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DateOriginal Topic
24th January 2002Fire at Rorke's Drift.
By Paul McIlvenny
Bearing in mind that the Impi had travelled many miles on Jan 22nd, crossing the flooded Buffalo on the way, how did they set fire to the roof of the hospital???
DateReplies
25th January 2002Roger Clifton
I think in the film the fire was started by
a British rifle.
25th January 2002John Young
Paul,

I imagine that they rubbed two sticks together in the time-honoured tradition.

John
25th January 2002Gary Laliberty
Paul,
In the book "The Washing of the Spears" by Donald R. Morris......"The Zulus outside(the Hospital)had succeeded in setting fire to the damp thatch of the roof." All other books that I have say about the same thing. How the Zulus did it I don't know. I go along with what John Young said.
Gary
25th January 2002Bill Power
It is unlikely the fire was started by riflefire! True,the rolled case BoxerHenry had a thin tissue lining cemented to the case,with 3 glazed board wads on top of the charge[the 1st with a concave beeswax plug],but all would be turned to ash!! With muzzleloading weapons it was different,as these used linen or cotton cartridges that were[after the bullet was bitten off,and the powder poured down the barrel]used as wadding. The incendiary effects of this burning wad,are well noted in history,eg.- the Battle of the Wilderness,US Civil War,where the smouldering wads set the shrubbery on fire,the screams of the wounded,unable to escape the conflagration,only added to the horrors of the day!! In a more amusing case,it seems Haydn hired a RockStar flutist for the orchesta at Esterhazy! This boyo decided to supplement the rations by potting a pigeon from the garret window,and set the roof on fire! The Prince was not amused!! Said flutist was in deep merde until 'Papa' bailed him out with a Flash Harry bit in[I believe]the 37th[reaching for my JRL]! Cheers! Bill
26th January 2002Barry Iacoppi
I was under the impression that many native African tribes carried fire in a special pot of smouldering embers.
I guess that certain members of the tribe were allotted the responsibility to do this with a few more as back up. River crossing would be a problem but not impossible. The fire carrier would have the added incentive of not wanting to upset a few thousand Zulus by forcing them to eat a cold breakfast.
27th January 2002Alec Weston
I think the answer is simply that, during the fight in the hospital, one of the oil lamps got smashed. The thatch was damp on the outside so would be difficult to set on fire, whereas everything inside would have been bone dry. A broken oil lamp is like a molotov cocktail. This is just an idea but it is more likely than John's Zulus rubbing sticks or a British bullet.The actual accounts don't seem to mention how it started so this appears to be another mystery.
31st January 2002juan carlos
lo mas razonable es que algunos guerreros tomaron la iniciativa de incendiar el techo utilizando el sistema tradicional usado por los zulues consistente en frotar dos plazos
31st January 2002Edward Bear
Well, I don't think any fair-minded person would disagree with that!
24th April 2002Stephen
I think Juan is on to something here.