Looking for fireamrs under bridges?

Hey there!

I live in Richmond, VA, where we have a high crime rate and a river running right through downtown.

I thought it would be fun to dive around the base of some of the inner-city bridges to see what I could come up with. I fish there in the spring and it's only about 4-10 feet deep.

Any comments or thoughts are welcome.

I have a few thoughts and questions:

1. Has anyone been in the James, and what kind of viz did you need to be effective?

2. Anyone have any cool finds?

3. Do you have to dig and feel, or do you just look?

4. What do you do with what you find?

Lemme know if ya find Jimmy Hoffa!

*smirk*

I have been in and around these areas quite a bit over the last decade, the areas that get some circulation are not to bad. Visibility from 1 to 5 feet.

The back water and port areas with little flow are no visibility, but coffee flavored not black until you get down below 15 feet or so.

In either case the bottom encountered will normally be a very soft silt and when you begin your search you will soon have true zero visibility.

You will have to feel around to find anything, you may find it more effective to close your eyes and concentrate on feel...

Found a scuttled Mike boat in the port that no one knew about, also a Larc V tire (about 12 feet in diameter)

Your going to be pulling the items from brackish water so you will wnat to read up on some basic preservation techniques if you want to have a keeper...

Jeff Lane

P.S. I do recall hearing about some folks diving the mote on Ft Monroe and finding the bottom littered with artifacts... They were ordered to return the items to the mote when it was discovered they had brought the items to the surface.

There are serious hazards to know and be ready for.

Most river dives are low to no vis. You work by feel. If there was any vis to start, there won't be as soon as you pick something up from the bottom.

Current can be both a friend and a hazzard. It is you friend as it clears the mucky water and restores vis fairly quickly. Strong currents can carry you into entanglements and keep you there.

It is better to work your way up stream than to drift. Drifting downstream again puts you at risk of getting hung up and unable to get out against the current. This is a major hazzard for surface supplied divers.

Get prepared and have fun. There are TONS of things to find in rivers. A metal detector can be fun there also.

... and diving in the Savanna River, under the US-25 bridge was known to produce fairly new firearms...or so I was told. I never did dive in the river there. It would be interesting to try, as the visability in the river could be pretty good at times, and there were several major bridges across the river near town.

Remember that any firearm you find may be of evidentiary value to an unsolved case. If you do find one you may want to notify the local law enforcement agency prior to bringing the item to the surface. It might be best if they recover it.

Be careful with guns...they will fire (at least 1 round) underwater depending on the condition of the gun.

Wendy once bubbled...
Remember that any firearm you find may be of evidentiary value to an unsolved case. If you do find one you may want to notify the local law enforcement agency prior to bringing the item to the surface. It might be best if they recover it.

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To amplify what Wendy has said, if you find a weapon of any kind, you should mark its location and notify the police or sheriff's department having jurisdiction over that area. The designated recovery team will recover it while keeping records to maintain the "chain of custody" of the evidence. It is highly unlikely that someone just woke up one day and said to himself: "Hey, I think I'll go throw away a perfectly good gun (or knife,etc.) today!" That weapon probably will be connected to some kind of crime.

If you surface with that weapon, and take it to the authorities, you may feel that you have done something helpful. Unfortunately, you may have damaged trace evidence that could otherwise have been useful. You will also have given the defendant's lawyer the perfect opportunity to impeach that particular piece of evidence. Your innocent act might help a murderer go free. I am certain you would not wish that!

To paraphrase the words of Mr. Natural: "Get the right team for the job, kids!":grad:

I would think, Police being trained investigators and all, that this idea might have crossed their minds at some point or another. Don't most police departments have dive teams? (Or, if not, the Sherriff?)

I would think, Police being trained investigators and all, that this idea might have crossed their minds at some point or another. Don't most police departments have dive teams? (Or, if not, the Sherriff?)

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Most police or fire departments do have public safety divers or rescue divers. But remember that just because they are trained for this doesn't necessarily mean that they can find everything. This is especially true when you're talking about a river or lake because of the visibility level. You may find something in the one square foot somebody missed. Or something may have surfaced through the muck that was buried before. Nobody's perfect.