Before & After

[Diver Dude]

NICE find!
Any idea why the Longsreet had that on board?
How big is that thing?

 

[blacksambellamy]

The bomb is only about a foot long. These objects were not on board they were dumped from the sky by the military planes that used to bomb her and thats what you see here. The Longstreet was towed into Cape Cod bay and grounded on a sand bar for target practice. As a boy i used to climb on her and explore and jump off her bow into the water . Always had to keep an ear for the planes because you never knew when they were going to make their target runs. When the planes were done the pilots would dump any leftover munitions into the water. This area is government property and off limits but i never had a problem.
Bottom littered with this stuff but you need a trained eye to spot it. Keep in mind objects like the bomb dont look as they do in this picture. I have cleaned this one and what you see is the finished result. Also if you dont know what to look for you might get your arm blown off down there.

 

[Diver Dude]

I remember that wreck. When I was a kid we would go to a beach where we could see it.
Those weren't live I take it. Why would they be? It was target practice. A splash is a splash.
Do you know why live 50? caliber ammo was in the area? I can't see them dumping that from a plane.

 

[blacksambellamy]

The bomb was a flare bomb but there are very large live bombs down there. The 50 cal were live and the gunpowder inside was still dry. No idea why they would dump them but i dont believe they were from the ship at all. If ya want to dive it ill be on the Cape the week of July 4th and we have a boat in rock Harbor. Its a 2 mile ride from there. Very easy shallow dive. We can find you some amo and a bomb or two. I also know of a sunken fishing boat in that same area. I saw it once on my fish finder but didnt mark it with my GPS. I should be able to find it before summer is so we could dive that also. The fishing boat has only been down 2 years.

 

[Diver Dude]

Thanks for the offer but I can't plan that far in advance.Traffic that weekend is a nightmare too.
I wonder if the Longstreet was a dumping ground for some of Otis AFB expired ordinance.

 

[blacksambellamy]

Not a problem i understand. Im there on and off so reach out to me if you are thinking of going. I also dive Boston Harbor and recently got permission from the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Resources to dive the Le Magnigique the most historic wreck in the harbor. We have the site pegged down so we should be right on her but the real exciting thing here is nobody has ever found her. They have found wreckage in the area but it was never proven to be her.
We may need more people on thst dive so ill keep you in mind

 

[Sean222]

I know what you mean but that wasn't my question.
Why don't you start a thread with some pictures? I would really like to see what other guys are pulling up off some local wrecks

I think most people are reluctant to post pictures of their artifacts because of the backlash form the Archaeological community. Massachusetts does have a list of exempt wrecks that you can retrieve things from. In Rhode Island we have some of the most oppresive "no take" laws there are. I essence, the law states that anything that has been abandoned for more than 10 years (within RI state waters) becomes property of the state. There is an active "preservation" group here that would love to see divers prohibited from even diving wrecks. They will go to just about any length
to make us look like a bunch of looters. It's too bad, but that is the way it is.

 

[Gilldiver]

I think most people are reluctant to post pictures of their artifacts because of the backlash form the Archaeological community. Massachusetts does have a list of exempt wrecks that you can retrieve things from. In Rhode Island we have some of the most oppresive "no take" laws there are. I essence, the law states that anything that has been abandoned for more than 10 years (within RI state waters) becomes property of the state. There is an active "preservation" group here that would love to see divers prohibited from even diving wrecks. They will go to just about any length
to make us look like a bunch of looters. It's too bad, but that is the way it is.

There are some in RI that are way left - Say the head of RIMAP - almost imposable to work with. A while back NOAA found a wreck up in the bay almost in the Eastern shipping channel where they wanted to start bringing in cruse ships. The RIMAP head started her song about it being State property and almost immediately went quiet - not the SOP for her. What I am told is that as someone will have to pay to remove it, the State would rather have the Army Corp. or the NAVY do it. Someone called from Providence and told them to shut up.

So it is Sate property when it doesn’t cost them, but someone’s else’s when it will.

But funny about the 10 year rule, the one good thing that RIMAP did was get the revolutionary ships in Newport Harbor under an Admiralty Salvage arrest as the State under the Abandoned Shipwreck Act has no teeth, but Federal Admiralty law is well established. If you break a salvage claim, you can and will be found to be in contempt of the Federal District Court.

By the way, NY is 50 years and CT doesn’t have a specific rule but there is an antiquities act about "embedded" objects on State land. Just about all of Long Island Sound is either CT or NY State lands. There are a few real old land grants to bottom land on the NY side that date well before the Revolution. Some of them read that you own the bottom out till the water depth is such that the water will touch the belly of a well found horse. Others are specific to oysters and oystering rights and can be sold or inherited.
Pete

 

[Diver Dude]

I think most people are reluctant to post pictures of their artifacts because of the backlash form the Archaeological community. Massachusetts does have a list of exempt wrecks that you can retrieve things from. In Rhode Island we have some of the most oppresive "no take" laws there are. I essence, the law states that anything that has been abandoned for more than 10 years (within RI state waters) becomes property of the state. There is an active "preservation" group here that would love to see divers prohibited from even diving wrecks. They will go to just about any length
to make us look like a bunch of looters. It's too bad, but that is the way it is.

I know what you mean . I was hesitant to post anything here at first. But its not like I am giving my name and address to anyone. Someone would really have to go through a great deal of trouble to find out who I am and where I dive.
For all anyone really knows I could have gotten this stuff out of a junk yard.
I wonder if that preservation group would have left that bell for "all other diver's viewing pleasure" if they had stumbled across it.

 

[Sean222]

There are some in RI that are way left - Say the head of RIMAP - almost imposable to work with. A while back NOAA found a wreck up in the bay almost in the Eastern shipping channel where they wanted to start bringing in cruse ships. The RIMAP head started her song about it being State property and almost immediately went quiet - not the SOP for her. What I am told is that as someone will have to pay to remove it, the State would rather have the Army Corp. or the NAVY do it. Someone called from Providence and told them to shut up.
Pete, we are thinking about same individual. I have a friend who I believe is a mutual
friend from Conn. has mentioned your name and sent me some of your views on what should be protected. I agree with your position. It's too bad the State of RI refuses to come up with a compromise. We had a meeting with the state preservation office several years ago to see if we could work out somekind of plan that would keep everyone happy. They completely blew us off! The attitude here is that the wrecks belong to the state(meaning the authorities, not the people). It is too bad because they have set up an environment where no one is inclined to report any new discoveries.