Commodore Philip Nash, left, of the British Royal Navy, gets a briefing from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist Andrea Farmer on Thursday, April 28, 2022, in Savannah, Ga., about 19 cannons recovered from the Savannah River, that experts suspect came from one or more British ships scuttled in the river during the American Revolution in 1779. (AP Photo/Russ Bynum)
By Russ Bynum
A warehouse along the Savannah River is holding historical treasures that evidence suggests remained lost for more than 240 years — a cache of 19 cannons that researchers suspect came from British ships scuttled to the river bottom during the American Revolution.
The mud- and rust-encrusted guns were discovered by accident. A dredge scooping sediment from the riverbed last year as part of a $973 million deepening of Savannah's busy shipping channel surfaced with one the cannons clasped in its metal jaws. The crew soon dug up two more.
Archaeologists guessed they were possibly leftover relics from a sunken Confederate gunship excavated a few years earlier in the same area, said Andrea Farmer, an archaeologist for the Army Corps of Engineers. But experts for the U.S. Navy found they didn't match any known cannons used in the Civil War. Further research indicates they're likely almost a century older and sank during the buildup to the Revolutionary War's bloody siege of Savannah in 1779.
In a timeframe of just over a year, 19 cannons were hoisted from the same area of the river a few miles downstream from Savannah, where Georgia was founded as the last of Britain's 13 American colonies in 1733.
“They’re in remarkably good shape," Farmer said. “Many were buried in clay and covered by silt and debris that kind of protected them.”
Now officials with the U.S. and British governments, as well as the state of Georgia, are working together on an agreement to preserve the newly found guns before putting them on display. Commodore Philip Nash of the British Royal Navy, a military attache based in Washington, viewed the artifacts submerged in metal tubs of water during a visit Thursday.
“Some of these pieces are in amazing condition and I’m sure could tell some stories,” Nash said.
The cannons are being kept in water to prevent further deterioration until experts can carefully clean them. Meanwhile, researchers are looking for more definitive proof linking the cannons to British ships from the American Revolution.
Farmer said researchers are very confident of the connection. Savannah had been under British occupation for about a year by the fall of 1779, when colonists planned an attack to retake the city with help from French and Haitian allies.
When French ships carrying troops were spotted off the Georgia coast, the British hurried to scuttle at least six ships in the Savannah River downstream from the city to block the French vessels. The land battle that followed was one of the bloodiest of the war. British forces killed nearly 300 colonial fighters and their allies, while wounding hundreds more.
Farmer said researchers suspect the cannons found in the river came from the British ship HMS Savannah and possibly a second ship scuttled at the same time, the HMS Venus. The longer guns appear to match cannons manufactured in France during the mid-1700s, she said. Researchers are looking for ship logs and manifests in hopes of confirming the armaments aboard those ships.
It's also possible the cannons themselves and other artifacts found at the site — pieces of anchors and a portion of a ship's bell — once cleaned might bear markings or other clues to which ship they belonged to. The wood from those ships, Farmer said, decayed long ago or got destroyed by prior dredging projects over a series of decades.
The question of who owns the artifacts gets a little murky. They were found in state waters of Georgia during a dredging project headed by the Army Corps, a U.S. government agency. The British government could make an ownership claim if there's strong evidence the artifacts came from British ships.
Farmer said all of those parties are working on an agreement to preserve the cannons and ultimately have them displayed at the Savannah History Museum, which incorporates the battlefield where the bloodiest fighting occurred during the 1779 siege.
“Everybody wants to keep the artifacts in Savannah," Farmer said, "because that makes the most sense.”
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: Founder of Unlimited Tomorrow breaks down how he is creating completely 3D printed prosthetics to make them more affordable, customizable, and accessible; Chief Technology Officer of Zebra Technologies explains what the future of collaboration between robots and humans may look like; A look at Curiosity Stream's 'Mystery of the Roman Skulls.'
Each year about 5,000 people are diagnosed with ALS. This is such an important conversation. A disease that can weaken a patient's muscles and impact physical function. However, one research company says that could all change soon. Coya Therapeutics has developed a way to isolate a patient problematic T-cells in order to help ultimately slow the decline of not just ALS, but potentially Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases as well. Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Coya Therapeutics, Dr. Howard Berman, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
In the fight against climate change, much of the conversation revolves around reducing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide or methane - and attempting to raise oxygen levels. But there's another gas - hydrogen - that could play a big role in the fight for the climate. Marco Alvera, CEO of Italian energy infrastructure company Snam and author of the book, 'The Hydrogen Revolution,' joined Cheddar Climate to explain the role hydrogen plays in helping achieve a net-zero future.
Americans looking to purchase at-home COVID-19 tests will now have to shell out a bit more money after an agreement expired between the White House and companies to sell the tests at cost. The price of Abbot's BinaxNow test kit from October to December was $14 apiece; on Tuesday, Walmart's website listed the test for $19.88, and Kroger listed the tests for $23.99. Carbon Health Regional Clinical Director Dr. Bayo Curry-Winchell joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss the impact higher prices will have as the nation experiences another surge in cases.
As millions of kids go back to school, districts across the country are determined to keep class in person, despite a surge in COVID cases. In New York City, Mayor Eric Adams has vowed to keep the nation's largest school system open amid Omicron, citing the disastrous effect of remote learning on students. Oswald Feliz, NYC council member who sits on the health and education committee, joined Cheddar to discuss the city's plan to combat the recent surge and keep kids in school.
Schools across the country are determined to keep class in session, despite the rapidly-spreading Omicron variant. While many parents prefer in-person learning, they also worry whether the current public health guidelines will be enough to protect their kids. Erin Richards, national education reporter for USA Today, joined Cheddar to discuss how are schools are preparing for the surge to avoid another round of remote learning.
With the annual CES convention underway amid COVID, HP unveiled rolled out a number of new products virtually this year, including new gaming PCs and 4K display monitors. But as industries look toward a greener future, HP is working with the climate crisis in mind. James McCall, chief sustainability officer at HP, joined Cheddar's Kristen Scholer to discuss the company's climate goals, which includes reducing its carbon footprint to net-zero by 2040. He admitted that reaching the ambitious goal will be difficult because much of the company's emissions totals come from third parties. "A large part of our footprint is outside of HP's direct control. A lot of it comes either from our incoming supply chain, the materials, our manufacturing process, or about 30 to 40 percent of it comes from our consumer-use base," McCall told Cheddar.
Pfizer and BioNTech are working to develop an mRNA-based shingles vaccine following the success of the COVID-19 shot. This latest collaboration will mark the third time the pharmaceutical companies have worked together on a vaccine.
The potential collapse of the Thwaites glacier in Antarctica has been deemed a potential "doomsday event" — researchers and scientists say its melting and collapse could raise global sea levels by at least two feet, enough to destroy coastal communities around the world. One team of scientists is traveling to the Thwaites glacier to drill below in order to gauge current ocean temperatures and attempt to model possible outcomes. David Holland, professor at NYU and Principal Investigator for the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, joins Cheddar Climate to discuss the glacier's potential collapse, his team's research plan, and more.
As winter break wraps up and COVID-19 cases hit record levels, the majority of school districts are returning to in-person classes. While some public schools in large cities have shifted to remote learning for the beginning of the year, the schools that are reopening campuses are determined to avoid the academic, social, and logistical challenges that come with a virtual classroom. Cheddar News is joined by Keith Powers, NYC Council Member, to discuss.
