is it a old ships sounder

[hmmm]

I'm baaaack
my dad says it is a sounder, we found it at low tide. first we where digging a bigger object , 4 feet long, 10 percent iorn, but the tide came in before we could dig it up. this was near it, it is hand made. no rust.
i thought it was some kind of weight.

 

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[Breezie]

It looks like a window weight to me too, but since I don't know what a 'ship sounder' is, I can't make a comparison. What is that anyway? Breezie

 

[calisdad]

I think your dad is right. That's twice as big as any sash weight I've ever seen.

A sounder was used on the end of a line to tell a ships pilot the depth of water they were in. It's also how Mark Twain got his pen name. (Mark twain= 2 fathoms)

 

[hmmm]

Way to big for a window weight , also there are no houses within 10 miles. given its remote location it has to be connected to boats, we will go back and dig out the other object and look for more evidence when the tide is about 2 feet.

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

If the other end is hollow it may be a sounding weight. They put tallow in the hollow end and it would bring up a bottom sample so they could tell if it was mud, sand or rock bottom. If solid . . . sash weight from a window. That one is a bit large for a sounding lead so I am leaning towards sash weight. Also used to anchor small bouys and little boats like punts and canoes.

 

[NOLA_Ken]

It's not too big for a window weight, we pull some pretty big weights out down here from the ceiling height windows in these old houses. Here's a pic of some big ones, just compare to the paving bricks, they're a slightly different style but same basic thing.

My grandfather used to drill holes through them and put pieces of rebar through to make anchors, and sold them at the bait shop near his house. I've also known guys who used them to weigh down trot lines in areas with a lot of current.

Not saying it's not a sounder, just saying it's more likely a sash weight.

 

[Dano Sverige]

Window sash weight. Used to play with lots of them when they knocked the old houses down in my home town to make new housing estates in the 70's.
May have been adapted as an anchor for a small boat or maybe a "sea weight".

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

I agree it's not too big for a sash weight. In fact, we had similar (15#) cord-hung sash weights at the house I grew up in (built in 1822) and one day the cord let loose in a second floor bedroom. It shattered the window on the first floor after blowing through a pretty dry rotted box frame and glancing off the weight for that lower window. We thought someone had shot into the house!

 

[ivan salis]

could be a window sash weight used as a depth sounding lead * which would not surprize me a bit --waste not want not was the motto of the old timers --- for "big ships" the real made expressly for depth sounding weights did have a a "wax" hole to place tallow in to see the bottom type with ---mattter of fact many old sea charts listed the bottom type upon them to help guide vessels in shallow waters

a window sash weight "converted" / used as a bottom sounding weight would of course NOT have such a hole in it.

a strong rope was used --with a knot in it every 6 feet --a fathom -- the weight would be dropped over the side --and the knots counted till it "hit bottom" (the line would go slack when it did-- the number of knots that went thru your hand as it sank to the bottom told you the depth ) -- and you would cry out -- the mark is ---- (the depth is --- fathoms)

 

[hmmm]

Thanks for that guys, it does look like a window weight.
solved
we went back and found no evidance of a boat, the big object was a half circle peice of steel about 1.5 feet wide, called it a unknown object. i think ill use the window weight as a anchor for my row boat.

 

[lostcauses]

Hey in phot your zipper is undone... Trolling?? LOL

 

[traderoftreasures]

They make good weights for hoopnets. They don't snag on stuff when you need to pull them back.