ROC 
RO'CKER, s. One who rocks the cradle. 
His fellow, who the narrow bed had kept, 
Was weary, and without a rocker slept. Dryden. 
RO'GKET, s. [ rocchetto , Ital.] An artificial fire-work, 
being a cylindrical case of paper filled with nitre, charcoal, 
and sulphur, and which mounts in the air to a considerable 
height, and there bursts.—Every rocket ended in a constel¬ 
lation, showing the air with a shower of silver spangles. 
Addison. 
When bonefires blaze, your vagrant works shall rise 
In rockets, till they reach the wond’ring skies. Garth. 
We have given under the article Pyrotechnics theneces- 
sary information concerning the formation of common 
rockets. It remains, in this place, to insert some calcula¬ 
tions of the flight of these combustibles, and an account of 
Congreve’s rockets, the invention of which promises to be 
an accession to the art of war. The former of these subjects 
will very aptly succeed the latter. The Congreve rockets are 
so called from their inventor, Sir William Congreve. They 
differ from the common rocket, as well in their magnitude 
rind construction, as in the powerful nature of their compo¬ 
sition ; which is such, that without the incumbrance of any 
ordnance (the rocket containing the propelling power wholly 
within itself), balls, shells, case-shot, and carcasses, may be 
projected to the distance of from 1000 to 3000 yards, which 
renders them a most efficacious species of artillery; as they 
may not only be employed in almost every case, and for 
every purpose, as the usual light and heavy ordnance, but 
they are available also in a variety of instances, in which the 
nature of the ground or other impediments, prevent the effec¬ 
tual introduction of those arms. 
These rockets are of various dimensions, as well iti length 
as in ealibre, and are differently armed according as they are 
intended for the field, or for bombardment and conflagra¬ 
tion ; carrying, in the first instance, either shells or case-shot, 
which may be exploded at any part of their flight, spreading 
death and destruction amongst the columns of the enemy; 
and in the second, where they are intended for the destruc¬ 
tion of buildings, shipping, stores, &c. they are armed with 
a peculiar species of composition, which never fails of des¬ 
troying every combustible material with which it comes in 
contact. 
The latter are called carcass-rockets, and were first used at 
Boulogne, their powers having been previously demonstrated 
in some experiments made at Woolwich by Sir William 
Congreve, in the presence of Mr. Pitt and several of the 
cabinet ministers, in the month of September 1805. Sir 
Sidney Smith was ordered to command the expedition in¬ 
tended for this purpose; but from the lateness of the season, 
it being near the end of November before the preparations 
were completed, nothing was done that year. In 1806, Sir 
William Congreve renewed his proposition for the attack of 
Boulogne by rockets, which was ordered to be put in exe¬ 
cution after lord Moira, at that time master-general of the 
ordnance, and lord Howick, first lord of the admiralty, had 
satisfied themselves of the efficacious nature of the weapons, 
from other experiments made again at Woolwich for that 
purpose. The attack was accordingly made under the com¬ 
mand of commodore Owen, late in October 1806; having 
been put off during the summer months, in consequence of 
the negociations for peace, at that time pending between the 
courts of England and France. 
From this delay, however, instead of being conducted 
upon the grand scale at first intended, it became a mere de¬ 
sultory attack, in which not more than 200 rockets were 
fired. The town, however, was set on fire by the first 
discharge, and continued burning for near two days: it 
was supposed also that some shipping was destroyed 
but the greater part of the rockets certainly went over the 
basin into the town. 
After this, their first introduetion as a military weapon, the 
K E T. 171 
carcass-rockets have been used in almost every expedition, 
and in nearly all under the immediate inspection of their 
inventor. Their reputation was completely established at 
Copenhagen, where they did incredible execution: after the 
siege, they were ordered by lord Chatham, the master-gene¬ 
ral of the ordnance, to be reported upon by a committee of 
field officers of artillery, who had witnessed their effect in 
that bombardment, and who pronounced them to to be “ a 
powerful auxiliary to the present systetn of artillery." 
Indeed the powers of this weapon are now established upon 
the best of all testimonies, the best of all criterions, the testi¬ 
mony of the enemy; a striking instance of which occurred 
at the siege of Flushing, where general Monnet, the French 
commandant, made a formal remonstrance to lord Chatham, 
respecting the use of them in that bombardment; than 
which no better fact need be recorded of the effect they must 
have produced. If such, therefore, be the acknowledged 
power of the weapon in such an early stage of its progress, 
and only when a handful, as it were, were used, merely by 
way of experiment, under the inventor, with not more than 
tiventy or thirty men to assist him, what may not be expect¬ 
ed, when regularly organized in the service, and generally 
combined with the other implements of bombardment? 
At present we have spoken only of the carcass-rockets; 
it is not, however, in bombardment only that this species of 
artillery may be advantageously employed; their powers in 
the field having been demonstrated to be equally irresistible. 
The crown prince of Sweden*was the first general who bore 
testimony to their effects in this service; a small corps of 
rocketeers, under the command of captain Bogue of the royal 
artillery, having been attached to this division of the allied 
armies; and w'ho, in the ever memorable battle of Leipsic, 
while yet the fate of empires was suspended in fearful equi¬ 
librium, gloriously maintained the honour of the British 
arms, and incontrovertibly established the reputation of the 
rocket system. 
They were afterwards employed with great effect when the 
British army, under the command of the duke of Wellington, 
crossed the Adour; and had the war continued, we should, 
in all probability, have seen them as commonly in active 
service in the field as the other artillery. In consequence o 
these successes, and a variety of other instances, which our 
limits will not allow" us to enumerate, his royal highness the 
prince regent commanded the formation of a rocket corps, 
which took place on the 1st of January 1814, by augmenta¬ 
tion to the regiment of royal artillery, as proposed by lord 
Mulgrave, master-general of the ordnance. 
Having thus given a sketch of the history, improvement, 
and introduction of the rocket-system of artillery, we shall 
proceed to give such explanation of the nature and applica¬ 
tion of the weapon in different species of attack and defence, 
as may be consistent with the general interest of the service; 
such only being suffered to transpire; for, the military rocket 
being exclusively an English weapon, all the more minute 
and important particulars, both of construction and compo¬ 
sition, are very properly kept a profound secret, being pro¬ 
bably known in complete detail by no person except the in¬ 
ventor himself. 
The general form of all the different kinds of rockets, for 
whatever service they may be designed, is cylindrical, being 
formed in strong metallic cases, and armed, as we have before 
stated, either with carcass composition for bombardment and 
conflagration, or with shells and case-shot for field service. 
They are, however, of various weights and dimensions, from 
the eight-inch carcass, or explosion rocket, weighing nearly 
three hundred weight, to the six-pound shell-rocket, which 
is the smallest size used in the field. The sticks which are 
employed for regulating their flight are also of different 
lengths, according to the size and service of the rocket; and 
which, for the convenience of carriage, are stowed apart from 
the rocket, and so contrived as to consist of two or more 
parts, which are connected to it, and to each other, when 
requisite, with the utmost expedition. 
Rocket 
