Newsgroup: it.cultura.storia.militare
Titolo: Scientists fire cannon recovered from Elizabethan shipwreck off Alderney

 From The Times
July 1, 2008
Scientists fire cannon recovered from Elizabethan shipwreck off
Alderney
Will Pavia
The barrel of the cannon had been plugged with a tampion of wood and
sealed with candle wax by sailors more than 400 years ago.
The stale air of another age whistled out with a hiss when the seal
was broken finally last week. Archaeologists gathered around the
weapon could smell the gunpowder and hydrogen sulphide as it escaped.
The cannon is one of a set that comprises the first archaeological
evidence of a revolution in weaponry that took place during the reign
of Elizabeth I -- a revolution upon which an empire would be built.
The archaeologists have spent the past month raising the cannon from
the seabed off the Channel Islands and will use it to determine the
power that this revolution bestowed upon the English naval forces.
A replica is to be cast in iron, transported to a quarry in the
Midlands and fired at a replica of the side of an Elizabethan ship.
Ballistics experts will measure its range. The archaeologists will
examine its handling and recoil, and the damage that it could inflict.
The cannon is one of three raised from a wreck half a mile off the tip
of Alderney. The location of the wreck matched the final position of a
ship that, according to the records, was "cast away about Alderney" on
October 27, 1592. The ship had been carrying dispatches from Lord
Burghley, the Queen's principal adviser, to Sir John Norreys, her most
experienced soldier, who was in Brittany commanding an army against
the Catholic League and the forces of Philip II.
It was a moment of crisis in English history. Four years after the
failure of the Armada, the King of Spain wanted to secure a stretch of
coastline and a deep-water port from which he could launch an
invasion. Sir John and a small army had been sent to fight the Spanish-
backed Catholic League beside the French king, Henry IV.
Mensun Bound, the excavation director for the Alderney wreck, said:
"She was probably a small ship, agile on the wind." She was also armed
to the teeth with the latest in weaponry.
Mr Bound, a senior research fellow at St Peter's College, Oxford, has
also worked on the Mary Rose, which was armed with a random assortment
of crude weaponry when it sank in 1545.
The significance of the Alderney ship became clear to him as he
examined the shot excavated from the wreck. "Every single piece of
shot was the same, with a variation of less than 1.5mm (0.06 inches)."
This suggested that more than one set of Elizabethan cannon were on
board.
Marine archaeologists could see six sediment-clad cannon protruding
from the sand, part of a set of matching high-performance cast-iron
guns.
Their basic design would be the pattern of English cannon until the
time of Nelson.
Professor David Loades, a Tudor historian, told The Times: "We knew
that a revolution in weaponry had taken place in the years before
1592.
"There was quite a lot of documentary evidence but there was no
archaeological evidence."
The first cannon to be raised from the wreck was also sealed with a
tampion and wax.
Mr Mensun said: "When we opened it there was a spontaneous combustion
of gun powder. It started to smoke." The historians ran in all
directions, fearing a discharge.
Another two cannon were raised last month and brought up the Thames to
the Tower of London last week, where investigations continue.
www.alderneywreck.com
-- 
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, 
stand like a rock. -- Thomas Jefferson

 From The Times
I moderatori ricordano che: "Articoli di giornali e brani di opere,
purché soddisfino i criteri sopra elencati, possono essere utilizzati
1. come supporto di una discussione già avviata, 2. per aprire una
discussione sull'argomento. In questo secondo caso è necessario che
*l'autore accompagni il pezzo con un commento personale e/o suggerisca
le linee del dibattito che intende affrontare*." 
Grazie per l'attenzione e buon proseguimento. 
Per il gruppo di moderazione: Damnpuck 
### segue su it.news.moderazione ###