Original Spanish 1782 Dated Bronze King Charles III of Spain El Tronador (The Thunderer) Cannon with Wood Fortress Mount
Item Description
Original Item: This is a solid bronze Spanish cannon measuring 70 inches (6 feet) from muzzle to cascabel. The touch hole is clear and it was fired successfully for an episode of History Channel's Pawn Stars in 2021. You can watch the episode below:
The name El Tornador (The Thunderer) is featured in an engraved ribbon across the top of the barrel about halfway between the Chase and Muzzle. In front of the touch hole there is an engraved Spanish crest surrounding CA III for King Carlos the Third. At the breech around the widest ring on the cannon it is engraved No. 176 Sevi (lle) Mayo 1782 indicating that it was manufactured in the Spanish city of Seville in May 1782. The (lle) in brackets worn away from dragging the cannon.
Cannon barrel overall length 70" including cascabel, 13" across rear at widest point, bore of 4 1/4" indicating that it is a 10 pounder. Most likely a Spanish Man-o-War upper deck gun, but also could have been an artillery cannon. It is currently mounted on a newly built wood fortress style mount which is incredibly sturdy and displays the tube beautifully. For more detailed dimensions please see the scanned sheet at the end of the product images. Weight is approximately 1200 Lbs.
Curbside truck freight is included with purchase for locations within the US 48 states. For all other locations please contact us for an accurate freight quote prior to purchase.
Charles III (Charles Sebastian; Spanish: Carlos Sebastián; Italian and Neapolitan: Carlo Sebastiano; Sicilian: Carlu Bastianu; 20 January 1716 – 14 December 1788) was King of Spain (1759-1788). He also was Duke of Parma and Piacenza, as Charles I, (1731-1735); King of Naples, as Charles VII, and King of Sicily, as Charles V (1734-1759). He was the fifth son of Philip V of Spain, and the eldest son of Philip's second wife, Elisabeth Farnese. A proponent of enlightened absolutism and regalism, he succeeded to the Spanish throne on 10 August 1759, upon the death of his childless half-brother Ferdinand VI.
Military Conflicts:
Bourbon Spain, like their Habsburg predecessors, were drawn into European conflicts, not necessarily to Spain's benefit. The traditional friendship with Bourbon France brought about the idea that the power of Great Britain would decrease and that of Spain and France would do the opposite; this alliance was marked by a Family Compact signed on 15 August 1761 (called the "Treaty of Paris"). Charles had become deeply concerned that British success in the Seven Years War would upset the balance of power, and they would soon seek to declare war against the Spanish Empire as well. The French government ceded its largest territory in North America, New France to Britain as a result of the conflict.
In early 1762, Spain entered the war. The major Spanish objectives to invade Portugal and capture Jamaica were both failures. Britain and Portugal not only repulsed the Spanish attack on Portugal, but captured the cities of Havana, Cuba, a strategic port for all of Spanish America, and Manila, in the Philippines, Spain's stronghold for its Asian trade and colony of strategic islands. Charles III wanted to keep fighting the following year, but he was persuaded by the French leadership to stop. In the 1763 Treaty of Paris, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain in exchange for the return of Havana and Manila. This was partly compensated by the acquisition of a portion of Louisiana given to Spain by France as compensation for Spain's war losses. Britain's easy victories in capturing Spanish ports prompted Spain to create a standing army and local militias in key parts of Spanish America and fortify vulnerable forts.
In the Falklands Crisis of 1770 the Spanish came close to war with Great Britain after expelling the British garrison of the Falkland Islands. However, Spain was forced to back down when the British Royal Navy was mobilized and France declined to support Spain.
Continuing territorial disputes with Portugal led to the First Treaty of San Ildefonso, on 1 October 1777, in which Spain got Colonia del Sacramento, in present-day Uruguay, and the Misiones Orientales, in present-day Brazil, but not the western regions of Brazil, and also the Treaty of El Pardo, on 11 March 1778, in which Spain again conceded that Portuguese Brazil had expanded far west of the longitude specified in the Treaty of Tordesillas, and in return Portugal ceded present-day Equatorial Guinea to Spain.
Concerns about the intrusions of British and Russian merchants into Spain's colonies in California prompted the extension of Franciscan missions to Alta California, as well as presidios.
The rivalry with Britain also led him to support the American revolutionaries in their war of independence (1776-1783), despite his misgivings about the example it would set for Spain's overseas territories. During the war, Spain recovered Menorca and West Florida in several military campaigns, but failed in their attempt to capture Gibraltar. Spanish military operations in West Florida and on the Mississippi River helped the Thirteen Colonies secure their southern and western frontiers during the war. The capture of Nassau in the Bahamas enabled Spain to also recover East Florida during peace negotiations. The Treaty of Paris of 1783 confirmed the recovery of the Floridas and Menorca and restricted the actions of British commercial interests in Central America.
- This product is available for international shipping.
- Considered an ANTIQUE by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, meaning no Federal restrictions for ownership, transport, trade or possession, it is totally legal to own without any form of license. Freight and insurance are included in the purchase price (ignore the website shipping calculator) to any location within the continental United States.
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