ScubaDetector
Silver Member
Well it is Michigan. Today is supposed to be in the 60's. It will be my first day of the season in the water. I can't wait even though I am sure I will get cold pretty fast. We will see.
Hopefully I will be able to stand it long enough to find something good. I will be wading and not diving so I know I won't find one of my dream finds. Most on here probably have something they want to find just to say they did it.
I have a 10.00 gold coin, a 1914D penny, A 1922 silver dollar and a few things I never dreamed of finding. My dream finds are really out of the ordinary. My search continues for two things. A machine gun and a canon.
Are my dreams impossible? I don't think so. I found a lake with an unknown military encampment or stop on it. I pulled a few buttons, 18 live 45 shells from the 1880's and 3 live 45-70 shells from the same time period. A Springfield trap door bayonet and a few other odds and ends I haven't identified. 4 very old gold rings also came from that little corner of a lake. Did they ever try to push a canon across a lake and it fell in? Did a boat turn over with one on it?
I found a covered wagon one year. It was in about 30' of water. I wish I would have brought it out. Now it is covered with zebra mussels and broken up.
As for a machine gun, I dive a lake that John Dillinger owned a home on. Did they dump any weapons in it? Could there be a Thompson down in the muck? I also dive Lake St Clair near Selfridge ANG base. I have found 5 practice bombs from 1917 and I have found a magazine from a Lewis machine gun they mounted on biplanes. Could one have fallen off? Did one crash out in the lake and they never recovered it? I have no clue. They shot so many bullets out there I call it bullet beach. Sure I find gold. However I find hundreds of bullets also. Brass shells and lead. Also live 50 cal from 1926 and spent ones.
You divers out there, What are you after? Do you just dive the swim areas or go out and explore the bottom where you can't see as soon as you touch it on inland lakes? I know sooner or later I will find rifles from hunters whose boats flipped. I have found my share of tackle boxes and rods and reels. What is out there is absolutely unknown. I have heard stories of people pushing safes across lakes and they fell through the ice. I don't believe any of them but that would be an interesting discovery. In one lake they would put a junk car or appliances out in the middle on the ice and have a raffle on the date the items fell through. How long did that go on? No idea. I have found old irons and other things you really wonder what the heck is that out there for? Did someone use an iron for a boat anchor?
Sure there are tons of cans in the muck. You also get hits on the stoppers on Hutchinson bottles. I have found 5. How many find boat anchors? They sell. I got 250.00 for a 65lb one. Sure you have to stumble across them, AND you have to be towing a large enough float to put them on or carry lift bags with you. I used to have over 100 of them beside my house.
So what is on your bucket list? What are you dreaming of finding? I will guarantee one thing. You won't find it if you don't follow your dream. You won't find it sitting in front of a TV watching life pass you by. Enjoy the season. Live and go out and have fun when you can.
Lewis machine gun magazine still has 6 bullets in it.
Bayonet, bullets and other military items, all from one area of a lake
Hutchinson bottles:
Iron
Bombs
Boat anchors:
Hopefully I will be able to stand it long enough to find something good. I will be wading and not diving so I know I won't find one of my dream finds. Most on here probably have something they want to find just to say they did it.
I have a 10.00 gold coin, a 1914D penny, A 1922 silver dollar and a few things I never dreamed of finding. My dream finds are really out of the ordinary. My search continues for two things. A machine gun and a canon.
Are my dreams impossible? I don't think so. I found a lake with an unknown military encampment or stop on it. I pulled a few buttons, 18 live 45 shells from the 1880's and 3 live 45-70 shells from the same time period. A Springfield trap door bayonet and a few other odds and ends I haven't identified. 4 very old gold rings also came from that little corner of a lake. Did they ever try to push a canon across a lake and it fell in? Did a boat turn over with one on it?
I found a covered wagon one year. It was in about 30' of water. I wish I would have brought it out. Now it is covered with zebra mussels and broken up.
As for a machine gun, I dive a lake that John Dillinger owned a home on. Did they dump any weapons in it? Could there be a Thompson down in the muck? I also dive Lake St Clair near Selfridge ANG base. I have found 5 practice bombs from 1917 and I have found a magazine from a Lewis machine gun they mounted on biplanes. Could one have fallen off? Did one crash out in the lake and they never recovered it? I have no clue. They shot so many bullets out there I call it bullet beach. Sure I find gold. However I find hundreds of bullets also. Brass shells and lead. Also live 50 cal from 1926 and spent ones.
You divers out there, What are you after? Do you just dive the swim areas or go out and explore the bottom where you can't see as soon as you touch it on inland lakes? I know sooner or later I will find rifles from hunters whose boats flipped. I have found my share of tackle boxes and rods and reels. What is out there is absolutely unknown. I have heard stories of people pushing safes across lakes and they fell through the ice. I don't believe any of them but that would be an interesting discovery. In one lake they would put a junk car or appliances out in the middle on the ice and have a raffle on the date the items fell through. How long did that go on? No idea. I have found old irons and other things you really wonder what the heck is that out there for? Did someone use an iron for a boat anchor?
Sure there are tons of cans in the muck. You also get hits on the stoppers on Hutchinson bottles. I have found 5. How many find boat anchors? They sell. I got 250.00 for a 65lb one. Sure you have to stumble across them, AND you have to be towing a large enough float to put them on or carry lift bags with you. I used to have over 100 of them beside my house.
So what is on your bucket list? What are you dreaming of finding? I will guarantee one thing. You won't find it if you don't follow your dream. You won't find it sitting in front of a TV watching life pass you by. Enjoy the season. Live and go out and have fun when you can.
Lewis machine gun magazine still has 6 bullets in it.
Bayonet, bullets and other military items, all from one area of a lake
Hutchinson bottles:
Iron
Bombs
Boat anchors:
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