And now for something completely different

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Well after a long and brutal winter I finally got in the water for a dive. This was the first year since 1990 that we haven't been able to get in the water during the winter. Anyway enough wining, 4 of us got out today for a bottle dive and we did really well.
Among the finds that we got up were an intact feathered edge plate, most likely from the 19th cent.


A nice Ginger bear


A beauty of a clay pipe, (one of my finds)


A "Dr. Cumming's Vegetine" bottle ( 1870s - 1900, a blood purifier)


And some other great little do-dads including some 50 Cal. casings.


HH everyone,
ZDD

 

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[Zodiacdiverdave]

That was a very productive dive Dave. I know it felt good to get back in the water. BTW - what kind of site are you diving at? And why so many whole plates. That just seems a bit unusual to me, but what do I know

Thanks Bill, this harbor has been giving up treasures since the 60's when sport diving started to become popular in this area. We (The Zodiac Divers) have been hitting it since 1990, some of our buddies have been bottle diving here long before that too. The harbor has been a busy seaport since 1749 and before that the french used it from time to time and before that the Portuguese used it as a summer fishing area since the 1500s. That is why a few of the guys have managed to pull up olive jars from here.
View attachment 1156988 View attachment 1156989 View attachment 1156990

We find allot of plates here, mostly from steam ship companies, I guess that passengers just tossed them overboard. The other civilian plates are just lost over the side I imagine. Harbors like Boston and NY would have tons of artifacts, the hard part is getting permission to dive there and finding areas that are not too covered in silt.
I would love to come to Virginia and dive your area sometime. I am sure I would surprise you with what we could find.

ZDD

 

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[RustyGold]

Now that's some awesome hunting! Thank you for the pictures!

 

[joeyfresh]

Great finds Dave. Is 60 feet considered deep for relic hunting or do you usually go deeper. The guys around here only go down 45 feet max I think. I would love to do t during the summer but everyone I talk to says it's dangerous. Is it?

 

[Bill D. (VA)]

Thanks Bill, this harbor has been giving up treasures since the 60's when sport diving started to become popular in this area. We (The Zodiac Divers) have been hitting it since 1990, some of our buddies have been bottle diving here long before that too. The harbor has been a busy seaport since 1749 and before that the french used it from time to time and before that the Portuguese used it as a summer fishing area since the 1500s. That is why a few of the guys have managed to pull up olive jars from here.
View attachment 1156988 View attachment 1156989 View attachment 1156990

We find allot of plates here, mostly from steam ship companies, I guess that passengers just tossed them overboard. The other civilian plates are just lost over the side I imagine. Harbors like Boston and NY would have tons of artifacts, the hard part is getting permission to dive there and finding areas that are not too covered in silt.
I would love to come to Virginia and dive your area sometime. I am sure I would surprise you with what we could find.

ZDD

Thanks for the info Dave. Yeah, I bet you guys could clean up in some of the waterways down here, but not sure what the laws will permit. I know of some folks who've gotten in big trouble diving in some of the local rivers, but I think they were hitting some of the historical sites which were probably off limits. I know a load of black glass wine bottles were recovered just off the beach at Yorktown a numbers of years ago from a British Rev War ship, and I'm sure there's plenty to be found in the vicinity of that wreck, but I have the feeling the entire area is off limits. Check out the excerpt below from Hume's book "All the Best Rubbish".

 

[Goldiver]

Great finds Dave. Is 60 feet considered deep for relic hunting or do you usually go deeper. The guys around here only go down 45 feet max I think. I would love to do t during the summer but everyone I talk to says it's dangerous. Is it?

Treasure hunting while diving combines two great hobbies and makes diving even more fun. I think most inland lake divers usually are hunting 20-30 ft or less which is pretty shallow. The absolute most important thing is to get proper dive training with a dive instructor before scuba diving. The things you learn may someday save your life or the life of your dive buddy. A simple problem can quickly snowball into a huge problem if you don't know what to do immediately. Proper training will help you keep your cool to work through an issue and be on your way.

 

[curiousmind]

Well after a long and brutal winter I finally got in the water for a dive. This was the first year since 1990 that we haven't been able to get in the water during the winter. Anyway enough wining, 4 of us got out today for a bottle dive and we did really well.
Among the finds that we got up were an intact feathered edge plate, most likely from the 19th cent.
View attachment 1156585

A nice Ginger bear
View attachment 1156587

A beauty of a clay pipe, (one of my finds)
View attachment 1156588

A "Dr. Cumming's Vegetine" bottle ( 1870s - 1900, a blood purifier)
View attachment 1156590

And some other great little do-dads including some 50 Cal. casings.
View attachment 1156593 View attachment 1156594 View attachment 1156595

HH everyone,
ZDD

Hi, I just hope I'm not too late for this. Anyway, you've got a very useful finds. You can recycle those things then make something new and earn.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Great finds Dave. Is 60 feet considered deep for relic hunting or do you usually go deeper. The guys around here only go down 45 feet max I think. I would love to do t during the summer but everyone I talk to says it's dangerous. Is it?

Thanks Joey, 60 ft is about average for relic hunting in the Halifax harbour but we have some spots that are 15 ft or less. There are a few areas we go that run down to 95 ft but the deeper you go the less bottom time you get. The type of diving we do can be a little tricky so we take all necessary precautions. We dive solo but have a surface tender in a boat that is monitoring our surface buoy. He can also use it to signal us to come up if need be. We all dive with a back up air source encase our primary craps out, so with all that we feel quite safe down there. (no gators or sharks to worry about either)
ZDD

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Thanks for the info Dave. Yeah, I bet you guys could clean up in some of the waterways down here, but not sure what the laws will permit. I know of some folks who've gotten in big trouble diving in some of the local rivers, but I think they were hitting some of the historical sites which were probably off limits. I know a load of black glass wine bottles were recovered just off the beach at Yorktown a numbers of years ago from a British Rev War ship, and I'm sure there's plenty to be found in the vicinity of that wreck, but I have the feeling the entire area is off limits. Check out the excerpt below from Hume's book "All the Best Rubbish".

View attachment 1157174

Thanks for the insight on the book Bill, I am going to have to track that one down. Interesting they mention one with old beer still in it. one of our buddies found one from the 1800s with the beer still in it, he left it on it's side so the cork wouldn't dry out but the pressure inside it finally popped the cork one night and stunk his place up bad. We have also recovered full bottles of wine from shipwrecks but none of us are willing to sample the contents, so I can speak to the quality of the wine.
ZDD

 

[MuckyBottles]

To hell with the pipe love the ginger and what appears to be a stone bitters

 

[MuckyBottles]

Hi, I just hope I'm not too late for this. Anyway, you've got a very useful finds. You can recycle those things then make something new and earn.

Surely your not talking about the bottles..?? you be insane to do that..inho

 

[ANTIQUARIAN]

Congratulations on your finds Dave!

The blue & white plate with the anchor would've been amazing if it was complete, thankfully the clay pipe wasn't broken!

Best of luck to you,
Dave