This 1-pound roundshot is recorded as having been recovered from the timber of an Indiaman, though the circumstances and date are not known. Swivel guns firing shot of this size were carried on board Royal Navy dispatch schooners in the 18th century but similar guns - essentially anti-personnel weapons - and larger carriage guns, were also carried by merchant vessels for protection well into the 1800s. Guns firing small shot like this were also used by privateers up to the end of the Napoleonic War in 1815 and by pirates in the Eastern seas. After 1815 pirate attack may be a more likely source; earlier it could be either from that or an enemy European assault.