Posted on November 9, 2026
A routine harbor-deepening project in 2021 turned into a major historic find when a dredge scooping the Savannah River bed pulled up a rusted cannon in its jaws. Crews widening the channel quickly raised two more guns in the next scoop, eventually recovering 19 heavy iron weapons by March 2022. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers later brought up two more from the riverbed, bringing the final tally to 21 Revolutionary War cannons.
Archaeologists initially thought the guns belonged to the CSS Georgia, a Civil War ironclad raised nearby. Physical measurements quickly ruled that out, dating the artillery a full century earlier than the ironclad. Radiocarbon testing on wooden stoppers plugging the barrels confirmed the weapons dated to the late 1700s. Conservation work later revealed that 14 of the restored cannons were still loaded, with their original gunpowder cartridges preserved inside the barrels.
The Blockade at Five Fathom Hole
Historical analysis ruled out another candidate, the British warship HMS Rose, which sank farther upstream and carried a different class of guns. Rather than coming from a lost warship, the guns formed part of an underwater blockade built during the American Revolution. British forces captured Savannah in late 1778, but by September 1779, a joint French and American fleet arrived off the coast to lay siege to the city.
To block the river channel, British commanders scuttled at least six of their own ships at Five Fathom Hole, a deep basin near Old Fort Jackson. Historical accounts indicate that one armed vessel, the HMS Savannah, sank so fast that crews left its complete battery and supplies aboard. The tactic worked, forcing allied troops into a costly land assault that cost over 800 casualties and left Britain in control of Savannah until 1782.
Restoring 250 Year Old Weapons
While two encrusted cannons went on display at the Savannah History Museum in 2021, the remaining guns underwent intensive conservation. Specialists at Texas A&M University spent three years soaking the iron barrels in chemical baths to extract salts and strip away centuries of river crust.
The restored weapons returned to Georgia on June 3, 2026. One month later, the Coastal Heritage Society unveiled the collection in an exhibit titled “Loyalists & Liberty: Savannah in the American Revolution.” Timed for the 250th anniversary of American independence, the exhibition housed the artifacts inside a museum built directly on the historical battlefield.
