How Greek Fire Was Used to Target Enemy Ships

677 A.D. War over Constantinople. Muslim Arabic invaders lay siege to the Byzantine capital. Ships block the city walls, cutting off all supplies. A brilliant inventor named Kalinikos offers help. He presents Constantine IV with a new weapon, a mysterious substance that, when ignited, burns bright and hot. Greek fire. The Byzantines want to burn down the attacker's fleet, but they face another problem. How do they manage to get the flames to the enemy ships? The solution is a primitive pump, known as a siphon, which normally would expel a jet of water. Only instead of spitting water, it spits fire. On the backside, it has a container for the flammable liquid. With a double-cylinder pump, the liquid moves through a pipe or hose up to the nozzle. With the help of a fireball, the liquid is then ignited. How dangerous is a replica Byzantine flamethrower? Could this invention really have forced the Arab fleet to give up? According to ancient reports, up to three Greek fire hoses were installed on the Byzantine warships. In this experiment, simulating an attack on a wooden warship, will Stephen's mixture burn long enough to ignite the ship's wall from roughly 32 feet away? In no time, the wooden wall is ablaze. The burning liquid sticks to the wood. All the crew could do was watch helplessly.