Guns carried on East Indiamen, 1600-1800

Abstract

Identifying guns on an East Indiaman wreck is not necessarily as easy as it might at first appear. Such ships were normally carrying a variety of ordnance: guns for their own protection, guns for trade, guns to be used as gifts, and old guns being used as ballast.0305-7445/90/010017+06 %03.00/0

Beads from the mid 18th-century Manilla Wreck, Bermuda

“…While the bronze cannon bearing the monogram of the Groningen Chamber suggests that the ship may have belonged to it, this is by no means certain as the item could have been obtained inanumberofways (Brown, 1990). This need for caution in the present case is bolstered by the fact that the cannons appear to have functioned as cargo/ballast rather than armament at the time of the sinking.…”

British Postal PacketHanover, 1757: salvage and archaeology

“…Alternatively they could be used as ballast; the English East India Company often used old, broken guns in this way. For example the ballast of the Danish frigate, Mynden , lost in 1718, included fragments of Finbankers (Brown, : 18; Auer, : 171).…”