We had a pretty good afternoon in Stonington today. The annual fair was on with proceeds to benefit the Community Center. One of the items at the fair that caught Johann’s eye was the restored canon from the Nimrod.
The Nimrod was one of the British Navy warships that attacked Stonington from August 9th to the 11th in 1814. The canon that Stonington now has never actually fired a shot on Stonington. On June 14th, a day after raiding Wareham, Mass and destroying seventeen ships there, the Nimrod ran aground in Massachusetts waters. To refloat her the crew jettisoned five of her cannon and some quantity of shot. A few years ago the Kendall Whaling Museum in Sharon, Mass found and retrieved five of the cannons along with some shot. The museum kept two of the canon and donated the remaining three to the towns that the Nimrod attacked – Stonington, Falmouth and Wareham.
After a four year conservation effort the canon was mated with a gun carriage similar to one that would have been used aboard the Nimrod, developed by a local carpenter from original British Admiralty plans. The whole was unveiled today for the fair: canon on carriage, two ball shot – found during conservation in the canon – and some powder from the canon.
We also determined that the fair would be a good one for us next year, especially as it is so close to home. Tammy scored some decorator fabric on sale at one of Stonington’s high end furniture decorator shops as well. They were having a “sidewalk sale” of remnants that were too small for them to use, most were 1–2 yards. Two will be perfect for her uses. Johann found a Margaret Wise Brown book in the Stonington Library’s book sale table and we picked up some older National Geographic magazines for a song (literally) as well.