During the siege of Tenochtitlan (1521), the conquistadors built a trebuchet to aid in the subjugation of the city. However, being a party of explorers, they didn't bring any military engineers with them. In true 'wing it' fashion, they built their trebuchet based on drawings some of them remembered seeing sometime or other. The first time they fired it, it worked - it launched the log ammunition straight up. It promptly came straight down and smashed the trebuchet to flinders.
Boru
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson