# Would the East India Company still be around if the Indian Mutiny never happened? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 23, 2008, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-east-india-company-still-be-around-if-the-indian-mutiny-never-happened/453900 "2008-06-23T12:15:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2008, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-east-india-company-still-be-around-if-the-indian-mutiny-never-happened/453900/21 "2008-07-14T23:57:55Z")
[QUOTE=Martini Enfield] FWIW, the EIC soon issued cartridges greased with a combination of vegetable oils and beeswax, and changed the loading drill so that the cartridge was torn open by hand, but by then it was too late to reverse the damage and things just deteriorated from there. [/QUOTE] One concern voiced by some sepoys was, amusingly enough, that even if new recruits were trained to tear, not bite, their cartridges, they might _forget_ and bite them anyways. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-east-india-company-still-be-around-if-the-indian-mutiny-never-happened/453900/22 "2008-07-15T00:02:24Z")
[QUOTE=Boozahol Squid, P.I.] they might _forget_ and bite them anyways. [/QUOTE] Iโ€™d buy that. Iโ€™ve never been shot at, but I presume it gets rather hairy. Well trained British soldiers fired with the ram rod in the barrel sometimes. ๐Ÿ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-east-india-company-still-be-around-if-the-indian-mutiny-never-happened/453900/23 "2008-07-15T13:27:34Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] โ€ฆ it gets rather hairy. Well trained British soldiers fired with the ram rod in the barrel sometimes. ๐Ÿ™‚ [/QUOTE] Is that what the kids are calling it these days? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-east-india-company-still-be-around-if-the-indian-mutiny-never-happened/453900/24 "2008-07-15T13:41:22Z")
[QUOTE=BMalion] Is that what the kids are calling it these days? [/QUOTE] You lost me on that. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2008, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-east-india-company-still-be-around-if-the-indian-mutiny-never-happened/453900/25 "2008-07-15T13:56:07Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] You lost me on that. [/QUOTE] Me too. ๐Ÿ˜• Besides firing with the ram-rod still in the barrel, soldiers were also known to accidentally super-impose loads (load the rifle, get distracted by a spear or bullet whizzing past their head, forget if theyโ€™d loaded the rifle or not, load the rifle again, fire, KABOOM.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-the-east-india-company-still-be-around-if-the-indian-mutiny-never-happened/453900.md?page=1)