Crews working on a $973 million harbor improvement project deepened a 40‑mile stretch of the Savannah River in 2021‑2022 and uncovered more than a dozen historic cannons, a find that connects modern Savannah residents to a pivotal moment in the Revolutionary War.
According to Futura Sciences, the first cannon was lifted by a clamshell digger operating for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredging contractor, followed by two more. Using sonar to locate the remaining pieces, workers recovered a total of 19 cannons by 2022, each weighing over 1,000 pounds.
Radiocarbon testing of wooden stoppers found inside the barrels dated the artifacts to the late 1700s, confirming they originated during the Revolutionary War. While the exact vessel remains unverified, archaeologists believe the cannons most likely came from a British ship scuttled in the fall of 1779 to block French forces advancing up the river. The British had previously retaken Savannah in late 1778, and in 1779 American and French forces attempted to recapture the city, prompting the British to sink the HMS Venus and the HMS Savannah at the narrowest part of the channel, as reported by the Atlanta Journal‑Constitution.
“They wanted to create some underwater obstructions by scuttling or sinking these vessels,” said Andrea Farmer, an archaeologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Historian Christopher Hendricks of Georgia Southern University added, “There is so little left to show what happened here.”
Texas A&M University researchers have been restoring 17 of the cannons, while two that remain encrusted in sediment were placed on public display as early as 2021. The restored pieces now form part of the “Loyalists & Liberty” exhibition at the Savannah History Museum, which opened on July 2 2026. The Coastal Heritage Society contributed $325,000 toward the restoration effort, and its director, Nora Lee, noted, “This puts Georgia on the map in terms of the Revolution.”
Some experts caution against a definitive identification. Stephen James of Commonwealth Heritage Group said, “I’d like to assume they’re all from the Savannah, but we don’t know for a fact,” and acknowledged the possibility that the cannons could derive from more than one vessel.
What’s next: The Savannah History Museum will keep the cannons on display through the remainder of the year, and the harbor project continues to deepen the river to accommodate larger commercial ships, promising further opportunities for uncovering the region’s buried past.
Sources: futura-sciences.com
