During the siege of Constantinople, stone balls weighing 180 kg and up to 270 kg were hurled from the 60-meter-high tower on the Bosphorus built by Mehmet II onto the few Venetian ships that had dared to break the blockade to exit the Black Sea with their cargo. Three Venetian cogs attempted to pass without lowering their sails: two managed to make it, but the third sank, the crew captured and beheaded, and the captain impaled.
