Bottle Season is now open!

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Well guys & gals, We had our first bottle dive of the season last Sunday and we did quite well considering the conditions. We had over a 150 mm/6" of rain that week which resulted in localized flooding and tons of silt laden fresh water running into the harbor. On the surface the water looked brownish but at 70 feet it was like diving at night.
I had to end my dive early due to my light crapping out. I groped around in the dark for awhile picking up anything that looked like it could be a bottle, this resulted in 2 painful, sea urchin stings that will give me no end of grief for months.
Anyway, on with the story.
I managed to get some nice pieces of Royal Navy dishes with the mess numbers, here they are cleaned up somewhat
These are fun items to collect but every now and then one of us scores a complete piece like the one ZDBob pulled out some time ago.
I also got up some clay pipe pieces, a bronze square spike and some other bits and bobs including a "B. Heyl's soda water torpedo (less the neck) from Hamilton Bermuda.

You can see in this shot Johns 2 bottles from the late 1800/early 1900s and his fantastic little Royal Navy medicine bottle (too bad about the chipped lip John).

Steve managed to score a beautiful intact free blown (1800s) black glass and two complete clay pipes. (WTG Steve)

And lets not forget Dana's haul.

It was a great day out on the water and we will be doing it again really soon. I will continue to post my finds throughout the season which will run to May, depending on weather conditions.
I would like to wish everyone Happy Holidays and a safe one as well.
ZDD

 

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[RelicDude]

That is an awesome haul. You have some real history in that harbor. Deffenantly some of the nicest glass I've seen posted in a while.

 

[unclemac]

i use that broken ceramic as inlay in table tops....what use do you (anyone) have for it. I love to re-purpose old broken stuff.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

i use that broken ceramic as inlay in table tops....what use do you (anyone) have for it. I love to re-purpose old broken stuff.

I like that idea, I will be putting together a couple of shadow boxs, one with Royal Navy and the other with dishes from Steam Ship company logos. Together they should make a nice display.
ZDD

 

[CoilyGirl]

That torpedo(?) bottle is divine,would love one for my collection. Do you think it was used as a ballast?

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

That torpedo(?) bottle is divine,would love one for my collection. Do you think it was used as a ballast?

Most of the bottles and china we find as discarded from ship's crew and passengers. we have some shipwrecks we dive that carried bottles of wine, beer, and soda as cargo, we have even recovered ones that are still full and corked but we haven't come across any shipments of ballast bottles yet although it was a know practice.
ZDD

 

[Bass]

ZDD, thanks for the full report of your 1st dive of the season. As usual, it was worth the wait. I really love the stoneware pcs with the mess#'s on them. That's a bit of history that you can preserve for future generations. Sorry to hear your light went out on you. Thanks for sharing everyone's finds and maybe you'll get a whole torpedo next time. Come back and see us please.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

ZDD, thanks for the full report of your 1st dive of the season. As usual, it was worth the wait. I really love the stoneware pcs with the mess#'s on them. That's a bit of history that you can preserve for future generations. Sorry to hear your light went out on you. Thanks for sharing everyone's finds and maybe you'll get a whole torpedo next time. Come back and see us please.

Thanks BA, you can count on more reports from the Zodiac Diving Group.
We will be putting together a series of videos over the next year, lots of underwater video and history about the bottles and the harbor as well as discussions about our collections. We wont be ready to release any for some time, maybe not until the fall of 2015 but I will keep everyone posted on that as well.
ZDD

 

[Bass]

Thanks BA, you can count on more reports from the Zodiac Diving Group.
We will be putting together a series of videos over the next year, lots of underwater video and history about the bottles and the harbor as well as discussions about our collections. We wont be ready to release any for some time, maybe not until the fall of 2015 but I will keep everyone posted on that as well.
ZDD

Looking forward to your videos

 

[sandchip]

Great finds and pics!

 

[yakker]

What a great haul! Looks like everyone got a nice collection of interesting/cool items-- and OUCH! Sea urchin... Can't wait to see what you find next! Yakker

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

What a great haul! Looks like everyone got a nice collection of interesting/cool items-- and OUCH! Sea urchin... Can't wait to see what you find next! Yakker

Thanks Yakker, yes the bloody sea urchin stings hurt like heck and they take a long time to heal up. You can't get the spine out once it is in, the crumble up and become infected, sometimes they turn into lump and take years to go away. I use to harvest the spiny things and have tried everything imaginable to get them out but nothing works.
I hope to get out again next weekend and will put up a post.
ZDD

 

[Rick (Nova Scotia)]

It took awhile for me to find this, kept getting side-tracked.
Like the navy plate, cool.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

It took awhile for me to find this, kept getting side-tracked.
Like the navy plate, cool.

Yea that plate is a very special find. I hope I get one this year.
ZDD

 

[sunrunner]

A lot of work , but great payoff.

 

[treasurehunter313]

I have been thinking about getting certified in diving and buying the equipment to dive in the rivers around me there is a lot of untouched history around here in the water since not many people dive for bottles. How dangerous is it to dive in rivers for bottles? I feel like there would be a lot down there to find though.
Nice finds and happy holidays!

 

[sandchip]

I have been thinking about getting certified in diving and buying the equipment to dive in the rivers around me there is a lot of untouched history around here in the water since not many people dive for bottles. How dangerous is it to dive in rivers for bottles? I feel like there would be a lot down there to find though.
Nice finds and happy holidays!

Check the laws first to avoid wasting all that money. They'll crawl all over you in GA or FLA if they catch you diving for artifacts nowadays. Aside from that, I'd say go for it.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

I have been thinking about getting certified in diving and buying the equipment to dive in the rivers around me there is a lot of untouched history around here in the water since not many people dive for bottles. How dangerous is it to dive in rivers for bottles? I feel like there would be a lot down there to find though.
Nice finds and happy holidays!

Like sandchip has said, it is best to ask at a local dive shop if it is permissible to recover artifacts from the rivers. To try and contact anyone at the State Gov. level is difficult, there are several authorities to deal with, State laws and federal laws, but I would say that most dive shop operators would be able to tell you if you can legally do it or not.
As for danger, you have to stay with in your comfort zone and get in a number of dives with a dive club before heading out on your own. You also have a great MDer for searching the rivers it would a big asset for you to have the dive gear to go with it, just stay within the 10 ft limit of the ATP.
ZDD

 

[treasurehunter313]

Thanks for the advice. It's been something I have been looking into and would like to try out, but of course stay within the law and do it safely. HH!