Although it was a freezing weekend large volumes of tea kept us warm along with a fascinating series of presentations and lots of practical work out in the fresh air. As someone who has dived a number of cannon sites (including Kevin’s Colossus in the Isles of Scilly) I was keen to learn all I could about the guns I’d already seen and those I hope to see in the future.
The first day was made up of some detailed talks on guns of the different eras we would be likely to encounter along with basic identification, recognition underwater (not the easiest task for the more concreted samples) and the anatomy of the gun itself – it being essential to know the difference between a cast iron and a wrought iron gun and their constituent parts from the cascabel to the chase of a cannon. Accurate recording when they are identified and surveyed being vital.
Day two was field trip time with a visit out to a local Plymouth landmark to try our hand at recording two known guns in place. Obviously this was easier than any circumstances we’d encounter underwater but it gave a great idea of how much information could be gleaned from a gun as well as how much time it could take up on dive.
It was then back to the classroom and a chance to see a piece in less than stellar condition to compare the ease of recording. This was also a chance to see how accurate our recording was as the next step was to use our data to see what site recorder would make of it. Luckily it all worked out ok and our measurements fitted together.
The take home information included some brilliant sources of data for any enthusiasts out there of whom I include myself now.
All in all a great course and one I’d highly recommend to anyone involved in nautical archaeology whether it’s an obvious area of interest for you or not.
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