Amazing that it could be viable after 150 years. One might imagine that there are live munitions still from World War I and World War II somewhere out there, waiting to be discovered (one way or another).
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/01/11/exclusive-loaded-revolutionary-war-era-cannon-found-in-central-park/
The NYPD released a picture of what its officers found: more than 800 grams ( 1.76369809747902 {from: http://www.tech-faq.com/convert-grams-to-pounds.html} or 1.8 pounds) of black powder still capable of firing, along with cotton wadding and a cannonball CBS 2’s Young spotted being carried in a white cloth by a Conservancy employee.
For John Moore, who is working on a book called “The Secrets of Central Park,” this is a new one.
“This is an amazing surprise. It was there for so many years and people were sitting on it when it was a loaded cannon,” Moore said.
That’s right: the loaded cannon was on public display from the 1860s until 1996 when the Conservancy decided to bring it indoors to protect it from vandalism. It was donated to the park about the time of the Civil War.
The finding was a shock to everyone involved, including tourists using the park Friday afternoon.
“Something like that, it’s surprising to be overlooked,” Denise Night said.
“It seems like some people are pretty incompetent not to notice after all these years,” Steve Night added.
In fairness, it never occurred to anyone that the cannon, which is said to be at least 233 years old, would still pose a threat. The field piece was already more than 90 years old when it was donated to the park, apparently by someone who’d salvaged it from a sunken British frigate in the East River. It was put on display at the park, and capped with concrete. No one even considered the possibility that British sailors had loaded and sealed it before their ship went down.
Gun & Cannon Safety!!! Every gun or cannon is to be considered loaded until proven otherwise.
Common as could be in Europe. Something the French deal with all the time. Farmer ploughs a field, turns up UXO.
Pinging a resident expert.
In Germany they regularly find unexploded bombs in cites when excavating to build.