Hey all has anyone ever seen any guns like these sitting around the Coast Guard, in front of a building, back in a store room, just taking up space somewhere? Apparently as the story goes some old guns like these were brought aboard American Shoal lighthouses' maintenance deck some time in the late fifties by USCG personnel. The guns were bronze with ornate dolphins on them. There is a private company that has been looking for a galleon sunk in 1563, near American Shoal, Lower Florida Keys and they feel they are close to the main wreck. These old guns recovered by the Coast Guard may have some significance to their ship. I have contacted ANT Key West to see if they may have any history but wanted to know if any cannon cockers may have stumbled on anything like these in our careers. We tend to be the only ones that look at stuff like that. Probably long gone but figured we could ask. I received an E-Mail from the historian's office. Anyone?
Please pass this on if you may know anyone that might have an interest.
GMC Steve G. Wilson United States Coast Guard Training Center Yorktown (757) 856-2839 Honor, Pride, Loyalty, Respect Remember, you can play Russian roulette for a long time.........Until you lose.
I've posted this in a couple places here in Freds Place to cover all bases. Please feel free to reply or call if you have information at all or can think of anything.
Looks like two different guns based on the cascabels (knobs / handels on the back of the cannon) Dolphin handle in the top two pics and a double knob cascabel in the second group. Here's a site for basic cannon info: WNY Bronze Guns of Leuteze Park / Cannon Glossary.
The cannon's origin can be determined by the Ciphers and Coat of Arms cast on top of barrel, in the area between the 1st reinforcement. Dolphin handles were common from about 1550 to around 1780 on majority of European cannon.
Source: Naval Guns: 500 Years of Ship and Coastal Artillery By Hans Mehl
Additional information on cannon can be found in the National Park Service's Artillery Through the Ages online book. The online book can be found at the following site: http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/source/is3/index.htm
These are canons similar to the ones we're trying to locate. additionally have you seen any around the Coast Guard, in front of a building/station, in a bouy yard, that someone might've overlooked?
