Spotlight on Artillery

Peça de braga, i.e. a breech-loading cannon. The designation of cão (watchdog) comes from the fact that these parts were generally mounted at the stern of the vessel, to guard personnel who served at the helm. The term is broadly used to define all pieces that ensured this function. It fired stone cannon balls, with a range of approximately 100 meters.

Cast-bronze, breech loading naval gun, from the period of King John III (1521-1557). It fired lead shots, with an effective range of about 400 meters. It belonged to the Portuguese carrack «Santiago», wrecked on the shallows of Judia (Indian Ocean), on her way to India, in 1585. Recovered in 1985.

A breech-loading cannon. It fired cast-iron balls, with a range of about two kilometers This piece was recovered from the wreck of the carrack Santiago, occurred in the Bassas de India, in the Indian Ocean in 1585. It is adorned with the coat-of-arms of Portugal, an armillary sphere, and King Sebastião's seal.

Breech-loading cannon. It features a very worn out engraved figure, looking like a greyhound or a hare. It has two small shields, also very worn out; looking like what it seems to be an armillary sphere. It fired iron balls of about one kilogram.

It was called bastarda, because its barrel length was in fact shorter than thirty calibers. It was found at Porto das Barcas beach, in Lourinhã. For this reason it is sometimes called Piece of Porto das Barcas. It was retrieved from the bottom of the ocean in 1968 by a group fishermen. It is presumed to belong to the galleon S. Nicolau, sank there in 1642.

8 cm caliber breech-loading naval gun cast in bronze in 1679, during the regency of Prince Pedro.

Certain tactical situations implied the need to make plunging shot, i.e. with a curved path. The mortars were short-barreled guns of large-caliber. One of the drawbacks of the mortars was their heavy weight. The mortar should have garnished the Fort of Alfarrobeira in Alcântara.

Bronze muzzle-loading swivel gun, of oriental origin, inspired in European artillery, presenting dolphins and a pronounced gun sight on the first reinforcement.

Bronze muzzle-loading swivel gun, of oriental origin, inspired in European artillery.

A 1550-kilogram muzzle-loading cannon cast in Amsterdam by Ciprianus Crans lansz. l fred iron bals of about 45 kilograms. It is adorned with the royal sea of King João V, and with an engraved caption that identifies the manufacturer, place and date of manufacture.

Used in the Fort of São Lourenço do Bugio, at the mouth of the Tagus River. It dates from the reign of King John Vand was bronze cast in Holland, in 1737, by Ciprianus Cranz.