And the story about the intriguing cannons of Boac continues...
 |
| Part of the municipal Resolution declaring the cannons as important municipal artefacts and treasures |
After reading my June 8, 2012 blog on the cannons at Casa Real, Konsehal Myke Magalang later sponsored a resolution for the protection and conservation of the said cannons.
Establishing that the artefacts are of significant historical importance and if given proper cleaning, protection, preservation and display could be a unique tourist attraction in the Casa Real grounds or in the new municipal building, the resolution was adopted on August 5, 2013.
The Municipal Engineering Office was then directed to come up with a design for carriages of the three cannons. Contact was likewise undertaken with the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP), which confirmed the provenance of the cannons stated in my research.
NHCP Chair, Dr. Maria Serena I. Diokno, confirmed the accuracy of the historical data posted on this blog and used as basis for declaring them important municipal artefacts and treasures. The March 13, 2014 NHCP letter reads in part:
Based on our research, "IEC" cannons were manufactured in the 17th to 18th centuries. A key source is the study conducted by the US Department of the Interior Minerals-Management Service (1989) on the archaeological site at the Gulf of Mexico where three cast iron cannons with fabrication marks "IEC" on their right trunnions were recovered. A similar study of the Society of Historical Archaeology (1990) recovered 2 more IEC cannons in the same area. Analyses of the various data suggest that the site was either the location of a possible grounding of a vessel with subsequent lightening by intentional discard of unnecessary ballast, or a plain shipwreck site. But these studies arrived at a concensus that the cannons were of Swedish origin. The gunfounder marks "IEC" belonged to Jesper (Eliaeson) Ehrencreutz (1648-1722) who founded the Eherendals Bruk Foundry (1690-1722).
In light of these sources, we confirm the accuracy of the historical data in the Resolution as the basis for declaring 1751 cannons as important municipal artefacts and treasures. We also support your action of securing a place inside the Municipal Building, the original site of the Casa Real, for these cannons.
