Author Topic: Interesting 17th C. Portuguese bronze cannon in Brazil  (Read 454 times)

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Offline cannonmn

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Interesting 17th C. Portuguese bronze cannon in Brazil
« on: February 11, 2012, 05:52:57 PM »
This is at Barra Lighthouse, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.  Anyone want to interpret the markings?  I could spent some time to make the photo show up here without clicking on the link, but it is on someone else's site. 
The markings are in great shape on this one even though it is outside, because there's no acid rain in that neck of the woods.  It would be nice to have at least a profile shot of this elegant piece.  Maybe someone will go a-Googling and see if there are any more pix of it on the web.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/buratto/6560614875/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Note how there's only a small amount of green verdegris present, and the remainder of the surface presents a waxed-bronze appearance.  I strongly suspect this one has undergone conservation recently, where loose corrision products are removed, then the piece is treated with hot microcrystalline wax.                     

Offline Bob Smith

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Re: Interesting 17th C. Portuguese bronze cannon in Brazil
« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2012, 02:56:05 AM »
I think that is one of the guns from the Portuguese Santíssimo Sacramento lost in 1668 off Brazil. Joe Guilmartin has written on the guns and one of his articles is available online here: http://www.angelfire.com/ga4/guilmartin.com/Santissimo.html
He lists all the guns with weights and one is the right date and weight for this example. Most of the rest of the guns are scattered round museums in collections in Rio and other parts of Brazil.
 
Bob Smith

Offline cannonmn

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Re: Interesting 17th C. Portuguese bronze cannon in Brazil
« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2012, 03:13:43 PM »
Thanks Bob, good info.