Loaded Rev. War cannon found in Central Park

[boomerralph]

Inneresting!
 
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/01/11/exclusive-loaded-revolutionary-war-era-cannon-found-in-central-park/
 

[Artilleryman]

The 800 gram charge mentioned would be just about a correct load of 1 1/2 lbs of powder for a six pounder.  The 800 grams comes out to 1.76 pounds, but it could have contained a lot of moisture or someone rounded off the measurement.

[steelcharge]

Very interesting find, it's always interesting to read about old cannons found with their original loading still in the bore. It gives you some great examples of  what really was used. Thanks for posting!

[cannonmn]

There a few articles and at least one video out on this.  I am always skeptical.  I don't think the powder taken out of the bore was original to the cannon's capture or salvage.  In the photo I saw, it looked perfect, like right out of a Goex can.  The cannonball had no corrosion, very unlike the surface of either cannon shown in the video.  Also the fact that the wadding was cotton bothered me.  I think there's a good chance the cannon was loaded by some pranksters for firing on some holiday in the 20th C. while the cannon was still outside on display.   The fuse went out, or more likely there was a pool of water in the cannon which prevented ignition and the pranksters went home to sober up.  My theory anyway!  If the powder were original to the time of salvage, the bomb squad made an historic error in failing to preserve some for analysis by the historic/scientific community.

[SHOOTALL]

Back in the late 70's there was an article about a guy who uncovered his great grandfathers foot locker fron the Civil War which among other things had his Co0lt revolver in it loaded. Iw stated he fired it once or twice at a range and was told not to fire anymore as the loads should be inspected . long story short one of the powder companies bough the remaining powder .
 So if it was old powder a great chance was missed. But then the way NYC covers up stuff they wouldn't want folks to know how close a problem had come to happening.

[GGaskill]

There are a number of inconsistencies in the report that make me wonder if anything is true.  If the gun had lain in the East River for very long, it is hard to believe the powder wouldn't have been deactivated from that.  If the bore had been filled with concrete when it was displayed in the 1860's, it is hard to believe that someone could have loaded it later.

This may have been a practical joke by the bomb squad; bring their own powder along and show it after the shot was removed from the bore.  One can never tell what really happened by looking at a movie/video.  Too easy to insert fraudulent material or remove relevant material.

[cannonmn]

bring their own powder along and show it after the shot was removed from the bore

AKA "Job Security."  That's like when a 6 lb. solid shot is turned in, and busness has been slow at the squad recently, they may go to their demo site, rig it (off camera) with 5 lbs of C4, then pop it on camera to show what a grave threat to society that thing actually was.

[flagman1776]

RI's "Gettyburg Gun" (First RI Light Artillery) had a larger cannon ball lodged in it's muzzle & was long on public display as returned.  It was discovered a few years ago that the gun was fully loaded when struck.  Experts were called in to disable the charge without destroying the artifact. 
A number of years ago, I was privledged to get a back room tour of the Springfield Armory Museum (NPS) by the curator.  Shelves were piled high with battlefield returns.  He cautioned me not to touch anything as they'd recently discovered a Nazi sub-gun to be fully loaded with 36 rounds & one up the pipe & safety off.  Yikes!
On display, was a corkscrewed Civil War musket with bayonette where a sentry had been hit by lightning & it was still loaded. 

[SHOOTALL]

Here in Richmond Va we are surrounded with battle fields from many wars . There is still alot of cannon ball found from the Civil War along with guns and edged weapons . A few years ago a guy found a cannon ball and was drilling a hole in it when it exploded . It had been in the ground since the battle for Richmond. I would not bet on the charge going bad. I don't know but if black powder is wet and dried will it still explode ?
 We also have Fort Pickett near here and back in the 70's some kids found a projectile there , took it to school shop class and were taking it apart when one hit it with a hammer setting it off .
 amatures should not try to disarm any ordance .

[Cannoneer]

I don't know but if black powder is wet and dried will it still explode ?
 

Yes it definitely can, and has.

[little seacoast]

Projectiles under water for 150 years can still be lethal, the dredge used to deepen and widen the channel in Charleston SC  recently sucked one up which detonated inside the dredge. True story told to me by the Corp of Engineers guys in Charleston.