Anyone know anything about cannons?

[Thalassamania]

The ones that we brought up were iron, that's all I have direct experience with. You are right, brass and bronze cannons do not rust, but it is my understanding (and poor understanding at that) that the older non-ferrous cannons have special conservation needs similar to ferrous ones.

 

[Hammerhead]

It depends on the material that you are dealing with. I an no expert, I've just had the opportunity to watch pros at work on material that we brought up from the bottom. You are likely to need a hydrogen (reducing) furnace, as well as some containers to keep the cannons wet in (with carefully controlled salinity adjustment) and some equipment that will actively measure and cancel out the electro-potential. This is all way beyond what you, or I, or anyone outside of a marine archaeological institute is equipped with. The best advice I can give you is to call in someone who knows what they are doing, how to conserve it, and who has the training to learn the most from your find.

What I'm telling you is not a snide remark, it's the truth. You can pull it up, and put it on your lawn (or whatever you plan to do with it) and destroy any value that is has. In a few years you will have a pile of rust that will be barely recognizable, I know, I've seen enough of them rotting in people's houses.

OK, fair enough. We have a Marine Museum here in Hong Kong, and can enlist their help. We're not after any profit; this is really just a bunch of middle-aged men (and me) doing a bit of Boy's Own adventure stuff.

If the cannons have any historical value, and if this can be established, they belong in a museum anyway. If not, then we can at least try and work on the salvage of one of them ourselves and put it on show in the pub, just to show we did it.

If possible, I'm going to try to establish the material on the next dive, and we can take it from there...

 

[shugar]

OK, fair enough. We have a Marine Museum here in Hong Kong, and can enlist their help. We're not after any profit; this is really just a bunch of middle-aged men (and me) doing a bit of Boy's Own adventure stuff.

If the cannons have any historical value, and if this can be established, they belong in a museum anyway. If not, then we can at least try and work on the salvage of one of them ourselves and put it on show in the pub, just to show we did it.

If possible, I'm going to try to establish the material on the next dive, and we can take it from there...

so you're back in HK? since when?

Jag

 

[diebeste]

Crazy idea, I know, but why not leave them where they are so that future generations of divers (and marine life) can enjoy them?