Please offer any advice if you possibly can on our cannonball 😊

[Amk261075]

Hi everyone,
Really hoping someone may be able to offer us some info on a cannonball which was left to us by a relative who has now passed.
All we know is it was found whilst he was diving on a shipwreck in falmouth / Cornwall U.K
We would like to know if possible a rough age / date / type so we can tell our kids all about it who are interested.
It is 10lbs in weight, 14inches around
we love to keep history alive so any advice or info would be appreciated.
Thank you all for reading
😊

 

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[TheCannonballGuy]

Ordinarily, that ball being out-of-round (instead of a true sphere) and weighing 10 pounds would totally disqualify it from being a cannonball. However, your statement that:
1- it was found on a SALTWATER shipwreck, and
2- it was found many-many years ago, and
3- its circumference is approximately 14 inches...
means it is a Colonial Era cannonball, of 12-Pounder (4.62") caliber.

Explanation:
Decades of laying in saltwater allows the salt to seep deep into the natural pores in cast-iron. When the "salted" iron is brought up and allowed to dry out (as your shipwreck ball has been doing for many years), the salt in the iron's deep pores crystallizes as it dries, causing the iron to flake and scale off the sides of the ball. So of course, a significant amount of its original weight has been lost. Additional weight loss can happen due to iron molecules getting leached out of the ball's body in the underwater environment. Lastly... circumference of 14 inches, divided by 3.1416 (Pi) equals 4.45-inches, which is the prescribed diameter for a Colonial Era 12-Pounder cannonball.

By the way... its weight-versus-diameter ratio proves that it is a Solid-Shot cannonball... so, the only way it can hurt you is if you drop it on your foot.

 

[Phil]

Rock crusher ball.