Image: Belle bronze cannon

Description: This photograph was taken in February 1997 at the site of the Belle shipwreck. This sunken vessel was discovered by the Texas Historical Commission in 1995 and fully excavated by the THC in 1996-1997 after building a cofferdam around it in order to drain away the ambient seawater. This image shows two bronze cannon in place at the bottom of the hold on the starboard side. Also visible are a few wooden barrels of gunpowder (to the right of the guns), and a large stack of iron bar stock (behind the cannons). These guns were ornately decorated and were identical to the first gun discovered on the wreck in 1995, which lead to the positive identification of this vessel. The Belle was the ship of French explorer La Salle which was lost in Matagorda Bay, Texas, in 1686. This photograph was taken by one of the archaeologists working on the project.
Title: Belle bronze cannon
Credit: Own work
Author: Cmeide
Usage Terms: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
License: CC BY-SA 3.0
License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
Attribution Required?: Yes