likely from a British 4.7 inch shell based on the visible marking on the exterior of the casing. As will be seen from the attached photos, the fragment is approx 36 cm long. The part below the drive bands is missing as is the part above the thread for what I presume was the fuse. on the casing are two marks, one being the usual British "arrow" marking and the other being numbers which I presume to be 10/98. The fragment weighs about 5kgs and the wall thickness varies from about 1.5cm to around2 cm near the fuse. Please can anyone shed some light on any of this for me? thanks you. Neil

At first glance I would say this is a fragment of a Naval 4.7-inch shell. The thickness of the walls certainly suggests this (4.7-in lyddite shell walls were 0.525 inches / 1.334 cm thick). The measurement from the top edge of the driving band to the fuze also fits with this ID. Is there any sign of an "N" above the Broad Arrow?

The other possibility is a 5-inch Howitzer shell, but in this case the walls were 0.8 inches / 2 cm thick (or 0.44 inches / 1.12 cm for later marks).

Hi Neville. thanks for the reply. I haven't looked for or seen an N where you suggest. I will look in more detail when I get home. would it be at the narrow or broad end of the arrow? do you have any idea whether the numbers shown are manufacture / batch references?

The "N", denoting Naval Service, would be at the pointed end of the Broad Arrow. The 10/98 simply indicates that the shell was made in October 1898.

HI Neville. no sign of the N on the area suggested, but the surface has been grazed in the general are, so it could have been erased. Thank you for your assistnace, I appreciate it.

regards.
Neil.