Police: NYC cannon found loaded with gunpowder, ball
NEW YORK (AP) - An 18th century cannon was found loaded with gun powder and a cannon ball Friday during a routine cleaning at the Central Park Conservancy.
Residual gun powder was spotted after a piece of rust was removed from the cannon, exposing the cannon ball, New York City Police said. Authorities were summoned to remove the gun powder and make the cannon safe for public display. The cannon came from a British Royal Navy Ship, the HMS Hussar, circa 1763 to 1780.
"We silenced British cannon fire in 1776 and we don't want to hear it again in Central Park," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.
Packing material, gun powder and a cannon ball are occasionally found inside cemented cannons when they are X-rayed during routine cleaning. A spokeswoman for the Central Park conservancy had no comment.
Residual gun powder was spotted after a piece of rust was removed from the cannon, exposing the cannon ball, New York City Police said. Authorities were summoned to remove the gun powder and make the cannon safe for public display. The cannon came from a British Royal Navy Ship, the HMS Hussar, circa 1763 to 1780.
"We silenced British cannon fire in 1776 and we don't want to hear it again in Central Park," NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.
Packing material, gun powder and a cannon ball are occasionally found inside cemented cannons when they are X-rayed during routine cleaning. A spokeswoman for the Central Park conservancy had no comment.
It begs the question: Was this an intact load from the 1700's or was it a more recent attempt to fire it? If it was intact load, I would suspect the black powder had deteriorated so much that it was no real danger. Surely, the saltpeter had gotten wet and washed out by now.
Talking about Bloomberg being a loose cannon. I can see people all over the nation trying to light off any cannon on static display while the authorities try to get enough X-ray machines to test if their cannon is loaded. I bet you a lot of static displays will be off limits until the X-raying can be completed.
WOW !!! Some one should tell Ole Piers Morgan about this travesty. Damn "Blokes"
leaving "assault wepons" just sitting around loaded and ready to go. Bloody Hell  !!!!!
 @hwystar71 Worse than assault.....WMD!