Need advice

[Badfrog]

I'll try to visit this site on foot tomorrow at low tide. If you wanted to metal detect on those wrecks, where would you start ?

THanks

[Mackaydon]

Personally, I'd first attempt to get their ID and history before MD-ing the site. If derelicts, I might pass on any MD-ing. Finding their ID and history should not be difficult since they seem to be located immediately adjacent to a marina.
Don....

[allen_idaho]

It looks like what you have there are some old freighter keels. I would do what Mackaydon suggested and try to find an identification before wasting your time searching.

There are a number of possibilities here. First, the ships could have been destroyed while at anchor. This is known to have happened in the past in other areas. A fire starts on one ship and spreads to the others.

Second and most likely, they could have just been derelict ships that were eventually disposed of at that location.

Above all else, given how far inland they are, if the ships did carry anything of value and were somehow wrecked, they would most likely have been salvaged shortly after they were lost.

[pcolaboy]

There might have also been some sort of salvage yard there prior to the construction of the marina. If you look around the Newark, NJ area on virtual earth you'll see man large vessels stripped down to the keel and then left to the elements. Just a thought.

Pcola

[itmaiden]

Yea, but a marina is a marina. Often times, it stays so for decades, centuries or longer. So while those particular vessels may or may not yield some interesting treasure finds, the area itself may have been used by others and anything could turn up.

I would start by detecting the high line areas first to yield clues of other vessel activity that may have been in the area. Those vessels in the photos will probably send the detector crazy and you could be pinging structural parts all afternoon.

itmaiden

There might have also been some sort of salvage yard there prior to the construction of the marina. If you look around the Newark, NJ area on virtual earth you'll see man large vessels stripped down to the keel and then left to the elements. Just a thought.

Pcola

[scubatreasure]

I'd start by asking the marina owner if they knew anything about it, then i would ask local fisherman, crabbers, clamers, old bait store in town the local bar

Limo Bob