English: The miracle cannon of the Sacaramento was part of a consignment of bronze cannon that were cast in the Bacorro Foundry in the Portuguese colony of Macao as a gift for João IV, king of Portugal. The ship in which the cannon were being transported to Portugal, the Sacremento was lost off the South East coast of Africa in 1647, about 10 km from Port Elizabeth. This cannon was salvaged in 1977 and is now housed in the Prince Alfred's Guard Museum in Port Elizabeth.

When the cannon was on the sea-bed it rested on two cast-iron cannons that acted as sacrificial anodes preventing corrosion of the bronze cannon, hence the name the "Miracle Cannon". The cannon itself weighs about 4 tonnes and has a length of 3.7 metres and is one of the few remaining example of this cannon in the world. It is decorated with the coat of arms of the colony of Macao and the monogram of the Governor of India.

The small corroded cannon shows how the cannon would have looked had there not been the "sacrifical anodes".

This media shows a South African Protected Site with SAHRA file reference 9/2/073/0038 See also: External entry in South African Heritage Resource Agency database.

Note - This object was originally erected at the George VI Museum before being moved to its present site.