2nd Cannon Ball in a Week

[{Sentinel}]

Pictures are of the 2nd cannon ball that my partner and I have found in the last week. We had a 'honey' hole for minies and now we have one for cannonballs apparently. The pictures show the remains of one whole 12 pound Bormann cannonball that was filled with grapeshot. When we began to excavate it, it fell apart. It must have had fractures from years of being under the ground. So as it fell into pieces we began recovering it which took about 30 minutes to dig down to it and recover ALL the grape shot which was hidden very well in the red clay that we were digging in. This is our second Union (Yankee) ball so maybe we will find a Confederate one next.

Thanks for looking, the two of us had great fun finding and recovering it....so hope you guys enjoy the pics. I will post more pics of it once it is cleaned up and put back together.

Oh also, if you look in the second picture you will see a coin, it is an Indian Head Penny. My first by the way!!
Sentinel

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

How to Research for Treasure Hunting and Metal Detecting From Lead Generation to Vetting - Grab it through Amazon!

[nealb]

Nice digs, Sentinel!! I've never seen how a cannon ball round was made.

HH

 

[gold fish]

Very cool, that grape shot is some scary stuff. Can you imagine getting that shot out of a CANNON at you ?!??!?!??!??

 

[romeo-1]

Nice find...is the grapeshot lead or iron? Thanks.

 

[randall61]

CONGRATS....very nice relic....those are hard to come by.

 

[d2]

Very nice find. One of these days I will find one I hope. That is not grape shot though, that is "case shot". Grape shot were larger iron balls. Cannister was a "shotgun shell" for the cannon and contained lead balls. Great find...d2

 

[civilman1]

Awesome dig....Not much you can do at that point Sentinel,just alot more cleaning at hand.I dug a few grape shot out of Ball my brother found and they were all around the .60+/- size.....Ouch!!!!Thank's for the pic's guy's....Congrat's

 

[TreasureTales]

Very interesting yet sad piece of the past there. Thanks for saving our history! Will enjoy seeing it cleaned up.

 

[Ed-NH]

That is an awesome find. I love that you were able to retrieve all the grape shot. What a way to start a grape shot collection. Huge congrats on your finds guys 8)

 

[Gribnitz]

Well, guess you don't have to worry about getting that one disarmed. Having one like that is pretty cool though. You should assemble all the pieces you can and leave one side open so you can see the grapeshot inside.

 

[Ronin9868]

They cleaned up really nicely.

 

[{Sentinel}]

Yes, good picture. That is one half of the cannon ball cleaned up and preserved. Really looks great. Mine will be that way before long...I have more pieces to put together. I am indeed, going to glue the pieces back together and have it displayed like you say girbitz

 

[{Sentinel}]

They are lead balls.

 

[Boobydoo]

Wow, what a sweet find and post. Love that stuff. Seems like a lot of work to clean up but well worth the effort. Congrats and thanks for sharing!

Smiles!
BDoo

 

[CarolinaDigs]

enjoyed your post ! great items

 

[wildrider]

Nice find(s) Sentinel.

I believe these are case shot not grapeshot.

At least thats what the are in the Western theater

Burt

 

[{Sentinel}]

Yes please let me clarify indeed I know that this is case shot and I got carried away typing and accidently put grape shot. Grape shot is actually the big brother to this case shot. Thanks for the heads up

 

[texan connection]

Do you reckon this round lodged in the ground b-4 it detonated and remained somewhat intact??

 

[{Sentinel}]

Thats exactly what I reckon. I believe that when it was fired it hit the ground before the timer on the fuse went off and ignited the shell. The ground is really moist and I do believe that it probably put the fuse out. For whatever reason though, the Bormann fuse did not go off. The ball was intact but fractured so when we removed the dirt it fell apart. But all is not lost, it is pretty cool to have an exhibit with the inside of the cannonball for show to people.

 

[landlord]

LOOK LIKE DOG POOP DOES IT SMELL?