22 restored cannons return to Castillo de San Marcos

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. – The archetypal of 22 historical cannons volition beryllium returned to the Castillo de San Marcos connected Monday aft extended restoration astatine Texas A&M University. For that reason, the Castillo de San Marcos volition beryllium closed to visitors Monday but is scheduled to beryllium backmost unfastened Tuesday.

Visitors similar Quinn Vinson emotion seeing the Castillo and hold that due restoration is cardinal to keeping past alive.

“It’s beauteous cool! I emotion it erstwhile past comes backmost to our communities,” Vinson said. “History is important. That’s what built america to who we are today.”

The visitors aren’t the lone ones excited. Steven Roberts is main of Interpretation, Education, and Visitor Services astatine the National Park Service for the Castillo de San Marcos and Fort Matanzas National Monuments. He says the cannon have been astatine Texas A&M since 2018. They were expected to beryllium backmost sooner, but delays got successful the way.

“As I deliberation each of our assemblage tin understand, the pandemic has decidedly slowed down the process by much than a year,” Roberts said.

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Roberts says, at Texas A&M’s Conservation Research Laboratory, the cannons received what helium calls their “spa treatment.”

“We’ve been removing each of their salts, taking disconnected each the aged paint, removing each the corrosion, and past putting connected caller barriers to support them and repainting them,” Roberts said. “We’re conscionable gladsome to person them yet coming back.”

Roberts says that’s not all. Some of the cannons required peculiar care. For instance, helium says immoderate weren’t precise unchangeable and needed much in-depth treatments.

“Some of the cannons were filled with factual and each that had to beryllium removed,” Roberts said.

The cannons are expected to beryllium returned by some motortruck and barge. Roberts says the archetypal 8 cannons volition get astir 8:30 a.m. Monday and volition beryllium delivered to the country instantly eastbound of the Castillo. He says that spot is known arsenic the “water battery”.

The remaining 14 volition beryllium returned to the weapon deck, which is the upstairs portion.

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“So, those are coming by barge, we expect the barge to get successful the afternoon,” Roberts said. “And 1 by one, the crane connected the barge volition assistance them to the weapon platform to the waiting squad to person them.”

The process is expected to past passim the day. While it’s a agelong clip coming, knowing these precious artifacts volition beryllium successful tip-top signifier is everything.

“It genuinely is the cornerstone of the defenses,” Roberts said. “And these cannons, to amusement radical these authentic historical pieces successful a information that they volition beryllium astir for generations and generations to come, truly is what each of america successful the National Park Service unrecorded for.”

The full task outgo astir $400,000. Roberts says it was paid for wholly by visitant admissions.

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