Which is more disturbing.......

[DennisS]

I'd bet it came from Biscayne National Park. You know the place, the one marked on the charts that says "don't go here". Kind of like placing a bar zone in a foreign country off limits and telling the sailors "don't go here".

Legare Anchorage?? Don't dive here, don't snorkel here, don't even think about stopping here. I went to a lecture by the FL U/W archaeology preserve people and listened to them talk about making the state's shipwreck sites open to the public. When I asked about Legare anchorage, I just got a bunch of sputtering.

There are a lot of ship wrecks in what is now Biscayne Nat'l Park. There is a good book that covers them, "Diving to a Flash of Gold" by Martin Meylach. He used to salvage some of them before it was a protected zone. There is a good fold out chart in the back of the book with lots of descriptions of the wrecks in the book. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in the 1733 wrecks in the keys and other wrecks in the northern keys and off of Elliot Key

I used to have four cannon balls, don't know what happened to them. Things used to be a lot looser in the 70's as far as the wrecks go.

 

[Wookie]

Man, last year in a trip report I referred to a wreck in a park. The Park Service underwater archeology ... ummmm... woman threatened me with violations of the Historic resource preservation act and the antiquities act. They have no sense of humor.

 

[The Chairman]

Was that in the Tortugas, Wookie?

 

[Capt Scotty]

Recovered cannon balls have been in salt water for 100's of years. If there are removed and not handled properly they expand and basically explode sends bits of metal flying everywhere.

 

[mike_s]

How does a cannon ball explode? It's just a lump of metal.Or am I missing something?

Not all cannon balls are solid shot: some are shells filled with explosives. Unless the diver knows how to tell the difference, he should treat it as explosive. i am not sure that I could tell the difference, especially if it was encrusted. It seems that there were a lot of assumptions made and I still wonder where it came from. Read the article I cited for how the fun ended for a civil war buff who buffed one too many times on what he thought was solid shot. Here's a list of projectiles that a cannon can fire: List of cannon projectiles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ianr33, this might make some sense to how cannonballs can explode. Cross sections with shot and explosive charge inside. Set off by a fuse to explode at a certain timed delay or on impact.

 

[The Chairman]

Shniekies! Henry Shrapnel created the first exploding shell? That's where the term comes from? Thanks for the etymology lesson.

 

[mike_s]

Shniekies! Henry Shrapnel created the first exploding shell? That's where the term comes from? Thanks for the etymology lesson.

yep. you learn something every day.


notice the other improved shell was made by Boxer. makes you wonder when one of those shells went off, you had to go "change your boxers" was coined?

 

[Thalassamania]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Shrapnel

Henry Shrapnel (3 June 1761 - 13 March 1842) was a British Army officer and inventor, most famously, of the "shrapnel shell".

Henry Shrapnel was born in Bradford on Avon, Wiltshire, England.

In 1784, while a lieutenant in the Royal Artillery, he perfected, with his own resources, an invention of what he called "spherical case" ammunition: a hollow cannon ball filled with shot which burst in mid-air. This device was for use as an anti-personnel weapon. When it was finally adopted by the British Army in 1803, it immediately acquired the inventor's name: the shrapnel shell. (It has lent the term "shrapnel" to fragmentation from artillery shells and fragmentation in general ever since, long after it was replaced by high explosive rounds.)

Shrapnel served in Flanders where he was wounded in 1793 and was promoted to major on 1 November 1803 after eight years as a captain. After his invention's success in battle on 30 April 1804, Shrapnel was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 20 July 1804, less than nine weeks later.

In recognition of Shrapnel's contribution, the British Government in 1814 awarded him £1200 (about $128,000 USD in today's money) a year for life. He was appointed to the office of Colonel-Commandant, Royal Artillery, on 6 March 1827. He rose to the rank of lieutenant-general on 10 January 1837.

Until the end of World War I the shells were still being manufactured according to his original principles.

 

[The Chairman]

Yeah, that's a stretch.

yep. you learn something every day.


notice the other improved shell was made by Boxer. makes you wonder when one of those shells went off, you had to go "change your boxers" was coined?

 

[ianr33]

Thanks guys. I learned something today.

But...................

When it was finally adopted by the British Army in 1803, it immediately acquired the inventor's name: the shrapnel shell. (It has lent the term "shrapnel" to fragmentation from artillery shells and fragmentation in general ever since, long after it was replaced by high explosive rounds.)

<<An 18th Century, coral-crusted cannonball was discovered February 2 in a checked bag at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Broward County, Florida,>>

If shrapnel shells were first used by the British in 1803, how come an 18th century Wreck off the Keys would have exploding cannonballs?