A muzzle-loading cast iron cannon with a prominent spherical pommel on the breech. It does not present distinctive signs for its identification, as the so-called “arma” (a heraldic emblem), a weight stamp or inscriptions on the breech ring. The distinguishable elements include a touch hole, the truncated-conical trunnions for pointing the cannon in elevation and positioning it on the carriage, a cordon and ogee made out shortly before and right after other elements. There are no lifting handles, which are almost always missing in naval pieces for practicality (1).
The cannon does not present signs of biological degradation.
1 The bibliography on such weapons, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world, is immense. See, for example, BROWN 1997, pp.101-109; BROWN 2011, pp. 98-105; BROWN 2015, pp. 38-40; SCHUBERT 1949, pp. 83-86; SCOTT, BROWN et al. 2008; TROLLOPE 2002, pp. 51-63; TROLLOPE 2005, pp. 49-58.
REFERENCES
Brown R. R. 1997, Arms and armour from wrecks: an introduction, in Redknap M. (eds), Artefacts from wrecks, Oxbow Monograph, 84, pp.101-109.
Brown R. R. 2011, “A jewel of great value”: English iron gunfounding and its rivals, 1550-1650, in Beltrame C., Ridella R. G. (eds), Ships and Guns. The sea ordnance in Venice and in Europe between the 15th and the 17th century. Oxford, pp. 98-105.
Brown R. R. 2015, 16th and 17th century cast-iron English guns in Polish collections, ICOMAM Magazine, 14, pp. 38-40.
Schubert H. 1949, The Superiority of English Cast-Iron Cannon at the Close of the Sixteenth Century, in The Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, 161, pp.83-86.
Scott S. S. Brown R. R. et al. 2008, The Great Guns Like Thunder: The Cannon from the City of Derry, Derry.
Trollope C. N. 2002, The design and evolution of English cast iron guns from 1543 to 1660, in Journal of the Ordnance Society, 14, pp. 51-63.
Trollope C. N. 2005, The design and evolution of English cast iron guns from 1543 to 1660, in Journal of the Ordnance Society, 17, pp. 49-58.