Armament

Large guns

Among the cannons, two are notable, as based on their adornment and size and the Roman numerals and initials of the founder, they were cast in 1582 by Zuane (Giovanni II) Alberghetti, a member of a renowned Venetian family that was involved in this trade for generations. The length of the cannons is 350 cm, and their calibre is 9 cm. The guns from Alberghetti’s workshop have been attributed to the sacro type

The original position of the two decorated guns was next to each other, at the wester end of the site. This contributed to the interpretation of the position of the ship remains, as the guns could not have been in this position if they had been originally installed on opposite sides of a vessel resting upright on the seafloor. Therefore, the vessel rested on its side, and, as the large guns on merchant ships normally functioned as defensive weapons and were situated on a ship’s aft rather than its fore, the guns ended in the stern area.

Small guns

The two smaller guns have been typologically specified as passa volante, while the four smallest ones have been classified in the group of movable breech-loading guns, called petriere da braga (3 examples) and moschetto da braga (1 example). The latter gun, classified as moschetto da braga, is decorated with a complex heraldic symbol showing a double-headed crowned eagle in the upper heraldic field, a monogram consisting of the letters P, N and M in the right field, and a palm frond, lily and image of nude boy in the left field. Another similar gun, on which an identical decoration was noted, ended up in a Belgian private collection. None of the enumerated guns bears the X symbol of the Venetian Council of Ten, which was mandatory for artillery weapons on state-owned galleys built in the Venetian Arsenal.