Cannon provides 'boom' to archeology laboratory

Sunday afternoon, with the help of a giant winch, Charles Beeker and his team of underwater archaeologists and students hoisted a corroded 19th century cannon out of its Rubbermaid tub home. They then gingerly placed it on an ancient Fairbanks scale to be weighed. \n"Okay, everyone come up with a number. 857? Let's write that down," calls out Beeker, program director for IU's Underwater Science Program.\nHauled up from the wreck of the Frolic, an 1850s clipper sunk off the coast of California, the cannon is just one artifact of many to be restored by IU's Underwater Science Program. Without conservation, salt from the ocean water will remain within the artifacts and damage the items when they are exposed to air. In the cannon, sea salts have bonded to the metal causing the exterior to rust, flake and eventually disintegrate. \n"Who else? 956. Anyone else? 775. I'll go 800 for myself. They said 1,100 pounds in California. Anyone want to go over 1,000?"\nAfter the cannon is weighed, Matt Lawrence and Deborah Marx, maritime archaeologists and consultants for the project, will stick a rod down the muzzle of the cannon to check for the presence of a cannonball. Should the rod get stuck part way in, the cannon will be bored out as a safety precaution. If any gunpowder remains inside, it could accidentally set off the cannon once electricity is connected to it. \n"And wouldn't that be a great story?" quips one of Beeker's student assistants. "'New Underwater Archaeology Lab Destroyed by Cannon Fire.'"\nConnecting the cannon to a weak electrical current will help the metal shake off the chlorides, or salts, it acquired while underwater. \n"Iron is a problem," Beeker said. "What happens is you've got the chemical bond between the chloride and the iron -- ferrous chlorides -- and that has to be broken. That's what the electrolytic reduction does, and that takes time."\nFinally, the results are in and the cannon's true weight is revealed -- 884 pounds.\nA student assistant snaps a photograph. Beeker plans on entering the cannon in a contest for the most unusual item weighed by a Fairbanks scale, a challenge set up to celebrate the company's 175th anniversary. \n"Right now the leading unit is a Canadian bobsled team weighing their bobsleds. I think we can beat them," Beeker said. "I think our cannon is about the same age as that scale." \nOnce submerged in fresh water and submitted to the conservation procedures, the cannon will change. Marx said the entire restoration process for the cannon could take up to two years. After that time, the salt will be gone and the cannon stable enough to be put on display in the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse in California. \nAdditionally, Beeker's lab is in the process of setting up a Web cam and a Web Site for those interested in following the cannon's progress.\n-- Contact staff writer Erika Biga Lee at ebiga@indiana.edu.