NOT EVERY SWIVEL GUN IS FILLED WITH TREASURE!

[capt dom]

This Posting is going to make the Underwater Archeologists have some nightmares!

Now I am not trying to frighten anyone or say "firemen" are not good folks that
mean well but......

Take a look at this!

There was no treasure in this swivel gun....
If any of you want to know -
Like Paul Harvey.....

I will tell you the rest of the story...

[FISHEYE]

Who was the archie that cut the cannon thinking there was treasure inside?

[capt dom]

Here is the rest of the story....

A couple of years ago I got the wild idea to purchase a
110 foot ladder Fire Truck. It had al of things I thought
I needed, at the time, like a big high pressure water pump to run a venturi
dredge and big 4 stage steel ladder that I figured I could turn
into a crane. A whole lot of storage compartments
we could stick gear into, a big fresh water tank a bunch of
flashing lights and a genuine siren!

Anyhow I parked it in my front yard and went looking for a fireman
to help me get everything working....

Pretty soon a lot of firemen started showing up and this is where the
swivel gun story comes into play.

As it turns out, about 10 or 15 years ago a fireman found this cannon
right in the mouth of the Jupiter Inlet - on the south side near the kids
swim area. We were in the news back then about the wreck...
{but back then I didn't have a fire truck!}

One of them read Barry Clifford's book where they talked about cannons
sometimes having treasure and coins inside them....
well....
They hit it with a cut off saw - whacking it into three pieces!!!

What they found to their dismay was just some wadding and wet gun powder,
So the thing sat in their yard for a decade...
Until, I bought this stupid fire truck...

So goes one of our hysterical {I mean historical} maritime past's stories
surfacing from the depths....
I personally like what was in Greg's gun (as I an sure Appllo does as well)
much better...

The moral of this story is....
If you find a swivel gun.... please...
don't go whacking it into pieces with cut off saws

[birdman]

Now that is a heart breaker!!

[desertfox]

LOL, I'm so glad I'm not your next door neighbor! Yeah, come on over, you can't miss our house. It's the only one with a Fire Truck in the front yard! LOL I luv it!

HH
Desertfox

[capt dom]

Not certainly for Greg and even Appola
for that matter....

at least we eventually found out about it
and it really is a good story to share...

We learn from mistakes as well as successes...

[capt dom]

I never did get to take the fire truck out to sea....
We did take it out for chicken wings a few times
and it was great for trimming the hedges
but I really did want to take it out to the wreck site....

I just couldn't quite afford the barge I wanted to purchase to put it on
so... I found the fire truck a good home in Miami
at some major classic car collectors....

But it was fun driving it here from San Antonio, Texas.
check out the suicide knob!

Neither of us had a class one license but we did have firemen's badges
and firemans tee-shirts

you have to have some fun...
nobody gets out alive! arh

[Alexandre]

That gun looks like a regular cannon. I pretty much doubt it was a swivel gun..

[capt dom]

With that professional assessment...
Does that mean its alright now
to whack it into three pieces with a cut off saw?

Come on now Alexander.... like Confusious say....
It moral of story...

Also if you look at our scientific comparison measuring units,
the coconut or the brick, you will see the gun was about less than 27 inches
in length. It may have been a small signal gun.

Unfortunately if ever present - the trunnions are long since toast.

[Alexandre]

That gun, archaeologically speaking (no context, no background information) is pratically worthless. The fact that it is cut into three pieces is hardly relevant.

Anyhow, what I was saying was that it sure did not appear to be a swivel gun - it has a too larger chamber for that..

[capt dom]

English must be a second language for you....

I am making the point that the archeological context was almost
lost, as a result of the firemen finding it -
cutting it into pieces, letting it deteriorate for over
over a decade then and only because I bought a stupid firetruck
finally reporting it to someone that may be able to give it
historical context -
that being us!

The bore is less than two inches

Had the artifact been properly conserved there well may
have been markings on it... That does not take a rocket scientist
or a socialist or publiclly employed archeologist to figure out.

Unfortunately, not many on this side of the lake
trust publically funded archeologists because
of their elitist and smug attitudes

[vacavala]

I'll second you on that Dom, O bye the way english is my 2nd language and I can still get the gist of your post....John

[aquanut]

Dom,
You express my sentiments so well!
Aquanut

[bigkid4]

Just would like to state publicly that this story is not about this retired fireman. The only cannon that I ever found near Jupiter inlet turned out to be an encrusted old piece of black iron pipe. After spending 45 minutes digging in waist deep water I figured out what it was and left it in situ.

[capt dom]

Whomever the firemen are or were is insignificant.

It was not Big Kid! And Like I said in the beginning
the posting was not to slam them {firemen}. The posting's purpose
was and is to educate those interested in undersea exploration
who follow these threads.

Unfortunately some professional archeologists and their positions
have alienated members of the diving public who may happen
across artifacts while pursuing their sporting interests. This can lead to a loss
of important information - others may benefit from having.

I have recently finished a book titled:

"A Guide to Responsible Undersea Exploration"

It should be out by the end of September.
Hopefully it may lead "regular joes" like these firemen
to consider a more appropriate or proper path when and if they make discoveries.

[CaribbeanDiver]

What happened here is why we have the restrictions today. This story should be deleted as it proves that the average person can not be trusted with an important artifact. Fortunately, this is not the average person that is hunting for treasure, but what they did is a crime.

[capt dom]

We all learn by example.

What happened here was both stupid
and in point of fact, a crime but it was a crime of ignorance.
Deleting the facts of life won't keep your daughters
from getting knocked up.....

While educating them, may either postpone it or do the trick
Islamic law may have been a deterrent in this case
{stoning them to death or lopping off their hands}
But other than that... making the "average joe" feel he has no right
to be part of the process, is the true major cause of these types of errors in judgement.

Keeping stories like this a secret teaches no one.
And, not learning from history's mistakes dooms one to repeat them.