What is it?!

[ShellYourLove]

I came across these items while walking along York Beach, ME. It was much more encrusted than this before I took the photos and one spike was lying on the other, encrusted together. I'm not quite sure what they are, or even what type of metal they are made of. I am happy to answer any questions if someone is willing to help me identify anything about them . Thank you!

 

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[Hot zone]

Looks like a bayonet

 

[ShellYourLove]

I've never found anything encrusted before. Is there any way to clean this up without ruining it? After chipping off a bunch of the encrustations, it smelled kind of like sulfur and was black underneath. Is this normal? Thank you so much for responding!

 

[nhbenz]

Howdy neighbor, and Welcome to TreasureNet!
We're these found on Short Sands in York? Not long ago a ships hull was uncovered (then re-covered) by the changing surf there. These could be parts of that. What size are they?
short sands shipwreck york maine - Google Search

 

[bdingess]

Looks like an old Marlin Spike.

 

[ShellYourLove]

I found it on long sands! The spike piece measures about 11 inches, the other hollowed piece measures about 10" long. That is very interesting!

 

[koolaidsmile]

Looks like a bunch of nails that got encrusted and carode together

Kathy (koolaidsmile) :-)

 

[bulrush]

After chipping off a bunch of the encrustations, it smelled kind of like sulfur and was black underneath.

Iron eating bacteria are black and produce hydrogen sulfide which smells like sulfur, or rotten eggs. Source: They ruined my electric hot water heater cathode and when I pulled it, it was full of black slime (bacteria). Our water had lots of iron in it. So, I'm guessing the piece really is iron. I confirmed this with my plumber.

The hot water heater was only 5 yrs old when we fixed it, so we apparently had a lot of iron to support a healthy population of this bacteria.
Keep this in mind when you find stuff that looks like iron, in a damp area, and it's black and smells like sulfur.