The raising of the gun carriage will be one of the largest maritime archaeology rescues in the past 20 years and will involve the use of a giant crane barge. Previously, personal possessions including 15 pairs of leather shoes, a pocket sun dial and a ring have been retrieved from the site, as well as hundreds of pieces of shot, a gun loading rammer and other pieces of kit necessary to fire cannon. 'It is in near pristine condition and it's the first time a gun carriage of this type complete with gunner's implements has been found.' This close-up shows a copper alloy calliper which is so well preserved it is still possible to read the grading on it, which probably relates to shot circumferences and/ or weightsĪlison James, Maritime Archaeologist at Historic England said the gun carriage is 'extremely rare and very exciting.' Hundreds of pieces of shot, a gun loading rammer and other pieces of kit necessary to fire cannon have also been brought to the surface. They have been hoping to discover and retrieve artefacts before they disintegrate and are lost forever. Historic England - formerly known as English Heritage-, Cotswold Archaeology and licensed divers have been excavating the 'London' wreck for the past two summers. Scattered cannon show the force of the explosion and half of the vessel was propelled 1,312 feet (400 metres) away from the rest of the wreck. Previous excavations on the seabed have shown the ship broke in two where the storeroom would have been, supporting his theory. He thinks it would have ignited two tons of gunpowder, which would have sent a blast of heat to the main storeroom where more than 10 tons of gun powder was kept in the ship's hold, igniting it and destroying the London. Mr Trollope believes that the first explosion happened in the part of the ship where gunners would have re-filled old cartridges with gunpowder. It's thought this action resulted in dozens of vessels catching alight in the 16th and 17th centuries and after the London disaster, recycling cartridges was banned in England.
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