A very rare breech-loading Swivel Gun, 15th/16th Century.

Portuguese, 15th to 16th century.
Length: 93 cm.
Composed of forged iron parts.
Manufacturer’s mark.

Provenance
Recovered from a sea bed off Seaford, Sussex, back in 1970.
Conserved 5 years at Portsmouth.
Exhibited in The Mary Rose Museum.

Dossier as PDF

The present swivel gun is a rare example for early breech-loading cannons used in the 15th and 16th century. Since it was not necessary to pull them back for loading, these arms could be placed in close quarters. On the one hand this was an advantage on ships, on the other hand these cannons were also installed on the walls of castles and strongholds.more