🥇 BANNER Does Coral beep? yes, when its full of coins!!!

BVI Hunter

Bronze Member
Apr 8, 2013
2,092
1,901
VIRGIN ISLANDS
🥇 Banner finds
2
🏆 Honorable Mentions:
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Detector(s) used
ACE 250
AT Pro
SEA HUNTER 2
Garrett Pro Pointer
Ghost Amphibian Headphones
Vibra Probe 580
Vibra Tector 730
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Could'nt work out why this lump of coral (in 2 ft of water) at the beach kept "hitting"?

brought it home and it started to fall apart in my bag - WOW!!!

just need to identify them and work out how to save / clean them???

any ideas???

thanks!!


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Upvote 57
First off, congratulations on this tremendous find BVI, truly truly inspiring. I am new to this hobby and this forum and I think its safe to say I could not have come across a better thread to welcome me into this new and exciting hobby. The way the story is unfolding and the pictures of all the finds...its like a mini novel that I simply can't get enough of! Thank you so much for sharing.

Cannonball guy, you provided some amazing insight on all of this, your knowledge is awe inspiring.

Now, when cannonball asked what the date on the most recent coin you have found was, I swore I remembered one from the 1800's. Perhaps this will help him to better identify some specifics and further develop the time period.

View attachment 853395

There was also this one from 1760 or 1780

View attachment 853396

I'm not trying to over step my bounds but I know we are all excited to learn more information about the various shot and its age. I don't want cannonball constrained to the 1730's when dates have been noted that were much more recent than that.
 

First off, congratulations on this tremendous find BVI, truly truly inspiring. I am new to this hobby and this forum and I think its safe to say I could not have come across a better thread to welcome me into this new and exciting hobby. The way the story is unfolding and the pictures of all the finds...its like a mini novel that I simply can't get enough of! Thank you so much for sharing.

Cannonball guy, you provided some amazing insight on all of this, your knowledge is awe inspiring.

Now, when cannonball asked what the date on the most recent coin you have found was, I swore I remembered one from the 1800's. Perhaps this will help him to better identify some specifics and further develop the time period.

View attachment 853395

There was also this one from 1760 or 1780

View attachment 853396

I'm not trying to over step my bounds but I know we are all excited to learn more information about the various shot and its age. I don't want cannonball constrained to the 1730's when dates have been noted that were much more recent than that.

Well spotted - really MUST keep a written log of dates etc!!
These were amongst the cleanest out of the box and were sent to the US.
 

BVI Hunter, when you asked if I'd ever thought of writing a book, and I replied that I already did... I somehow forgot to also mention, in the past 30 years I've written numerous Historical (pre-20th-Century) Artillery educational articles for The Artilleryman magazine and the North/South Trader's Civil War magazine. I'm still doing that -- for example, see the two most recent issues of the NST-CW magazine.

To avoid a potential misunderstanding, let me clarify that I am not telling you about my Historical Artillery books and magazine-articles as "bragging." My mention of them is intended only to establish my credibility in answering your questions about the Historical Artillery projectiles you are finding.
 

BVI Hunter, when you asked if I'd ever thought of writing a book, and I replied that I already did... I somehow forgot to also mention, in the past 30 years I've written numerous Historical (pre-20th-Century) Artillery educational articles for The Artilleryman magazine and the North/South Trader's Civil War magazine. I'm still doing that -- for example, see the two most recent issues of the NST-CW magazine.

To avoid a potential misunderstanding, let me clarify that I am not telling you about my Historical Artillery books and magazine-articles as "bragging." My mention of them is intended only to establish my credibility in answering your questions about the Historical Artillery projectiles you are finding.




rest Assured CBG, I don't think you are bragging in the slightest - although you have every right too ! (and should!)

when I said "write a book" I was not being flippant but meant it with utmost sincerity!!

Your knowledge is outstanding and you are a real asset to this site!!

AND, you get to sit at the captains table on my new Supoer yacht......:occasion14:
 

Captain_Ahab wrote:
> I'm not trying to over step my bounds but I know we are all excited to learn more information
> about the various shot and its age. I don't want cannonball constrained to the 1730's
> when dates [on some of the shipwreck's coins] have been noted that were much more recent than that.

Captain_Ahab, thank you very much for that post. I needed to know the information in it. As I said previously (and asked for forgiveness), I don't have time to meticulously scan through every one of the 740+ posts in this discussion to hunt for the "youngest coin date" information. Moving the shipwreck's date upward by 70 years significantly changes the Artillery-Armament scenario. That is very important.

Having said the above... I am curious about:
1- the long gap in time between the next-youngest coin (1760) and the youngest coin (1801), and
2- none of the coins that I've seen show much (if any) "circulation-wear" -- which indicates the coins were lost not very long after they were manufactured.

The 1720s-1730s coins and 1760 coin, made 40-to-70+ years before the 1801 coin, OUGHT to show more than just slight "circulation-wear" IF all of those coins are from the same shipwreck. That causes me to wonder if the 1801 coin was lost in the water a lot later than the shipwreck's date... meaning, it was not part of the shipwreck's cargo.
 

Although when I find one size, there are others same size nearby, I have not found a 4 inch next to 3/4 inch??

what's your theory?

All coins found in one general area so far though.

Just wondering if the projectiles were freight/in munitions storage or they dropped adjacent to their guns in groups.

Any indications of a ballast pile?

Great finds.

V
 

Just wondering if the projectiles were freight/in munitions storage or they dropped adjacent to their guns in groups.

Any indications of a ballast pile?

Great finds.

V

found some masonry, but still trying to determine if its ballast?
 

Hi all, I have been following this thread for two/three months now and was time to pipe in. BVI Hunter, simply amazing, your findings are mind boggling to say the least! this is what all of us on this forum, and then some, dream about. I want to thank you for starting this thread and keeping us updated with your findings. I'm blown away by what you have found to date. Enjoy them and all the power to you!
 

Try looking in the vicinity of your sewer pipes for any ballast piles.

You would think that the ballast stones would move in concert with the 4 pounders. Unless hull damage dropped the ballast pile and the projectiles/coins drifted with the wreck.
But then the pipes would have ended up with the projectiles :dontknow:

BVI, if you don't mind giving out info, about how far are the pipes from the projectiles? Coins?
 

You would think that the ballast stones would move in concert with the 4 pounders. Unless hull damage dropped the ballast pile and the projectiles/coins drifted with the wreck.
But then the pipes would have ended up with the projectiles :dontknow:

BVI, if you don't mind giving out info, about how far are the pipes from the projectiles? Coins?

Best I don't say fish have ears and all that :laughing7:
 

- recently found a "container" :censored: with a "certain amount" of coins :skullflag: - all mixed denominations and dates. some clean, other badly discoloured due to the iron "container" :censored:

Can you reveal whether the "container" is bigger or smaller than a breadbox? I'm concerned that you are not properly leeching the salt out of those projectiles and they might disintegrate on you. Did you ever find the post on the molasses? Maybe now that CBG has posted on the thread, he would have some advice on the best preservation technique. I can still try to find that older post on the other forum if you still need it.

Regards, Erik
 

Can you reveal whether the "container" is bigger or smaller than a breadbox? I'm concerned that you are not properly leeching the salt out of those projectiles and they might disintegrate on you. Did you ever find the post on the molasses? Maybe now that CBG has posted on the thread, he would have some advice on the best preservation technique. I can still try to find that older post on the other forum if you still need it.

Regards, Erik

Erik - as per your quote of my text - you can probably imagine, that as exciting as finding canon balls is - I've got some other more pressing items to contend with!!

All the balls are only partway treated - I put them all together as some asked for pics of them all, rest assured they are still being treated!
 

If not ballast, the masonry could have been part of the oven at the cook's station... Just a guess though, probably historically innaccurate. :tongue3:
 

If not ballast, the masonry could have been part of the oven at the cook's station... Just a guess though, probably historically innaccurate. :tongue3:

that's what I was told too, but have been unable to get any info on ships "kitchens"?
 

Congratulations,,, Nice finds...
 

BVI - I made this same suggestion to Brad a while back as his so far is not an insignificant discovery and may indeed be much more than meets the eye. If you are not keeping a very detailed journal of all your activities regarding this project you should--not the least of which would be for posterity. You are wise to not reveal too much on these public pages, but write it all down for yourself. It will only enhance the value of the items you found and you may want to author or co-author a white paper or a book sometime on your discovery as further research and recovery of items hopefully lead you to the source of these items.

BTW, did you ever clean up that glass bowl that you mentioned had broken? Would be interesting to see a pic of it and its contents if there were any.
 

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