Time: 10 AM – 1 PM
Instructor: Joseph W. Zarzynski, RPA (Registered Professional Archaeologist)
Floating gun batteries were robust vessels equipped with heavy ordnance, designed to bombard enemy cities or military positions and support amphibious assaults. One of the earliest floating gun batteries was constructed by Spain in the mid-16th century to attack an Ottoman Empire stronghold in North Africa. In the same era, the Koreans developed “turtle ships” to combat the Japanese.
Arguably, North America’s first floating gun battery was the 1758 Land Tortoise radeau (French for raft), a seven-sided, 52-foot-long warship equipped with seven cannons. The class instructor led the underwater exploration team that discovered the Land Tortoise in Lake George in 1990. Various types of floating gun batteries were also used during the American Revolution (1775–1783), the War of 1812 (1812–1815), and the Civil War (1861–1865).
Class size is limited to 15 people.