Huge Riverbed Cannon Ball?

[Fugio]

I know what your thinking: Another cannonball? I sure hope so! I was just out detecting with a friend of mine on an exposed river bed in an old New England town. My buddy was detecting and got a huge signal and called me over. I figured it was junk, but he had to dig. What emerged I could not believe; what looked like a HUGE cannonball. Weighing over a hundred pounds it was difficult to remove from the unbelievably thick clay it was embedded in. We finally got it out of the hole and back to my buddies house where we hosed it off and had a closer look.
Rough measurements indicate a diameter of 10" and a weight of 128 pounds. There is a threaded fuse hole as well, the only hole on the ball. Now the weight may be a little off as there was still some sludge and muck inside. As I cannot find any reliable tables for this size ball, my only question is, is it even possible this is a cannonball(assuming better measurements could verify this)? As always, thanks for your input guys!

 

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[AU Seeker]

solid shot for smoothbore guns

Caliber 10", Bore, 10", Diameter of Shot 9.87", Weight of Shot 127.5

You need to do more precise measurements and check the weight after the muck is out, but I'm guessing that the weight with the muck would be close to that with the charge and fuse in place.

After getting the measuurement, I think CannonballGuy needs to give his opinion.

Go to Technical Information and then click on Shot Tables

The Civil War Artillery Projectile and Cannon Home Page

 

[Oddjob]

That is way too cool. I wish I could find one that size.

 

[flyadive]

Better be careful! Is it solid or is it full of explosive?

 

[Fugio]

Better be careful! Is it solid or is it full of explosive?

I was as careful as I could be, already hosed out the inside to be sure. It was filled with thick black muck, presumably gunpowder if real.

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Having that large a hole means it is definitely a shell, not a "shot" (meaning, solid-shot). But being found in a riverbed with the fuze-hole wide-open means any gunpowder in that shell was completely spoiled long ago.

The Ordnance Manual's "Shot Tables" say a civil war era 10"-caliber cannon's spherical shell weighed 101 pounds 10 ounces when empty. You'll need to get it weighed on a precision scale, such as a shipping scale. It could be full of dirt, or it could have antipersonnel balls inside it. Getting a super-precise diameter measurement (using a Pi Tape or Diameter-Tape) will tell us whether it is from the Colonial era or the civil war era.

If there is threading in the fuzehole, for screwing in a fuze, that means it's a civil war era cannonball. None from the Revolutionary War or the War Of 1812 had a screw-in fuze.

For instructions on measuring a ball's diameter with a Pi Tape, and lots of other helpful educational info and photos, here's a link to an article I co-wrote with David Poche, about how to distinguish actual cannonballs from the many imposters.
SolidShotEssentialsMod

 

[tennessee digger]

Thank Goodness for TheCannonballGuy!!! He is an absolute authority in ammunition....we are all lucky to have him here. I think he is right on the I.D. too. Great find!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Thank you for the kind words, Tennessee Digger.

Some of you have seen me say this before, so this is for the ones who haven't. I "freely" share my knowledge and database from 40+ years of digging and dealing civil war relics, because way back when I was a newcomer nobody to the hobby, a couple of kindhearted oldtimer relic-experts gave me large amounts of their time and their knowledge, answering my endless newbie questions, for free. The only way to repay them is to do for others what they did for me.

I don't do it for praise, nor for social-status. I'm just "paying it forward" -- that's all.

Forgive me for rarely replying to thank-you posts. There's a reason why I don't. Some of you know that Treasurenet keeps an archive of every post a member makes. You can read all of mine by clicking on my member-name and selecting "View Forum Posts." Almost every single one of my 4,000+ T-Net posts is an "educational" post in the What-Is-It forum. It could be said that my posts here are the final relic book I'll write. If somebody who is seeking relic ID knowledge cares enough to read through hundreds of my posts in the T-Net Archive, I don't want those people to have to spend time wading through a bunch of posts from me that say "Nice find" or "You're welcome." I want the archive of my posts to be like pages in a relic identification reference book... for example, "Excavated Artifacts" by Stanley Phillips or "Civil War Relics Of The Western Campaigns" by Charles Harris.

http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/search.php?searchid=12388906

I'll again ask your pardon for me generally not replying to "thank you" posts... and I'll thank you in advance for understanding about that.

Regards to all,
Peter (Pete) C. George
co-author of the 552-page book "Field Artillery Projectiles Of The American Civil War"

 

[austin]

What a super find. And there is no doubt. If the CannonballGuy says it's so, you can take that to the bank. Way to go

 

[Tnmountains]

Thank Goodness for TheCannonballGuy!!! He is an absolute authority in ammunition....we are all lucky to have him here. I think he is right on the I.D. too. Great find!

I agree we are lucky to have him and and I have met Charlie Harris and use his guides in study.

It looks like you may just have a big whopping Cannon Ball !
Say it was threaded so fuse is gone wonder why? Maybe ay that level they dumped some more>?

 

[Fugio]

Thanks so much for all the comments and help! As usual you guys are the best.
I can confirm at this time that this is in fact a genuine civil war era cannonball fired by the famous 10 inch Columbiad Cannon! Just how I know that, I cannot reveal at this moment but I will post at a later time with more detail as this is a developing discovery with maybe more to come. I will keep you guys posted with hopefully some more interesting finds, maybe even a news story. Sorry for the cloak and dagger, but I need to maintain the integrity of the site until further explored. I will post new finds, if any, here!

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

Some advice for you from the guy who taught me how to find civil war artillery projectiles.

"Unlike with a military button or belt buckle...
Where you find one fired artillery projectile, there's almost always more in the nearby vicinity.
Where you find one unfired artillery projectile, there's almost always more in the nearby vicinity."

Also, I should have mentioned in my previous post, I do notice the thank-you posts, and appreciate them.

 

[Fugio]

Some advice for you from the guy who taught me how to find civil war artillery projectiles."Unlike with a military button or belt buckle...Where you find one fired artillery projectile, there's almost always more in the nearby vicinity.Where you find one unfired artillery projectile, there's almost always more in the nearby vicinity."Also, I should have mentioned in my previous post, I do notice the thank-you posts, and appreciate them.

Thanks for the advice my friend! I sure hope you're right! Hopefully their will be more coming out of the ground shortly. I will PM you soon with more info. And I never doubted you notice/appreciate the thank you posts. Your aid and consideration of other peoples finds says it all. I think I speak for everyone here when I say: We appreciate you.

 

[Dug]

Some advice for you from the guy who taught me how to find civil war artillery projectiles."Unlike with a military button or belt buckle...Where you find one fired artillery projectile, there's almost always more in the nearby vicinity.Where you find one unfired artillery projectile, there's almost always more in the nearby vicinity."Also, I should have mentioned in my previous post, I do notice the thank-you posts, and appreciate them.

Since the cannon ball is intact minus the fuze and assuming it was fired would it be correct to assume the fuze may have been a wood base fuze that disintegrated over time?

 

[TheCannonballGuy]

The answer to your question is no... IF the cannonball is in fact a leftover civil war era US Navy cannonball. US Navy explosive cannonballs very-nearly-always used the brass Navy Watercap (meaning, waterproof) timefuze adapter-plug for a paper-timefuze. The presence of a wood fuzeplug in a cannonball very-nearly-always means Army usage.

 

[Fugio]

Here's a photo of the brass bushing in the fuze hole; the threads are in great shape. Looks like it was made yesterday. Still looking at the site for more shells, however, over the years people seemed to have thought it prudent to dump ALL of their trash there too. So, it's a little tricky finding what would normally be so easy to find due to all the large metal objects lying about. We will keep at it though.

 

[CoilyGirl]

Congrats on such a spectacular,find and hope you find many more at this site.

 

[trapperart]

Man that's a very cool find congrats

 

[Fugio]

Congrats on such a spectacular,find and hope you find many more at this site.

Thanks CoilyGirl! We are going to keep at it. Still plenty more space to search.

Man that's a very cool find congrats

Thank you! She's the first large cannonball I have ever found.