Earliest European Cannon Found off Coast of Sweden

The earliest known example of a European cannon was found off the coast of Sweden, near Marstrand, in 2001. The discovery and the age of the artifact have been recently revealed. Handheld guns, known as hand cannon, have been discovered from about the same era.

Gunpowder started being mentioned in European documents about 1300. The Chinese had been experimenting with precursors of gunpowder, and had some primitive firearms a bit before 1300, as documented in the book "Gunpowder" by Jack Kelly. Military technology has high incentives and travels fast. While mentions of European uses of gunpowder and guns have been found in documents from the early 1300s, remains of actual cannon have been missing. The fourteenth century extends from 1300 to 1399. From tandfonline.com:

There are a number of fourteenth-century references that record the use of cannon on ships but they rarely, if ever, provide any concrete details.Footnote³² One particular reference illustrates well the difficulties in interpreting these early guns Work carried out between 1337 and 1338 on an English vessel, the All Hallow’s Cog, included ‘a certain iron instrument for firing quarrels [. . .] and lead pellets, with powder, for the defence of the ship’.Footnote³³ We know nothing about the form or size of this ‘instrument’ except that it was made of iron and fired quarrels, that is, large arrows. That early artillery pieces fired arrows is well attested by both documentary evidence and illustrations, such as the cannon depicted in the manuscript De Nobilitatibus, Sapientiis, et Prudentiis RegumFootnote³⁴ and the associated volume Pseudo-Aristotle, Secretum SecretorumFootnote³⁵ of around 1326-27, commonly referred to as the Milemete manuscripts.

Metal was expensive in medieval Europe. Guns which became obsolete or broken were recycled quickly into other usable tools. It was common for broken guns to be remelted and recast into newer guns.

In the summer of 2001, a local diver, using scuba equipment, found a small copper alloy cannon off the coast of Marstrand, on the west coast of Sweden. When he realized the historic nature of the artifact, he contacted the authorities. The authorities promptly confiscated the cannon, as authorized by Swedish law. The United States has a similar, but even more restrictive statute. In England, they are more reasonable. If someone finds historic treasure, they ordinarily can pocket 50% of the value.

When the Swedish authorities examined the cannon, they found it contained what was left of a charge of gunpowder, in a cloth bag, ready to fire. The cloth allowed the charge and the cannon to be dated with carbon dating. Within a 94.5% confidence level, the charge was dated between 1285 and 1399, which makes the cannon the earliest european cannon yet discovered. From thehistoryblog.com:

This bit of cloth made it possible to radiocarbon date the gun, a rare opportunity with early artillery that is sparsely documented and cannot be accurately dated by type. With calibrated results in the range of 1285-1399, it is one of the oldest pieces of European artillery ever to be absolutely dated. Cannons of the Marstrand type were previously thought to date the 15th-16th centuries, as were powder cartouches. This one discovery has redefined the timeline for European ship artillery.

The cannon is relatively small, but too large to be used by a single person. It measures 47.5 centimeters long, or 18.7 inches. At the cannon's widest point, it is about 7.3 inches in diameter. The powder chamber is much smaller. The cannon is shaped somewhat like a narrow funnel. The walls of the cannon are relatively thin, compared to latter designs. The walls of the cannon are about .4 to .6 inches thick at the muzzle and about 1 inch thick at the mouth of the powder chamber. The powder chamber is about 10.6 inches long, the barrel is about 8.1 inches long.  A rough estimate of the weight of the heavily corroded cannon, based on the measurements given, is about 60 lbs.

The cannon would have been mounted on a wooden platform of some type, probably lashed into place. The touch hole of this cannon was measured at about .6 inches! It may have been enlarged by corrosion. You would not want any part of your body close to the touch hole when the cannon was fired!

The copper alloy used, with little tin and about 14%  lead, has a tendency to crack over time.  As noted in the analysis of the cannon, it is likely the cannon would have failed under intense use.

Bronze made with about 14% tin instead of lead can be a very strong alloy. Bronze made with sufficient tin can approach the strength of mild, low carbon steel. Later cannon makers used much superior bronze than the copper alloy used with this early cannon.

Today, the effectiveness of the cannon could be duplicated using common mild steel pipe. Muzzle loading cannon are generally not considered legal firearms. However, at least one person has been prosecuted as possessing a "destructive device" for making a muzzle loading cannon out of modern materials.

 

©2023 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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