Working Ballast Piles

[99*]

Any pros have any tips on working Ballast piles (to date I remove every rock in site then rumage through the remains)the old doc(metal detector) rings off the hook because of all the spikes etc, only good for sand pockets around it, so any of you have any other ways off recovering goodies, how often does one find coins (excluding the mast coin) anything decent occasionally I find a plate or twenty jammed in but only on the calmer sites, recently I found a good site, syphilis syringe, dividers and hundreds of spikes very little glass very little porcelain, no way it was salvaged. I look forward to hearing your versions of working the pile! 99*

 

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[pvet]

The most fun I ever had on a wreck was working a ballast pile. there is no easy way . Move one stone at atime down to the planking the goodies work their way down and you can find them anywhere, pottery, coins , musket balls , bones and the like are to be found but it takes some time . Years can be spent working on a pile move the stones away from the wreck and stay in one spot , making the hole bigger and bigger. if its an old wreck you will find lots of goodies. Good luck

 

[99*]

Thanks PVET nice to know I am onto something big here, had plenty ballast piles to bugger with but this one is different and rammed into a cliff faces its untouched. Ive been going stone by stone and scootering the sand, I am winning slowly. Good fun...see you around 99*

 

[Donovan]

99,

If you can figure out the bow and stern always work the stern first. That's where the best goodies are.....The Captains stash of ships money , navigation gear, weaponry, officers or passengers personal stuff. The bow has tools and stores and crew gear.
Pick a spot that is clear of artifacts and move the ballast to that location.
Donovan

 

[99*]

Donovan - nice hearing from you, a wise diver. I have trouble determining which is the ass of the vessel, the small fledging anchors are on the shelf in 5 feet of water with a swivel gun, the rest in deep water against a cliff face, there are three mounds along the way the last is right by the little anchor, my thoughts were that they may have carried the anchors on the Stern Castle with the swivel gun, in which case I am in the wrong place, and it was picked clean but I cannot see it happening the total length of the pile stacked is about 85 foot long x 25 feet wide, so far the dirty syringe for the ying yang and a pair of bronze dividers - plenty of spikes 1700 era. Thanks I hope I have found the ass....99*