Three Cannons Found In Savannah River, Possibly From HMS Rose

MiddenMonster

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MiddenMonster

MiddenMonster

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Both the Americans and the British purposely sunk some of their vessels to prevent the enemy from attacking during the Revolutionary War. Have an article about it on my website. Link is: https://www.anchorexplorations.com/revolutionary-war-shipwrecks-in-the

I understand the concept of strategically sinking a ship to block a river or to achieve some other objective. But I don't really understand leaving the cannons on board during wartime when you do it. Wouldn't it have made more sense to remove the cannons before sinking the ship so they could be used against the French, or moved to wherever they would be beneficial?
 

WaveJunky757

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It would have made sense to do that with the cannon, however maybe time was not on their side and they needed a blockade sooner rather that later. One of those things we’ll never know.
 

SteveS

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As WaveJunky said, probably no time to remove cannon (time consuming and not an easy task). With the approach of the French in 1779, I doubt the British had much time to provide a blockade and likely made a quick decision to sink some vessels leaving no time to remove heavy cannon.
 

whydahdiver

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In 1778 the British sank a bunch of vessels including frigates and transports in Rhode Island at the approach of a superior French fleet. HMS Rose was in Narragansett Bay for a few years prior to that but was not sunk. Her harassing of local commerce led to a number of acts of rebellion in the state which was known then as Rogue's Island.

The Whydah pirates tried to walk all the way from Cape Cod to Newport knowing they would be welcomed with open arms but were captured and brought to Boston where they went on trial.
 

Jolly Mon

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There's tons of good stuff at the bottom of the Savannah River, gentlemen.
The only problems are that the currents are outrageous, the visibility is zero and the local authorities are completely hostile to your endeavors.
And, obviously, river traffic is extremely heavy.
 

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Dug

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There's tons of good stuff at the bottom of the Savannah River, gentlemen.
The only problems are that the currents are outrageous, the visibility is zero and the local authorities are completely hostile to your endeavors.
And, obviously, river traffic is extremely heavy.

On point. It would be great if the dredging's were deposited on a shoreline somewhere. Imagine what you would find just walking it.
 

sphillips

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Imagine what has been pumped up on the treasure coast. I bet it’s way more than anyone realizes.

Beach replenishment will start on the south side of the ft Pierce Inlet in a couple of weeks. The ship will suck up sand ( not good beach sand) 3.5 miles off shore and spread the material from the south jetty south for 1.3 miles. If I remember correctly, when the county replenished using the same technique a couple of years ago, the ship pumped the material thru a huge hose into a big cage that kept anything larger than a quarter from passing thru. Would like to have the job of manning the cage, never know what will be left behind.
 

pepperj

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Beach replenishment will start on the south side of the ft Pierce Inlet in a couple of weeks. The ship will suck up sand ( not good beach sand) 3.5 miles off shore and spread the material from the south jetty south for 1.3 miles. If I remember correctly, when the county replenished using the same technique a couple of years ago, the ship pumped the material thru a huge hose into a big cage that kept anything larger than a quarter from passing thru. Would like to have the job of manning the cage, never know what will be left behind.

In speaking to the lead guy with the company during one of the replenishing programs that happened while we were staying in FL. (A beautiful beach right outside the door-detecting holiday became a bulldozer pushing sand viewing holiday) Anyways the fellows would tell me of the owners amazing collection of artifacts from the Savanna River projects that would get caught in the return screening.
It would be a dream job just watching and retrieving finds.
 

Jolly Mon

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On point. It would be great if the dredging's were deposited on a shoreline somewhere. Imagine what you would find just walking it.

Oh, but the dredge tailings ARE deposited on the shoreline "somewhere". In several very large areas, actually. And you can find more than just shipwreck artifacts there...
 

Dug

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Oh, but the dredge tailings ARE deposited on the shoreline "somewhere". In several very large areas, actually. And you can find more than just shipwreck artifacts there...

I wonder if they are only accessible by boat. Guess i should take a gander with google earth.8-)
 

Jolly Mon

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I wonder if they are only accessible by boat. Guess i should take a gander with google earth.8-)

Not going any farther here. If you are truly interested, you will figure it out. 8-)

One tip, though. As you might imagine, an insane amount of trash is dredged up along with the rare good stuff. You can eyeball for sharks teeth and other fossils while at the same time looking out for maritime artifacts. Once you spot a shipwreck artifact or two, you can surmise the dredge might have brought up something really interesting in that area. At that point, it might be worthwhile to start working the area with a detector.

One more point: cliffs and slopes next to the shipping channel are constantly being eroded by wakes. This means precisely what you might think.
 

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Dug

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One more point: cliffs and slopes next to the shipping channel are constantly being eroded by wakes. This means precisely what you might think.

Gravity is not my friend? :laughing7:
 

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