UnderMiner
Silver Member
- Jul 27, 2014
- 3,782
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- Detector(s) used
- Minelab Excalibur II, Ace 250
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
Had the day off from work today so I decided to do some research and explore some new sites. Found a place on google maps that looked promising so I drove down to the shore and began to explore the early morning low tide. It was raining quite steadily by the time I came across the old abandoned wooden pilings of what was once a marina. I had seen these piling on the map from my research and knew that where there are old pilings there are old boats and where there are old boats there are old maritime relics... but what I didn't know was that I was about to find what is perhaps the greatest maritime relic I've found to date.
Sticking out of the mud I spotted some timbers and immediately knew that there was either an old dock, barge, or boat under there. So I began probing for relics within the area of the timbers. That's when I noticed a handle sticking out of the mud. I went to pick it up but it was stuck to something. I took my gardening hoe and began to scrape away the mud. Another handle appeared, then another and another. My heart pounding I reached down and pulled the metal bars that connected the handles together - I knew what this was - what it had to be. The entire relic burst from the mud revealing itself to the air for perhaps the first time in over half a century or more. It was the long lost brass steering wheel of a ship!
I was soaked to the bone as the rain beat down on me but happy as hell. I scraped the mud from the wheel and realized that this relic had bore witness to a horrible catastrophe. The brass was caked in carbon and several of its wooden handles were chard black - one having been completely torn away. The ship this wheel was on had undoubtedly met a fiery end.
I took the wheel home and spent the next several hours cleaning it with a stainless steel pot scrubber. I scrubbed the wooden handles until as much carbon as possible was removed. Took the whole thing in the house and dried it off. Spend the next several hours drying and waxing the brass and wooden handles. Finally I found a place and mounted the entire thing on my wall. No doubt will be returning to the wreck site as soon as possible to recover more relics and maybe even find the name of the vessel to go with this wheel. [/FONT]
The wheel itself is MASSIVE - a full 30 inches (2 1/2 feet) across. In the center there is writing. It says "Rosebank Ironwork Edinburgh Brown Bros & Co. Ltd"
Cleaning the wheel in the rain in front of my house took several hours, but the results were unbelievable!
This wheel was burned and under the mud of a shipwreck for countless decades and still was able to polish to a shine!:
The wheel was made by the Rosebank Ironworks in Edinburgh, England.
The company was established in 1871 and made all manner of ship equipment.
All dried (mostly) and waxed then mounted this beauty on my wall!
Will have to make a new wooden handle to replace the one that's missing.
Sticking out of the mud I spotted some timbers and immediately knew that there was either an old dock, barge, or boat under there. So I began probing for relics within the area of the timbers. That's when I noticed a handle sticking out of the mud. I went to pick it up but it was stuck to something. I took my gardening hoe and began to scrape away the mud. Another handle appeared, then another and another. My heart pounding I reached down and pulled the metal bars that connected the handles together - I knew what this was - what it had to be. The entire relic burst from the mud revealing itself to the air for perhaps the first time in over half a century or more. It was the long lost brass steering wheel of a ship!
I was soaked to the bone as the rain beat down on me but happy as hell. I scraped the mud from the wheel and realized that this relic had bore witness to a horrible catastrophe. The brass was caked in carbon and several of its wooden handles were chard black - one having been completely torn away. The ship this wheel was on had undoubtedly met a fiery end.
I took the wheel home and spent the next several hours cleaning it with a stainless steel pot scrubber. I scrubbed the wooden handles until as much carbon as possible was removed. Took the whole thing in the house and dried it off. Spend the next several hours drying and waxing the brass and wooden handles. Finally I found a place and mounted the entire thing on my wall. No doubt will be returning to the wreck site as soon as possible to recover more relics and maybe even find the name of the vessel to go with this wheel. [/FONT]
The wheel itself is MASSIVE - a full 30 inches (2 1/2 feet) across. In the center there is writing. It says "Rosebank Ironwork Edinburgh Brown Bros & Co. Ltd"
Cleaning the wheel in the rain in front of my house took several hours, but the results were unbelievable!
This wheel was burned and under the mud of a shipwreck for countless decades and still was able to polish to a shine!:
The wheel was made by the Rosebank Ironworks in Edinburgh, England.
The company was established in 1871 and made all manner of ship equipment.
All dried (mostly) and waxed then mounted this beauty on my wall!
Will have to make a new wooden handle to replace the one that's missing.
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