Revered ‘war veteran’ cannons to go on display
>> Twelve vintage cannons, including one commissioned during the Napoleonic era, unearthed from the Naval Engineering Command compound are being honoured as “war veterans” for their role in protecting Thai territories hundreds of years ago.
Officials who retrieved the old cannons believed they were deployed in many battles which took place from the Thonburi period to the following early Rattanakosin era. The Rattanakosin era began in 1782 with Bangkok established as the capital.
“The cannons are regarded and revered as war veterans serving the nation and must be honoured in a religious ceremony,” Naval Engineering Command chief Rear Adm Samai Chai-in said.
Deputy Prime Minister Tanasak Patimapragorn visited the spot where the cannons were found buried and instructed officials to conduct research to obtain a complete history of the weapons. He planned to display the weapons at a museum run by the Naval Engineering Command.
It took about a year to trace the history of the old cannons and finally dig up the first one, which an official stumbled across by chance during a construction project. The command later ordered the area to be excavated, leading to the discovery of the other buried cannons.
Some cannons were buried in a position that made their retrieval difficult. One of them, weighing five tonnes, had its barrel stuck about two metres deep in the soil.
“It was not an easy feat to lift it from the ground,” Rear Adm Samai said.
This cannon, measuring 10m long with the barrel 25cm wide, was the largest of the 12 cannons discovered at the command. It is believed to have been made in England and sold acquired during the early Rattanakosin era. An emblem in the shape of an English crown convinced officers that it was cast by English engineers, he said.
Another is a medium-sized cannon believed to be commissioned in France during the Napoleonic era.
“We suppose [the medium-sized] cannon had been seized from the French by English soldiers after their victory,” Rear Adm Samai said, adding the weapon was later sold to Thailand.
Of the 12 cannons, eight are believed to have been cast by Thais during the Thonburi era.
The Thonburi era was a time when Thailand encountered many wars, so a large number of weapons, including cannons typically made of bronze, were urgently needed, according to Rear Adm Samai. The cannons were cast in an area near Wat Rakhang on the west bank of the Chao Phraya.
This area — in the vicinity of the residence of Phraya Mahakasatsuek, who later became King Rama I — was later annexed by the Naval Engineering Command, Rear Adm Samai said. Because of this history, many cannons have been found there.
Experts who made an initial inspection of the cannons believe they had been attached to warships or riverside forts.