The floating cannons of Butterworth
A short note by A. E. Coope describing the “Floating Cannon” of Butterworth, a rusted muzzle-loading cannon enshrined in a thatched shed near Mitchell Pier and venerated by local Chinese fisherfolk (p. 125).
The cannon, 6½ feet long with a 4½-inch bore, is partly embedded in concrete with its muzzle facing the door, surrounded by joss-stick racks and fishing nets. Its sacred status derives from the belief that it floated to its present location—a miracle that begot a cult. Coope surveys the competing traditions for its origin: a Chinese story linking it as the “female” mate of the Penang esplanade cannon (inscribed “IAN BERGERUS ME FECIT 1603”); another attributing it to the warrior Ah Chong of the 1862 Larut tin-field wars; and a Malay account of a trader named To Johan who dumped it overboard, after which coastal accretion gradually stranded it on dry land (pp. 125–127). The Malay explanation is noted as the most plausible, given the documented accretion of the Butterworth sand-bank. An annual ceremony on the 15th day of the 8th Chinese moon, featuring a Siamese “menora” performance, is held to propitiate the tutelary spirit believed to guard the cannon; a plague following an omitted celebration is cited as a cautionary precedent (p. 128).