Artifact Recovery (what's your best find?)

[diverberr]

I'm afraid this thread is only for those who recover artifacts. There are many divers who are in the "take only pictures" category. This thread is for the rest of us......the dark half.

With that being said, my best find was a telescopic gunsight that I removed from the stern gun of a local wreck. The British Freedom was an armed tanker that was torpedoed during WW2.

The gunsight is entirely brass, with four lenses, and inscribed with the maker's name as well as the manufacture date(1918).

Here's a pic.

 

[DiveTub]

Your a goose

 

[FredT]

Cleaned up nice too!
My best paying find was a "thunder boat" offshore racing powerboat. A buddy and I were off Boca Raton looking for a particularly hard to find dive site, me geared up with the anchor in hand to fly it down to the reef pillar and Al driving working the sounder and shore marks. One of the many Offshore Mia to WPB races was runing that day. A racer was less than 100 yards from us when her engine blew, taking the bottom out and sinking it immediately. We rescued the crew with minimal injuries. I grabbed our current line and managed to get a line on her before the bubbles stopped coming up from the wreck. Her chase boat crew offered (and paid) $500 for the float and line.

Simply a matter of luck and being in the right place at the right time with the correct gear. That $ kept a starving student (ME) in air and reef groceries for several months!

FT

 

[Bob3]

Got a Cessna 182 off the bottom of Green Bay & a 35' charter fishing boat off the bottom of Lake Michigan, complete with a full frige of beer. Not sure if those qualify as artifacts though.
Yanked dozens of deadeyes off wrecks in the '60s, many were turned into lamps. Still have a pile of wooden hatch covers, something that normally got blown off when the boat sank. They make great coffee tables.
My buddy (the lucky s.o.b.) was just digging in the sand & pulled up a ship's bell. Think he gulped a gallon of water from jaw drop syndrome.
Still looking for the "Poverty Island Gold".
:mean:

 

[diverberr]

Bob3 once bubbled...

My buddy (the lucky s.o.b.) was just digging in the sand & pulled up a ship's bell. Think he gulped a gallon of water from jaw drop syndrome.

:mean:

A bell eh? The holy grail of wrecking. Was the ship's name on it? A buddy of mine got the bell off a wreck called the Gard a few years ago.

Like you, I've recovered deadeyes, portholes, other assorted brass goodies.

The wreck I took the sight from also has teak decking on it. When it's planed down, it's like new. It's weird to see divers going along tearing up the ship's decking in 180 feet. Divers have been making jewellery boxes, cabinets, etc out of it.

 

[andibk]

List,
In the past 2 years we dove 8 wrecks and 7 we where the first to ever dive (as far as we know). We have come across a WW2 wreck with some large bombs. I think the best ones we have dove which has taken many years of searching are the pottery wrecks. We have dove 5 sites that have had ancient pottery. I have sent some photo's to the archeology department and usually they fall between 400 - 700 years old . Some of the wrecks have been from Thailand but the good ones have been from China (usually blue and white porcelain). Most of the wrecks lay between 50-70 meters. One sight was totally amazing as we descended down the descent line all you could see was pottery. We did a 30 minute bottom time that is all you could see. We estimated that there had to be about 10,000 pieces sitting on the surface. Even though the best pieces usually are under the sand.

Bruce

 

[diverberr]

andibk once bubbled...
List,
In the past 2 years we dove 8 wrecks and 7 we where the first to ever dive (as far as we know). We have come across a WW2 wreck with some large bombs. I think the best ones we have dove which has taken many years of searching are the pottery wrecks. We have dove 5 sites that have had ancient pottery. I have sent some photo's to the archeology department and usually they fall between 400 - 700 years old . Some of the wrecks have been from Thailand but the good ones have been from China (usually blue and white porcelain). Most of the wrecks lay between 50-70 meters. One sight was totally amazing as we descended down the descent line all you could see was pottery. We did a 30 minute bottom time that is all you could see. We estimated that there had to be about 10,000 pieces sitting on the surface. Even though the best pieces usually are under the sand.

Bruce

Bruce,

Holy S**T. That's too f**king cool. Would love to see some photos if you have any.

See you on the bottom,

Al.

 

[andibk]

diverberr
What is your email address?? I will send you some photo's.
Later this year we are planning on doing a dive to around 120 meters deep where there is a sunken city. I have the GPS of a buddha temple , hotel and school. Also if I can get enough people I have the gps of a shipwreck that is about 100 meters long and about 75 meters deep that nobody I know of has dove it. It is a long boat ride to get there but I believe will be well worth it.

Bruce

 

[diverberr]

andibk once bubbled...
diverberr
What is your email address?? I will send you some photo's.
Later this year we are planning on doing a dive to around 120 meters deep where there is a sunken city. I have the GPS of a buddha temple , hotel and school. Also if I can get enough people I have the gps of a shipwreck that is about 100 meters long and about 75 meters deep that nobody I know of has dove it. It is a long boat ride to get there but I believe will be well worth it.

Bruce

Bruce,

Very cool. I look forward to seeing the photos. I sent you a private message with my e-mail address on it. I'll send you back some pics as well.

Cheers,
Al.

 

[aue-mike]

I have attached some pics of the binnacle I recovered off the ARABY MAID. The ARABY MAID was a composite bark built in 1868 and sunk in 1903. She now rests in 220fsw off the Dry Tortugas and is a beautiful wreck. I found this buried in shell hash on the stern. The porthole on top also came off this wreck.

Cheers,
Mike