SPECIAL REPORT 15 OCTOBER 2007
Mark Wilde-Ramsing

After a year of planning and numerous thwarted attempts to raise her, Cannon C16 was removed from the seabed under the direction of Wendy Welsh and safely stored on deck of R/V Dan Moore (Captain Steve Beuth) of Cape Fear Community College. Archaeologists Chris Southerly, Nathan Henry and Franklin Price with the North Carolina Underwater Archaeology Branch (UAB) performed the lift with the able assistance of NC Marine Fisheries R/V Shell Point (Captain Tom Piner) and UAB's R/V Snapdragon (Captain Julep Gillman-Bryan). Rick Allen with Nautilus Productions provided video documentation. Offloading of the cannon was performed at the US Coast Guard Station Fort Macon (Captain Dean Lee), which serves as the project's logistical center. The lift was performed under the watchful eye of a group of reporters from newspaper, TV and radio and included a writer and photographer with Archaeology Magazine and a German documentary filmmaker. Dr. David Nateman, Director of the NC Maritime Museum, provided key assistance in recovering the cannon, which will make a special stop for public viewing at the museum's expansion property at Gallant's Channel from 11 AM to 1 PM on Wednesday, October 17. Afterward C16 will be taken to the QAR laboratory in Greenville where Chief Conservator Sarah Watkins-Kenney and Assistant Shanna Daniel await its arrival. It will be placed in fresh water tank provided by Parker Marine and begin the multi-year process of cleaning, study, and preparation for display. Karen Browning provided the digital photography and web design that you enjoy on this page. The weather was glorious and the recovery went off without a hitch - a good time was had by all.

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