Napoleon's ship's cannon retrieved from the Scheldt

In early November, dredging work on the Oosterweel connection in Antwerp brought up a surprising piece of tangible past: a cannon from the Napoleonic era.

In the Scheldt's curve to the west, about two kilometres north of central Antwerp, some major infrastructure works for what is known as the Oosterweel connection are underway. A tunnel is being dug under the river to access the Antwerp ring road. From Sint-Annabos on the Left Bank, it will emerge near the Noordkasteel site on the Right Bank. Right in the former polder village of Oosterweel, which – except for its little church – had to give way to the expansion of the world port.

Until the early 20th century, the 1862 North Castle was located here, replacing the former pentagonal Fort Ferdinand or Fort du Nord from 1811. The French emperor Napoleon, aware of the strategic importance of the Scheldt city, had it erected as part of his ambitious plan to build Antwerp into a fortified trading metropolis with a world port and a naval arsenal.

The cannon is a 36-pounder weighing 3.5 tons and 3.3 m in length, a piece of heavy artillery that fired bullets weighing 18 kg. An anchor is depicted on the barrel, a reference to the French military fleet. Two hundred years underwater deposited a lot of sandstone and shells. A specialist cleaning should reveal whether the year of casting is also listed, as was common at the time. The attraction might then be displayed in the city.