Cannonball just found in Caribbean waters

[BRUNO ST KITTS]

Good day,

I found this cannonball (see photo) this morning and I am quite excited as it is my first find. The cannonball has been in the sea for over 200 years and is now covered with marine growth

I am wondering:

1. should I clean it or keep it as is ?
2. what should I do to preserve it (at the moment it is in a bucket with 60% sea water and 40% fresh water) ?
3. does it have any monetary value ?

Many thanks for your help

Bruno

 

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[Aussie]

That could very well be one if blackbeards iron balls!

 

[GatorBoy]

You will need to soak that in fresh water that is changed every couple days for a good two months to Leach out the salt water.
Otherwise it will deteriorate from the inside out..eventually collapsing into a pile of rust.
Then coat it heavily with a thick lacquer like rust-oleum.
A light dose of electrolysis should remove the exterior sea life as it falls away with the layer of corrosion.
I burned up a couple tanks of air just getting one of those off the bottom wedged against a reef.
How did you mannage? Heavy suckers aren't they!

 

[wrecker]

Probably not worth much unless you have documentation on it like from which ship or wreck etc. You should keep it in fresh water. The water reservoir of your toilet is a good place, so the water gets automatically exchanged all the time. Salt has penetrated into the iron over the centuries and it takes a long time to get it out. I can't tell how long it takes, depends how long it's been in sea water and what quality the metal originally was. Maybe a year. With a mixture of 60% seawater/40% fresh water it takes even longer. You should use 100% fresh water. Don't let the cannon ball dry as long as there is any salt left in the metal- the ball would crumble and fall into pieces. Nice find though. Maybe you can google conservation of iron objects from the sea. Good luck

 

[gsxraddict]

build an electrolysis, you can youtube it and find videos of how to do it.

Being found in salt water you need to keep it in the electrolysis for about a year maybe longer to pull all of the salt out.

I found a mortar fragment, didn't electrolysis it and it fell apart; don't let that happen.

 

[GatorBoy]

No no no..
Freshwater for several months at least but never never electrolysis for a year!
It would be a blue and purple lump of ash by then.

 

[GatorBoy]

Electrolysis does not preserve anything..it just breaks the bond the corrosion has on the object. Its just a cleaning method.

 

[BRUNO ST KITTS]

Thank you to GatorBoy, wrecker, and gsxaddict for your constructive feedback. Your input is very helpful to me. I am an avid scuba diver but I found the cannonball in only 3 feet of water, while snorkeling. I got a signal on my metal detector, I moved what I thought was a round rock to check underneath it but there was no signal anymore. I went back to the 'rock' and I got the signal again. Lucky find ! thanks again !

 

[GatorBoy]

That's awesome.. lucky dog.
Nice save! Now comes the hard part.... actually saving it.

 

[Erik in NJ]

There were some posts here or on another forum that recommended soaking the ball in mollasses as well. I can't mention the other forum here, but drop me a PM and I think I can direct you to the posts as a friend sound several balls on another island of former British posession.

 

[dig kzoo]

Cool find!

 

[MariahGreer]

wow that's so kewl... Im getting ready to go work on a cruise ship for 3 months, I had planned when I came back to goto the Caribbean for a couple of weeks then possibly china later in the year..... So my question is.. would they let someone take that home on an airplane.... if I found something that heavy how would I get it back to the states... LOL

 

[NOLA_Ken]

wow that's so kewl... Im getting ready to go work on a cruise ship for 3 months, I had planned when I came back to goto the Caribbean for a couple of weeks then possibly china later in the year..... So my question is.. would they let someone take that home on an airplane.... if I found something that heavy how would I get it back to the states... LOL

There shouldn't be any problem putting it in with your luggage so long as it's a solid shot. I'm thinking they'd frown on an explosive ball though.

 

[GatorBoy]

LOL.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Soaking it won't get the salt that has been absorbed in to the core of your cannon ball, you NEED to do electrolysis on it. And when your iron artefacts come from the saltwater it will take several months or even years depending on the size and the time it has been submerged.
I will dig up an artical on doing the electrolysis and post it here but for now just keep it wet.
ZDD
I hope this works, I scanned the doc and saved it as a Jpeg.

 

[GatorBoy]

I think what you mean is an electrochemical bath.
That's done in a 10% solution of sodiumhydroxide..90% water.
Electrolysis is different..its only a cleaning method.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

There shouldn't be any problem putting it in with your luggage so long as it's a solid shot. I'm thinking they'd frown on an explosive ball though.

Don't do it.

The TSA Blog: TSA Week in Review: Coral Covered Explosively Viable Cannonball

 

[AU Seeker]

If you do soak the cannonball in water, use rainwater and not tap water, most tap water contains chlorine, which is a chloride, e.g. salt, the same as what the cannonball has been sitting in for however long it was in the ocean.

A rain barrel connected to a downspout of a rain gutter is a great place to soak items such as your cannonball, the water will basically get changed every time it rains.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

I think what you mean is an electrochemical bath.
That's done in a 10% solution of sodiumhydroxide..90% water.
Electrolysis is different..its only a cleaning method.

An electolysis method is to use an elecrolite and a DC current to ionize the salt crystals and pull them to the surface of the object. If you don't do this it will turn to crumbs after my first CB peeled like an onoin I learnd about this process and have done many.
@ OP, post the pic in the shipwreck forum and ask those guys what to do.
ZDD

 

[pepperj]

Nice catch on the ball, and great information guys on the different views of preserving the item.