ship swivel gun
 

The postman brought me this ship swivel gun today. Bought at auction, and the only one to bid on it.
According to the description it was dredged near Malaysia. The caliber is about 4cm. Total length 120cm, length of barrel 80cm, but was once a bit longer (although I don't think it was much longer). What strikes me is that it is very roughly forged, both the barrel and the tiller. My guess is that it is 17th or 18th century, but I could be wrong. What is your opinion?

A most interesting piece. Let me guess this is not a lantaka; they are (in principle) forged in bronze.
Very old, no doubt. What are you going to do to suspend the rust; have you already thought about it ?

This sea bed recovered piece has suffered severe spalling of the surface metal, as is typical of untreated salvaged iron objects, it is not a result of very rough forging. I would suggest 18th or 19th century, it is difficult to say for certain but I doubt this would have survived over 300 years, more like 100 to 200. Without knowing exactly what type of underwater situation it was recovered from, how thick the encrustation, current movements, etc, etc I suspect it would be extremely difficult for a marine archeologist to put an estimate to.

It doesn't seem very active at the moment so don't think I'll put a lot of time and effort into preserving it. If you want to do that well, you have to put it in demineralized water for a longer period of time (the thicker the object, the more time it needs), change it regularly and measure the water it has been in for amount of released minerals. Repeat this as long as necessary, so until you no longer measure anything. Treat only after this. At least, this is how professional restorers would do it.

The 'complicated' way ;).


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