[Jeroen Averhals]

Hail,

Some pictures of a 15th century cannon in the building of the Port Authorities Zeebrugge in Belgium. The cannon was found near the coast of Zeebrugge in 1990. It seems that it is a cannon of the first half of the 15th century and it is said that it is the oldest maritime cannon in the world.

Does anyone know if such cannons were used as weapons on ships in the 15th century or do you think the cannon was just being transported from Flanders to England?

One picture is showing some marks on the cannon, were 15th century cannons marked by their makers?

Thanks

Jeroen Averhals

[Kjell Magnusson]

The medieval museum in Stockholm has three cannons from the late 15th century which were found on a shipwreck, and which are to have been used as maritime cannons, or at least that's what the sign next to them claims.

[Alexander Spiridonov]

WOW!!! I interested in history of europian gunpowder artillery very mutch!/ CAn i see else?

[Randall Moffett]

Jeroen,

By the 15th century it does seem cannons, firearms, etc were in use aboard ships. The learning curve with this took quite a while and in the end throughout the 15th century it never was quite perfected to be suitable for most naval activity as the place they were kept on the deck made them somewhat unstable. This changes in the 16th with the gun ports placed lower in the body of the boat. I'd look into Susan Rose and Ian Friels appraisals on the matter personally. There is little indication they really changed warfare at sea greatly. No guns were used to sink ships until the mid 16th or so really. Guns and such were antipersonnel. They would be used alongside the bows and crossbows before the ships reached one another and engaged.

The change over the 15th century is astounding regards to maritime firearms. Henry V, around the time of Agincourt, slightly after it actually, has only about 20-30 guns aboard all his ships- collectively not each meaning most have 0 but some have 2-3, one has 5 at one point. In the 1480s some royal ships and those owned by greater lords of the day like the Howards had over a hundred if not around 200 on one ship. This late 15th count though includes handguns which in the early period the firearms are not clearly described but as far as final numbers go 2-3 to 188 is a huge difference!

My assumption is that most maritime guns were smaller than that during the 1st half of the 15th. It looks more like a weapon intended to shoot at large stationary objects not moving men and ships. Most artwork shows smaller cannons aboard ships throughout the 15th, though I suppose it is possible its use would seem less so. Ships move. You would not want to risk lighting a ship tied to yours on fire by shooting point blank but before that the range coupled with the fact both ships are moving would seem to make it a tricky deal, your ship dips or bobs at all when it fires and its a wasted shot, especially as slow burning powder and loam were still in use during the 1st half of the 15th meaning the duration of time between ignition could be several moments before it discharged.

Ian Friel- check out his books listed. He has a load of articles that are very good as well.
http://www.ianfriel.co.uk/

Susan Rose.
http://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&id=...dQMZOQU_kI

RPM

[William Knight]

Vis the history, a good review of naval warfare in the 15th and 16th centuries can be found in NAM Roger's The Safeguard of the Sea, the first volume of his naval history of Britain.
-Wilhelm