Cannon recovered from Detroit River

Dive team brings artifact up after centuries below the surface

10/5/2011
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A large crowd photographs the last of five sunken cannons believed to be over 200 years old recovered from the Detroit River on Wednesday.
A large crowd photographs the last of five sunken cannons believed to be over 200 years old recovered from the Detroit River on Wednesday.

DETROIT — A centuries-old cannon found by a Detroit police dive team has been pulled out of the water.

Divers retrieved the artifact Wednesday, and the Detroit Free Press reports it’s headed to a new home.

Detroit Historical Society curator Joel Stone says it’ll go into a cannon bath at the Historic Fort Wayne in Detroit to help preserve the metal from rust.

The cannon is eventually expected to be displayed at the Dossin Great Lakes Museum in Detroit or the Detroit Historical Museum.

Police divers found it during a training exercise in July.

The cannon was located 20 feet underwater behind Cobo Center. The Detroit News says the cannon spent more than 200 years below the surface.

How it got in the water remains a mystery.