A 4 Pounder...Revisited!

[romeo-1]

So tonight while I was cleaning my balls...wait, let me start over. Recently I've been lucky enough to find 5 cannonballs on a salt water beach. I found the first three in February and have been soaking them in fresh water ever since to extract the salt water. Every couple of days I change the water and give the cannonballs a good scrub with a stiff bristle brush. I usually do this in my basement but decided to take them out doors and really inspect them hoping to find a marked ball.

Well, I don't know how I missed this...the 4 pounder is clearly marked with a British Broadarrow! The 4 pounder is in the best condition and is probably the newest of the bunch! I'd been hoping for a marked ball...and here it is!

 

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[dwayne sueno]

it's good to get the salt off of them at some point...
good eye. great spot you've got there.

 

[HISPAN]

Great cannon ball ...congrats!
H

 

[steelheadwill]

Nice looking mark
Do you know if all British balls were marked?
or was there a certain era when they were,
Any info about this would be appreciated
Best digs

 

[The Patriot]

Great one...welcome to the British Broadarrow club.. my 4 pounder is also a Broadarrow... thought all the balls you found there were much earlier but you never know what's going to turn up on a site like that.. congrats

 

[romeo-1]

Nice looking mark
Do you know if all British balls were marked?
or was there a certain era when they were,
Any info about this would be appreciated
Best digs

Not all British balls are marked. I believe they started marking them in 1714 but didn't mark them all. Not sure of the criteria.

 

[romeo-1]

Great one...welcome to the British Broadarrow club.. my 4 pounder is also a Broadarrow... thought all the balls you found there were much earlier but you never know what's going to turn up on a site like that.. congrats

I'm pretty sure that the others are older but I always figured that the 4 pounder was a newer ball...it has much less corrosion than the others. This area, as you know, was active since the early 1600s and remained active until the mid 1800s. That's the reason why we were finding Enfields on the musket ball beach.

 

[Iron Patch]

Marked French is better.

 

[romeo-1]

Marked French is better.

Stay tuned...I've got a month's worth of electrolysis coming up...may be a French one in the bunch.

 

[steelheadwill]

Nice looking mark
Do you know if all British balls were marked?
or was there a certain era when they were,
Any info about this would be appreciated
Best digs

Not all British balls are marked. I believe they started marking them in 1714 but didn't mark them all. Not sure of the criteria.

Thanks Romeo1
keep that nice iron coming

 

[Iron Patch]

Marked French is better.

Stay tuned...I've got a month's worth of electrolysis coming up...may be a French one in the bunch.

yeah the more crusty they are the better chance something is hiding.

They're cool, but I'll still take a good Rev War button site over them. It's been a heck of a long time since we had one of those here.

 

[romeo-1]

IP...so would I...now. Since I now have a productive iron site a nice button site would be great. If I can locate a couple sites related to the cannonball site I may have that button site.

 

[kittspirate]

Sweet finds Romeo1


HH
Rain

 

[romeo-1]

Sweet finds Romeo1


HH
Rain

Thanks...with a little work I'm hoping to get it (and the rest) looking like yours. This one has been soaking in fresh water since February so I think I'm almost to the electrolysis phase of the preservation...

 

[West Jersey Detecting]

Nice. Mine are "made with pride in the USA"