These video clips are hosted outside the Oregon.gov website. When one of our own cannon videos finishes, links to other videos may appear inside the video player. We don't have any control over the content of these other videos.
Feburary - At the beach with The Oregonian:
The Oregonian newspaper was on hand when we removed the cannon from the beach. Here's their coverage, plus an interview with Miranda Petrone, the teenager who discovered the first cannon.
February - Off the beach and delivered to a state park for safekeeping:
Park crews carefully lower the cannon into stock tanks. The cannon will be filled with water and covered with wet burlap to prevent further exposure to the air and corrosion. Over the course of several weeks, the water will be refreshed several times, drawing more and more corrosive salt from the artifacts.
February - A closer look in the tanks:
No one knows for sure where the cannon are from, but it's possible they are from the 1846 shipwreck of the USS Shark, a survey ship that struck Clatsop Spit while leaving the Columbia River. If true, these have been buried in the sand for more than 150 years. They have corroded, and built up a shell of sand, rock, metal and other debris. The shape of the cannon can be hard to make out, but the broad, flat part is probably the wooden base that sat on the ship's deck. The barrel is several feet long and extends beyond the base.
March - First public viewing and the story of the USS Shark:
Nehalem Bay State Park interpreter Shelley Parker shares the story of the USS Shark. The 1846 shipwreck is the cannons' most likely origin, but no one knows for sure ... yet.
March - School day!
Nehalem Bay State Park staff share the story of the cannon with local schoolkids. The elementary students had fun exploring 19th century naval warfare history, learned how concretions form around things buried on the beach, re-enacted the wreck of the USS Shark, and saw the cannon up close.
April 2009 - Cannon conservation begins
Texas A&M's Conservation Research Lab will spend the next several years removing salt and concretions from the cannon. Then they'll come home to Oregon to be put on public display.
Page updated: April 30, 2009
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