early shrapnel shell?

[shelllikehell]

Hi to all - I went to the Army Museum in Stockholm this weekend and saw what seems to be an early (very early?) shrapnel shell...basically a cone made of wood filled with stones. Have u seen this before?
Unfortunatelly all the explanations were in Swedish (this was a quite a shock) and I could not understand a thing..
cheers
pablo

 

[paul the grenade]

i have seen some thing very similar and even older in the Mary Rose museum in portsmouth.
they were like very small wooden barrels filled with broken flint. they were fired from cannons at the troops and sailors on the decks of ships like a large shotgun. they must have caused horendous casualties.
paul.