Two 300+yrs old French cannon recovered, restored, and resold

[Cannoneer]

This link opens an article (May, 2010) about two late 17th, or early 18th century bronze French cannon that were recovered off the Honduran coast in 1997. There may be a few things mentioned in this article that just don't smell all that sweet, but I'm only going to focus on one of them. I'll post the still photos, but open the link to read the article, and watch the video of the barrels restoration. I'm no scholar on bronze conservation, but I'm of the opinion that there are things being done to those barrels that would make a conservator at Texas A&M University holler stop! The small size of these interesting cannon (one's a breech loader) might suggest that they're swivel guns, but the larger barrel may have been used as a deck gun. 

http://www.nctimes.com/business/article_b869faaf-f53e-5fcf-aac5-cab0881c287e.html

[dan610324]

I have seen idiots destroy things earlier
but this must be the biggest idiot in the world

[gulfcoastblackpowder]

Air tools!?!     

Wow.

[NinjaToes]

OMG they have no clue 

[rifleshooter2]

They will probally get their own TV show.

[Cannoneer]

Upon first seeing the video my jaw dropped, I couldn't believe what this self taught conservator (maniac/butcher would be more appropriate titles) was having done to those barrels. I saw two power tools with steel wire brush attachments being used on the surface of those tubes, and it also looked like they were using steel scrapers. From the article, and also shown in the vid: "He used a wire brush to eliminate the worst of the outer rust on smooth parts of the cannons and a citric acid solution originally developed by the Navy to remove calcium deposits." Unbelievable!

[Mike H.]

So how should very old iron or very old bronze tubes be cleaned, if it has to be done?

[Cannoneer]

Mike,
 
This PDF gives a good description of the conservation undertaken on two bronze cannon recovered from the shipwreck (1742) of the Victory, commanded by Admiral Sir John Balchin.

http://www.shipwreck.net/pdf/OMEPapers16-FinalVictoryCannon2.pdf


This is also an excellent document for anyone that has an interest in the conservation of iron and/or bronze artifacts recovered from a marine environment.
Iron Conservation: Parts I & II, and Cupreous Metal (Copper, Bronze, Brass) Conservation.

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/crl/conservationmanual/ConservationManual.pdf

[RocklockI]

I see a half moon figure in the bottom photo . It is on the left side of the crest , or am I seeing things ?
Gary

[dan610324]

its 3 french lillies

[dan610324]

first and most important if I understand it right is to keep the barrels for a year or two in destilled water to remove all salt from porosities in the material

[Double D]

Dan I don't think it is quite that simple.  I woulf probably be able to tell you all about it but the  Maritime  Museum was closed yesterdy.  They are doing the restoration on the Monitor and her XI Dalhgren shell guns

[dan610324]

I dont know about iron , but for bronze thats an important step in the conservation process

[GGaskill]

I think it is even more important with iron.  I think they use a solution of washing soda and distilled water and hook up some kind of electrical supply to help.  And they change out the solution every now and then to get rid of the salt that has leached out.

[Cannoneer]

Dan,

From what I’ve managed to absorb (not much, I’m no chemist) from documents like these, is that the conservation treatment, or how the order of the steps used in the treatment are arranged, is entirely dependant on the condition of the specific bronze artifact being conserved. I think the desalination process that involves immersions in tap, distilled, and/or deionized water are usually, but not always used, and they aren’t always the first treatments used on the object being preserved.

We have a member (Bob Smith) who works in this field, and his wife Dr. Ruth Brown is an internationally known early cannon expert (especially early iron artillery).