Possible cannonball found

[Reed3289]

Found it buried while landscaping just north of Detroit in grosse pointe right by windmill pointe where the fox Indian massacre took place. Weighs aprox 63lbs and diameter aprx 8" seems to be made of iron. I first thought it may have just been a wrecking ball then figured might as well look into. Thanks for any help

[Reed3289]

Pic

[Reed3289]

Another

[scottfromgeorgia]

That ball would be for a large siege or naval cannon. The Fox Indian massacre involved no cannons. This site seems several miles away Fort Pontchartrain. Seems unlikely to be a cannonball.

Of course, precise measurements of diameter and weight are needed to go any further. 

[Reed3289]

Ok well thanks for taking the time to respond. After I found it I looked for a forum for opinions and had a feeling this was the right place to get factual information haha. Thanks again

[Reed3289]

Not sure if this makes a difference but I found the ball approximately 200-300 yards from lake st Clair which flows into the Detroit river. I have a hard time believing though that this ball heavy as it is could travel that far being shot from something made 300 years ago haha.

[CarlS]

Welcome to the forum.  Something for a cannon as large as it would take to shoot your ball could shoot one a long way.  The distance of 200-300 yards would be a rather short range.

An 8-inch solid shot shold weigh about 65 pounds so your "aprox 63lbs" is in the ballpark.  You can get a lot of info on projectiles at:
       http://www.civilwarartillery.com/
Look in the "Heavy Projectiles" area then choose "Smoothbore".  You don't mention any fuse or show one in your images so I'll assume it's a solid shot which the weight supports.

In addition to the precise weight and diameter that Scott reqeusted, do you note anything on it other than a smooth surface?  Some can have arsenal marks, casting sprues, fuse holes, etc.  If so, share a picture of that too.

[Reed3289]

Thanks for the info carl, If you look at the second pic you can see a small whole. It is only about a 1/4 wide inch wide which is what lead me to believe it was NOT a cannonball. I don't know much about these which is why I posted on here but I'm pretty sure the fuse hole would be bigger than that. This ones just slightly bigger then the circumfrance of a pencil.

[CarlS]

I saw that which is what promped me to ask the questions about marks, etc.  It is much too small to be a fuse hole not to mention the objects weight indicates it is solid and thus would not have a fuse hole.  A fuse hole in that shell would be well over an inch in diameter depending on the type.  Is there a hole like that on the opposite side?

[Reed3289]

That's the only hole I see. There seems to be a very slight mold or weld mark that is right in the middle of the ball and goes all the way around it if that helps.

[joevann]

About the right size for an 8" shot, but the seam would indicate otherwise as balls were cast in sand rather than iron molds and would not have a seam.

[Reed3289]

The seem I'm seeing could just be from the rust. One side of it has more rust than the other.

[joevann]

Grosse Pointe was also the home of Commodore Grant when it was still British Territory and was HQ for the fleet.  Commodore Grant died there in 1813, so it could be British.

[Reed3289]

Here is a closer look at the hole

[Pete George]

  That hole looks a lot like the ones in the infamous 4-hole mystery-balls.

  I think what we need at this point is precision diameter measurement, as Scott requested.  If you don't have access to a Diameter Tape (also called a Pi Tape), you can buy one at Home Depot for about $10.

  The following link is Educational, and among other things, it shows how to use a Diameter-Tape.  http://www.pochefamily.org/books/SolidShotEssentialsMod.html