xcopperstax
Silver Member
- Sep 3, 2018
- 2,508
- 4,870
- Detector(s) used
- Garrett AT Max
- Primary Interest:
- All Treasure Hunting
My mother gave my father a book in the 70's called Shipwrecks around Cape Cod. I have probably been looking at the book since I was old enough to look at the book without tearing the pages. One of my favorites. I was born on the Cape and raised there so the book and it's stories / photos became a part of the history of my life. The Cape was once one of the most dangerous spots on the east coast for sailing ships and even many motorized boats have met their doom on the shores. Thousands of ships have been wrecked there going back to the 1600's. I'll return to this in a moment...
Fast forward to a metal detecting trip last week. I met up with my buddy and we detected an area on the Cape that I knew to have some colonial history to it. The weather was a constant chilling light rain with strong wind. We had the right gear so we could be dry for the most part. Due to poor scouting (on my part!) a large part of the area was un-detectable due to grass length. We did our best finding a few Wheaties here and there and a good amount of clad. We weren't finding much when my friend found a beautiful pewter rosette with an actual chunk of leather on the back... awesome we had confirmation that there was still stuff to be found! We then found a field that where the grass was short enough to swing. Yes this would be where I would make a find. I could feel it. Well I swung all over that field and found what amounted to nothing. We decided that other detectorists had probably been there before us. We moved on to another area and my friend found an almost complete spectacle knee buckle. It most likely dated to the late 1600's. The tongue was iron and had rotted away, but that was still an excellent find. I don't think I've found anything that could be attributed to the 1600's. As dusk closed in it was time to go but I was really hoping to find something. I went back to the field that I had done to death and give it one more swing. I got a signal that was not great but could be an IHP or a button. I dug a hole and out popped a button with some gold gilt on it. It had a life preserver with an oar and hook and U.S. L.S.S on it. The back said Oak Hall Clothing co. Boston. I guessed that the button was probably related to some kind of life saving service.
After some research online I confirmed that indeed it was from the U.S. Life Saving Service which existed from 1873-1915 as a precursor to the coast guard. Varying dates of 1873 and 1878 exist but a photograph in my book seems to confirm the 73 date of establishment. My book on shipwrecks had an entire section on the lifesavers and included a photo of a man wearing a jacket with large buttons that were probably what I had here. These were volunteers who manned stations that were built along the cape at 6 mile intervals. Each night and day in all weather they patrolled the beaches between stations looking for ships in distress and saved many lives. Their motto was "you have to go out but you don't have to come back" In 1902 off Monomoy island there was a shipwreck and the men went out to save the sailors. They had them safely in the boat but they panicked and stood up flipping the boat over in tempestuous seas. They all perished except for one lifesaver who had to be saved himself after floating on the overturned boat. These guys were absolute hero's. It was humbling to think that I had found one of these buttons belonging to one of these men. There was no need for them to patrol around the summer so they had a couple months off and my guess was that the button owner probably did some farm work on the side. As it grew dark and we made our way back to the car the wind picked up to make it a raw and uncomfortable walk. I told my friend if this were a snow storm we'd be in some trouble. We really could not even see! I imagined what it would be like to go out in a February storm and get in the water in a little row boat and try to save somebody, or what it would be like to be shipwrecked and make it to shore wet, freezing and having no idea where you were... you had to be a hearty individual to make it through something like that... This button was worth all the time and effort I put in that day and I'll always treasure it. Thanks for reading!
Note there is a small ring on the back of the button. I have seen this on other buttons online. I have no idea what the purpose of that is.
Fast forward to a metal detecting trip last week. I met up with my buddy and we detected an area on the Cape that I knew to have some colonial history to it. The weather was a constant chilling light rain with strong wind. We had the right gear so we could be dry for the most part. Due to poor scouting (on my part!) a large part of the area was un-detectable due to grass length. We did our best finding a few Wheaties here and there and a good amount of clad. We weren't finding much when my friend found a beautiful pewter rosette with an actual chunk of leather on the back... awesome we had confirmation that there was still stuff to be found! We then found a field that where the grass was short enough to swing. Yes this would be where I would make a find. I could feel it. Well I swung all over that field and found what amounted to nothing. We decided that other detectorists had probably been there before us. We moved on to another area and my friend found an almost complete spectacle knee buckle. It most likely dated to the late 1600's. The tongue was iron and had rotted away, but that was still an excellent find. I don't think I've found anything that could be attributed to the 1600's. As dusk closed in it was time to go but I was really hoping to find something. I went back to the field that I had done to death and give it one more swing. I got a signal that was not great but could be an IHP or a button. I dug a hole and out popped a button with some gold gilt on it. It had a life preserver with an oar and hook and U.S. L.S.S on it. The back said Oak Hall Clothing co. Boston. I guessed that the button was probably related to some kind of life saving service.
After some research online I confirmed that indeed it was from the U.S. Life Saving Service which existed from 1873-1915 as a precursor to the coast guard. Varying dates of 1873 and 1878 exist but a photograph in my book seems to confirm the 73 date of establishment. My book on shipwrecks had an entire section on the lifesavers and included a photo of a man wearing a jacket with large buttons that were probably what I had here. These were volunteers who manned stations that were built along the cape at 6 mile intervals. Each night and day in all weather they patrolled the beaches between stations looking for ships in distress and saved many lives. Their motto was "you have to go out but you don't have to come back" In 1902 off Monomoy island there was a shipwreck and the men went out to save the sailors. They had them safely in the boat but they panicked and stood up flipping the boat over in tempestuous seas. They all perished except for one lifesaver who had to be saved himself after floating on the overturned boat. These guys were absolute hero's. It was humbling to think that I had found one of these buttons belonging to one of these men. There was no need for them to patrol around the summer so they had a couple months off and my guess was that the button owner probably did some farm work on the side. As it grew dark and we made our way back to the car the wind picked up to make it a raw and uncomfortable walk. I told my friend if this were a snow storm we'd be in some trouble. We really could not even see! I imagined what it would be like to go out in a February storm and get in the water in a little row boat and try to save somebody, or what it would be like to be shipwrecked and make it to shore wet, freezing and having no idea where you were... you had to be a hearty individual to make it through something like that... This button was worth all the time and effort I put in that day and I'll always treasure it. Thanks for reading!
Note there is a small ring on the back of the button. I have seen this on other buttons online. I have no idea what the purpose of that is.
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