12 ancient cannons unearthed

By Thai PBS

 

 

The Naval Dockyard Department has recently unearthed 12 ancient cannons with the biggest one weighing about five tonnes and extending ten feet long.

 

Rear Admiral Samai Jai-in, chief of the engineering development of the Naval Dockyard Department, said Sunday that diggers took two weeks to retrieve all the ancient cannons, about 200 years old, from two-metre deep underground because they had to exercise caution in order not to damage any of them.

 

The biggest cannon was molded in England and sold to Siam during the early years of the Rattanakosin era. It bears the crown symbol of England and has inscriptions specifying the date it was molded.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/12-ancient-cannons-unearthed/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-11-13

Buy British :)

The Thai navy gets an unexpected technology upgrade.

The origins of gun smuggling in Thailand?

A different topic for a change , bus crashes every day get a bit boring.

4 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

Buy British :)

...sure can.

1 hour ago, toofarnorth said:

A different topic for a change , bus crashes every day get a bit boring.

..give some of the lads relief from clearing clogged waterways..they do a great job.

Their definition of ancient doesn't correspond to mine. Those cannon were 'moulded' (thought that they were cast...) after the founding of the States. And as is often as the uppity young USA mindset is so proudly and publicly on display I can't believe this point hasn't been broached yet.

Portuguese, or dutch or the British East India company left them here?

Early example of the global arms trade.

On 11/13/2017 at 5:45 AM, webfact said:

The biggest cannon was molded in England and sold to Siam during the early years of the Rattanakosin era

Found this tidbit of information (paraphrasing):

In 1826 as part of Siam Kingdom's fortifications built near the mouth of the Chaophraya River to forestall a possible attack by the British, some 400 guns (sic) were put in position. But since one in three of these had burst in trying them, the court procured a supply of European guns.

(Extracts from D.E. Malloch's Journal, between July 1826 and March 1827, as published in The Barney Papers, Vol. II, Part 4, Bangkok: Vajiranana National Library, 1911, pp. 224-225)

 

The subject cannons might not have been made in England if the time frame is correct.