A CANNON recovered from the wreck of a 19th century frigate and restored by a Pembrokeshire military historian can claim a link to The Rocket-Cart House at Angle.

The cannon was one of 44 big guns on board HMS Anson when it sank in a storm off the Cornish coast in 1807.

Among the people who witnessed the sinking was Henry Trengrouse, who watched helplessly as sailors drowned yards from safety.

He set about discovering a way of preventing such a tragedy ever happening again and came up with a musket fired rocket line which has saved thousands of lives, particularly in its latter rocket-propelled form.

One of these devices was in use until the 1930s at the Rocket-Cart House, just a short distance from Chapel Bay Fort, Angle, where the cannon from HMS Anson is now in the ownership of George Geear.

Mr Geear, who is restoring the fort and is a keen military historian, bought the cannon from an antique dealer in Bristol. Nearly 200 years later a cannon ball remains inside.

The cannon's arrival in Pembrokeshire adds an interesting new dimension to the history of Angle and the Rocket-Cart House.

"The one good thing to come out of the Anson disaster was the invention of the rocket firing apparatus,'' said Mr Geear.

At Angle, the rockets were transported to the site of disaster on a horse-drawn cart and fired towards the ship in distress carrying a line to secure the breeches buoy to rescue passengers and crew. This is how the Rocket-Cart House got its name.

The cannon, along with Mr Geear's vast collection of military technology, will be a major feature when the fort eventually opens as a museum.