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What began as a dredging effort to deepen Savannah Harbor near old Fort Jackson became one of the most significant underwater archaeological discoveries in the city’s history.

The artifacts have now been unveiled at their new home, the Savannah History Museum. In early 2021, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers crews working on the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project unexpectedly pulled a cannon from the riverbed. Another scoop brought up two more, prompting crews to halt dredging and call in archaeologists and divers.

The resulting recovery effort uncovered 21 cannon and additional artifacts, including anchor fragments and pieces of a ship’s bell, from the bottom of the Savannah River, where they had been hidden for nearly 250 years.

Some cannon were recovered in pieces, and two fragmented examples displayed at the Savannah History Museum served as placeholders while also showing the effects of corrosion without proper conservation.

In February 2023, 17 cannon and several other artifacts were sent to the Conservation Research Laboratory at Texas A&M University. Over more than three years, experts removed corrosion, stabilized the iron, extracted wood plugs, paper wads, cannonballs, and intact gunpowder wads from 14 of the cannon, and conducted scientific analysis.

The 17 fully conserved cannon and related artifacts returned to Savannah on June 3, 2026. On July 2, after an official unveiling ceremony, they went on public display at the Savannah History Museum in the exhibit “Loyalists and Liberty: Savannah in the American Revolution.”