Ireland asked Tower of London to return 'illegally smuggled' rare cannons

Records reveal that Irish officials made extensive efforts to persuade UK authorities to return two extremely rare bronze cannons, claiming they were "illegally smuggled" from a shipwreck off the coast of Waterford and sold to the Tower of London.

The decades-long dispute over the ownership of these nine-foot-by-six-foot cannons, removed in the early 1970s from a shipwreck near the Metal Man at Tramore Bay, raised fears they could be targeted by the Provisional IRA.

The cannons, known as "sakers", bear the Tudor rose and were crafted for King Henry VIII in the 1540s by the Owen Brothers. They are two of only ten such cannons known to have survived the centuries, each valued at least £30,000 in the early 1990s.

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The case came under scrutiny after reports in the Sunday Press and The Times alleged the cannons had been smuggled out of Irish waters by a "gang of British treasure hunters", then sold in an Essex scrap garage for a mere £3,250 to a senior Tower official who did not inquire about their origin.

Newly disclosed documents reveal that officials from the National Museum of Ireland, Department of Foreign Affairs and the chief state solicitor persistently requested the return of the cannons.

The Tower had been informed by the Maritime Institute of Ireland that "both Irish and English law had been broken [during the acquisition of the items] by the failure to report the cannon to the Receiver of Wreck", an official body which logs when – and where – potentially significant items have been discovered.

A 1993 report from Eamon P Kelly, the Acting Keeper of Irish Antiquities of the National Museum of Ireland, indicates that, following initial representations, Tower officials became "defensive" in 1974, asserting there was "no evidence" the cannons had been "removed recently from the sea bed", that they "may have been found off the Sussex coast", and "that the original story of Irish provenance was spread as a cover". The record concerning the disputed ownership of the cannons also states that the Receiver of Wreck confirmed that, by 1992, the cannons had not been reported to its office.

Later that year, the Royal Armouries expressed it "wished to resolve the controversy", partly due to fears that they could be targeted by the Provisional IRA.

The Royal Armouries attributed this decision partly to the "continuing adverse publicity in the British and Irish press" by The Times and Sunday Press regarding the situation. They also linked "the earlier controversy with a bomb attack" carried out by the IRA, which resulted in loss of life, and expressed concern that further publicity would again "target the Tower, or its officials".

The 1993 report notes that while some British authorities were "sympathetic" to the Irish claim, the Royal Armouries pointed out that public funds were used to acquire the cannons and that they would "need to be satisfied that the Irish authorities had a valid case before they would concede".

After receiving Mr. Kelly's report, which concluded that it "seems clear" British officials were "aware the guns had been found off the Irish coast" and were therefore the property of the Irish State under Irish law, Ireland's embassy to the UK wrote to Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, requesting the immediate return of the cannons.