Cannon estimated to be 200 years old retrieved from Bulgaria’s Black Sea
Two iron naval cannon as well as a number of cannonballs estimated to date from around the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century have been retrieved from the depths of Bulgaria’s Black Sea, according to a statement by the National History Museum in Sofia.
The cannon were retrieved on December 23 2022 by a Centre for Underwater Archaeology team led by director Dr Naiden Prahov, the museum said.
The retrieval operation took place over 30 hours in difficult conditions such as low visibility, cold waters and complex technical logistics.
The museum said that Prahov had found the cannon in 2021, but it was only at the end of 2022, thanks to the support of the Ministry of Culture, that it had been possible to recover them.
The cannon and cannonballs were part of the armament of a three-masted ship of the line that sank under unknown circumstances north of Cape Kaliakra. For security reasons, the precise location of the objects is being kept secret, the museum said.
In 2023, the cannon and other parts of the ship’s inventory will be exhibited in the lapidarium of the National History Museum, the statement said.
(Photo: National History Museum)
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