For archaeologists who discovered a centuries-old cannon, the next surprise will be what's underneath the brownish marine growth and encrustations on the bronze weapon, which possibly belonged to the French explorer La Salle.
"Whoa, is this anticipation like Christmas morning," said Barto Arnold, state marine archaeologist with the Texas Historical Commission, as he looked at the cannon in a rubber-matted vat.
The cannon arrived at the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History Friday morning, where museum staff and volunteers will start to remove more than three centuries worth of sea-bottom materials that have accumulated on it, said Rick Stryker, the museum's director. Stryker and Arnold said they hope the cannon will be ready for a temporary exhibit at the museum by next spring.
Archaeologists from the Texas Historical Commission pulled the cannon Thursday from about 12 feet of water where Matagorda Bay and the Gulf of Mexico meet.
They believe the cannon is more than 300 years old and from the wreck of Rene-Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle's personal ship, l'Belle, which sank after it was blown adrift during a storm in 1686.
The 72-inch cannon itself may be older, and its date may be cast on its back portion, Arnold said. The date and other ornate decorations that make the cannon unique are covered with crusty mud, shellfish and stones - all of which will be flaked off by hand with tiny brushes, with water jets or removed through electrolysis, he said.
Electrolysis, a procedure that could take weeks or months, involves the use of electric currents sent through the water-and-sodium-carbonate mixture in which the cannon now sits. The process removes chloride, which causes corrosion, from the cannon.
But the cannon, currently in the museum's conservation lab, is in remarkably good condition because bronze doesn't readily react with sea water, he said. "It'll look almost as good as new. It's very, very well-preserved," Arnold said. "All the decorations will be visible."
Uncovering a crest and dolphin handles thought to be under the crusty muck was a job to be done by the staff at the Corpus Christi museum, Arnold said. "They have the facilities, the personnel and the know-how to work with it," he said.
The Texas Historical Commission underwater archaeology program's longstanding relationship with the museum drew the archaeologists to the museum and will allow the cannon to be housed there temporarily, Arnold said.
Stryker said a temporary exhibit could be set up by next spring. Under state law, the Texas Historical Commission and the Texas Antiquities Committee have jurisdiction over recovery and preservation of Texas antiquities. Stryker said the purpose of the conservation is for research, so the commission would not disperse the cannon until completion of the entire project, which could be several years. But the museum could be in the running as the cannon's final resting spot, he said.
"It's certainly a good possibility, and for the foreseeable future (the cannon) will be here," Stryker said.
This summer's project, a $75,000 endeavor funded by private organizations and the Texas Department of Transportation, is the second search for La Salle's ship. Arnold said archaeologists on the first search in 1978 were only a half mile from the wreck site.
Historical documents and a magnetometer, a device that detects iron, led archaeologists to the site, he said. Archaeologists plan to have the major dig to retrieve a large part of the ship's hull in several years, Arnold said.