[MR] History Blog: Oldest Cannon Found Underwater

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially Those Who Love Things That Go Bang!

Today's History Blog story concerns a likely 14th century cannon recovered
from the seafloor near Sweden. It appears to be an early ship's gun, though
nothing remains of the ship itself. The weapon was recovered by a diver in
2001, but the scientific analysis has only just been published.

The "gunne" is just 19 inches long, and its wide mouth is suggestive of a
later blunderbus. Traces of a cloth powder "cartouche" allowed the weapon
to be radiocarbon dated to between 1285 and 1399, making it among the
oldest such weapons to survive in Europe. The "gunne" was surrendered to
the Swedish government under their artifact laws, and is now on display in
a regional museum.

The story and a photo is at https://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/68252 .

The journal article has more details at
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00253359.2023.2225311 .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆
Continuing the crusade to keep Merry Rose relevant and in business.