Ballast Stone Value?

[pcolaboy]

Weird concept I know but hear me out...

Back in the age of sail as we all know, ships came into a port, unloaded cargo and took on ballast to compensate for the loss of weight and vice versa. If a ship was in a fairly primitive port such as in Central and South America, area natives would quarry these stones out of whatever material they could find and sell them at the port.

There are several locations in my area that have huge piles of ships ballast that were disposed of at several anchorage points - we already checked to make sure these weren't wrecks. Several of these that I've retrieved are fairly exotic obsidian, solid flint, etc.

Has anyone else out there 'mined' any ballast stones for the value of the mineral or material? A buddy of mine has a rock saw and polisher and says he's been making a small fortune on some of the more exotic obsidian glass that he's cut and sold on eBay. There was one that I posted back last summer that I found to contain flakes of gold within the obsidian.

Just curious if anyone else has paid this much attention to the thousands of tons of ballast stones in each of our ports.

Pcolaboy

 

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[ivan salis]

Re: Balast Stone Value?

smart move if you got the market for them ---do it.

 

[badbrains]

Re: Balast Stone Value?

the Mafia could use them

 

[Peg Leg]

Re: Balast Stone Value?

I doubt it-they prefer QUCK SETTING CEMENT.
I think that is a great idea. If you have a ROCK SAW and a Rock Polisher.
There is no limit to what the mind can come up with.
Peg Leg

 

[SteveS]

Re: Balast Stone Value?

I'm sure some ballast does have some value, either as an ore etc. Found a local wreck whose ballast turned out to be titanium ore. Thought it may be worth allot, but turned out it sells by the ton and wouldn't even be worth the effort. I've always checked out the ballast on different wrecks which sometimes helps tell where they came from. As you mentioned, in some bays/ports, there are piles of ballast that were dumped to make way for cargo. We found quite a few piles off Rum Cay, Bahamas to make way for the salt cargo being loaded. At first we thought we found a wreck graveyard, but it soon dawned upon us what they were. That must have been a heck of a job removing and replacing ballast, especially in the hot summers!!!!!
Ballast has even helped name areas in the islands. We dove an area called "Flint Bay" in the Bahamas, and it turned out the area was full of ballast from a wreck that looked just like flint.

SteveS

 

[Peg Leg]

Re: Balast Stone Value?

Has anyone ever gone by a Rock and Stone yard and checked out some prices. Yes some sell by the ton at a tune of no less tha $200.00 but there are some that sell by the pound. I recall seeing some smooth stones from Mexico that went for $7.00 a pound and it does not take much to make a pound.
Think about having a wall made from Ballast rock.
Peg Leg

 

[pcolaboy]

Re: Balast Stone Value?

....Also, call UWF and see if they may be interested in them, their Geo department may could use them. If you could get all that ballast up just think what may be under it (untouched ground for hundreds of years) WOW . When you get to it up hammer that puppy hard with your water detector!
HH

UWF's Underwater Archaeology Department would probably have me arrested even though the stones didn't come from a wreck. Nevermind the fact that I've witnessed some of their students go back out to 'their' discoveries on the off days to loot. Sorry...getting off topic.

Thanks for all the replies folks. I'm not really looking for ore-bearing rock but rather the mineral crystal-bearing types. There certainly seems to be no shortage of them. The main thing I have tried to do is only remove stones that are totally buried in the sand since the ones that are exposed are part of a habitat.

I will try to dig up some of the obsidian pics from last summer and post them.

Pcolaboy

 

[Rustys Mate]

I've taken an old scuba tank roller and placed a tube on it, filled it with sand and saltwater. Sealed the ends of the tube with plastic window sealer,a hair dryer, and large rubber bands. I put in stones, fossils, shells, etc. and let em roll a few days. That polishes them nice. Sad to say, I've never found any gems or gold. But, they make for a nice collection.

 

[Rustys Mate]

SWR
Near Tamba Bay between The sunshine skyway and egmont key there is a small island. It is not shell island. It's not on a map. If you snorkel off the south west point of that island, there are many different stones of different shapes and sizes if you are interested.
I tie a line to me though with an inner tube and divers flag. You'd be surprised at the amount of boats racing through that area.

 

[FISHEYE]

whats nice about haveing ballast stones on your boat that you find,they make great hammers when you find out the hammer that you had on board,one of your divers accidently dropped it overboard an never told you.

ive seen some painted 1715 ballast stones that bring around 100 bux each.they had a galleon painted on them.im sure if you know when they were put there.you can date them.get some archie to authenticate them an they will bring even more money for collectors to use as door stops and paperweights.or just rock tumble them.