About This Artifact
A piece of iron grapeshot recovered on Lot 16 by Rick Lagina, Marty Lagina, Dave Blankenship, and Gary Drayton during Season 5. Grapeshot was a type of anti-personnel cannon ammunition consisting of small iron balls packed together in a canvas bag or metal canister. When fired, the balls dispersed in a wide pattern, making the projectile effective in naval engagements and land battles from as early as the 15th century through the 19th century.
The grapeshot was found alongside a horseshoe fragment and an old coin that Gary believed may have been a maravedi, a Spanish coin that circulated widely in the colonial Americas. The recovery of military ordnance on Oak Island raised questions about whether armed conflict or a military garrison had been present on or directed at the island at some point in its history.
A second stone projectile was later recovered during Season 8 from stored spoils from borehole E-5.25 in the Money Pit area. Steve Guptill and Michael John found the dense stone at the wash table, and Gary Drayton identified it as a gunstone, a pre-cannonball projectile fired from a blunderbuss, a type of weapon first manufactured around 1550. Together with musket balls, lead ingots for casting ammunition, and musket stock plates found across the island, the grapeshot formed part of a pattern of military artifacts spanning several centuries of activity on Oak Island.
Historical Context
Gary Drayton & Rick Lagina
Where It Was Found
Found at Lot 16 — Oak Island, Nova Scotia, Canada.
