Cannonball fired from a Naval Swivel Gun, recovered at Castine, Maine (SOLD)

This is a very nice early piece coming out of an old Revolutionary War collection. The small size cannonball has a 1.90” diameter and weighs 1-pound, 2-ounces. These balls were fried from gunboats with 1-pounder swivel cannons (see pictures). This one was recovered at Castine, Maine during the Penobscot Expedition.

The Penobscot Expedition was a 44-ship American naval armada assembled by the Provincial Congress of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The flotilla of 19 warships and 25 support vessels sailed from Boston on July 19, 1779, for the upper Penobscot Bay in the District of Maine. The expeditionary force had more than 1,000 American colonial marines (not to be confused with the Continental Marines) and militiamen. Also included was a 100-man artillery detachment under the command of Lt. Colonel Paul Revere.

The expedition's goal was to reclaim control of mid-coast Maine from the British who had captured it a month earlier and renamed it New Ireland. It was the largest American naval expedition of the war. The fighting took place on land and at sea around the mouth of the Penobscot and Bagaduce rivers at Castine, Maine, over a period of three weeks in July and August. It resulted in the United States' worst naval defeat until Pearl Harbor 162 years later in 1941.

This cannonball is in very nice condition with no rust or flaking and has been coated for preservation. It comes in the acrylic display case pictured. It came with a letter of authenticity which will be included (see pictures). This is a great piece of Revolutionary War history.