Expanding this article[]
I'm planning to expand this into a full article, tracking the dynamite and its impact on the lives of the lostaways. I'm researching it before I start rather than as I go. --Nigedo 19:12, 23 June 2006 (PDT)
I recall that box we saw the dynamite in looked almost too modern and millitary for an old slave ship, even a very well preserved ship. I suspect that has no meaning but was something that suck in my mind.
Am almost certain that the dynamite came later. Dynamite wasn't invented until 1863 after the slave trade (though not slavery) was abolished in most nations. Of course it could always have been transporting the slaves illegaly or using the "contract scam" in which African (and other) natives were promised jobs overseas and wound up virtual slaves after signingh contracts that (since they were illiterate) they had no way of knowing what they'd agreed to.--Tricksterson 08:29, 13 March 2006 (PST)
Dynamite was indeed invented in 1863, patented in 1867, and it's very unlikely that a volume of commercially available, packaged incendiaries using dynamite would have been available any earlier than 1870 or so. According to the ship's log book, the Black Rock would have arrived in 1845. Given the writers' attention to detail, it's unlikely that the dynamite is an accidental anachronism. Nonetheless, it's difficult to see what the point would be of the dynamite arriving later than the Black Rock. Seems to me that what fits the mythology is having a vessel of some sort, with a mystery surrounding it, and some assets in that vessels that play a role in the plot. The Black Rock is certainly a vessel, its presence on the island is certainly a mystery not fully solved, and the dynamite is the asset that was used most notably to explode the hatch, and to demonstrate how Jacob's gift has affected Richard and Jack. Other examples of this slice of the mythology are the two commercial airliners, as well as Yemme's plane, the sailboat, the sub, the helicopter.Blitzislost 11:04, March 11, 2010 (UTC)
Dynamite and other explosives have very little force without being compacted, ie: simply covered with dirt, so the explosion has something to press against. I find it highly unlikely that just setting the dynamite on top the hatch as Jack did would actually have blown it open.
The dynamite (having a relatively modern appearance) might have been brought to the Island by Army engineers. The idea is a little to soft to hold up on the theory page.--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 17:03, January 28, 2010 (UTC)
discussion moved from article trivia section[]
- Locke points out upon entering the Black Rock that the skeletons suggest the ship was used for slave trade. However, dynamite wasn't invented until 1863 -- long after the slave trade was made illegal in most countries.
- It should be said though that information from the Lost Experience would suggest that the ship disappeared in 1881, so chronologically is accurate to the discovery of dynamite.
- Not to mention that the slave trade persists to this day, albeit illegally. -BearDog 14:16, 15 November 2006 (PST)
- The convicts transported to Australia were carried in some vessels that had been slavers. The last convicts were transported after dynamite was invented.--Jim in Georgia Contribs Talk 17:03, January 28, 2010 (UTC)