Castineman1779
Sr. Member
First my apology as I do feel a times like a Tnet hog here listing and writing about my finds this year from the ill fated "Penobscot Expedition" that was a total American defeat with Paul Revere in command of the artillery in it. I notice when doing a long post Tnet cuts me off so wil list this now and come back to finish up.
Being an old artillery guy for almost 6 years of my military career of course finding any ordnance from the American Revolution has been my mission for many of the early years of my hunts in Castine. For nearly 3 weeks of this siege it was almost a constant firing of grapeshot, canister shot cannon balls and some bar shots by both armies. Those guys in the 70s indeed found literally tons of it. I got to this site in 1996 and have been fortunate to have found in quantity that ordnance from both armies . One would think after 23 years swinging my coil there what else could be found. However if u have been following my posts the answer is yes it is still being found but the days of coming home in one day with like 4 cannon balls is indeed over. However for this old relic hunter the thrill of still finding history still keeps me motivated. If u have never been under fire in war it is can be hard to understand at any day could be your last and coming under fire is often scorched in Vets memories . It was that way for the Patriots of our American Revolution as it is today for the men and women that keeps us safe today. I salute u all that served in the past and now in the present. Next time u see a Vet hank them for their service. U will both feel good doing so.
I have been told by Meg (Rick) I am not just a relic hunter but teacher as well and thank u all for reading my long post. Many would not.
In my early years one of my favorite finds were mortar frags from the mortars used by both sides . I found literally buckets of them early on and as the years went by and others read my articles I wrote for Western Eastern Treasure's mag others came to Castine to hunt. Does not take a brain surgeon to figure out the famous Paul Revere was in command of the artillery in this siege and Castine was the only battle he as in . Relic hunters are indeed history detectives.
For u that don't know the purpose of a mortar is or how they work here is some info . These were hollow cast iron hollow balls filled with black powder with a wooden time fuse attached. Fired on a high angle where if correct and the fuse was timed properly would go off over the tops of the enemy. They would then create anywhere from 12 to 20 fragments raining down on troops in the open. Anyone hit by one of these deadly missiles was usually fatal. Pic 1 is an example in Neuman's book and shows the wood fuse and black powder . Pic two is one I found many years ago and about 60 % . One thing I learned from my research is thee were a number of days it rained so often in flight the fuse was snubbed out so the ball did not explode , hit the ground intact and broke like an egg into many fragments. This example I suspect was a ground burst with some of the frags staying in the hole and others exploding out. These are one of my favorite finds as u can re con struck them .
Last week I was working an area , probably for the 5th time ,and got an iffy minus 6 on my Deus. That reading usually tells me to get out my digging tool and dig that target. Sure enough out came a good size fragment of a mortar. Rescan the hole and still getting a reading. Out comes two more small frags. Hell looks like I am on to maybe a complete Brit mortar here or maybe enough frags to make a display . After about 20 minutes a total of 12 frags was found. Check out pic 4 to see what they look like after being in Mother Earth for over 240 years now. l did weigh the frags later and about 6 pounds and that of a 4.25 inch mortar ball. Pick number 5 after cleaning . My theory here is it was fired on a rainy day , did not go off , impacted deep in the ground about 18 inches and no doubt when it hit that large rock I fragmented. Now I need to build a base to support the heavy iron. Last pic is of a rare American brass rare 12 pounder with the state seal of an Indian designed by Paul Revere in 1775 on the barrel and inset in this last pic.. BTW after his battle he as courtmarsheled for cowardness as was the commodore of the fleet. AS u see nothing came of that. Gary
Being an old artillery guy for almost 6 years of my military career of course finding any ordnance from the American Revolution has been my mission for many of the early years of my hunts in Castine. For nearly 3 weeks of this siege it was almost a constant firing of grapeshot, canister shot cannon balls and some bar shots by both armies. Those guys in the 70s indeed found literally tons of it. I got to this site in 1996 and have been fortunate to have found in quantity that ordnance from both armies . One would think after 23 years swinging my coil there what else could be found. However if u have been following my posts the answer is yes it is still being found but the days of coming home in one day with like 4 cannon balls is indeed over. However for this old relic hunter the thrill of still finding history still keeps me motivated. If u have never been under fire in war it is can be hard to understand at any day could be your last and coming under fire is often scorched in Vets memories . It was that way for the Patriots of our American Revolution as it is today for the men and women that keeps us safe today. I salute u all that served in the past and now in the present. Next time u see a Vet hank them for their service. U will both feel good doing so.
I have been told by Meg (Rick) I am not just a relic hunter but teacher as well and thank u all for reading my long post. Many would not.
In my early years one of my favorite finds were mortar frags from the mortars used by both sides . I found literally buckets of them early on and as the years went by and others read my articles I wrote for Western Eastern Treasure's mag others came to Castine to hunt. Does not take a brain surgeon to figure out the famous Paul Revere was in command of the artillery in this siege and Castine was the only battle he as in . Relic hunters are indeed history detectives.
For u that don't know the purpose of a mortar is or how they work here is some info . These were hollow cast iron hollow balls filled with black powder with a wooden time fuse attached. Fired on a high angle where if correct and the fuse was timed properly would go off over the tops of the enemy. They would then create anywhere from 12 to 20 fragments raining down on troops in the open. Anyone hit by one of these deadly missiles was usually fatal. Pic 1 is an example in Neuman's book and shows the wood fuse and black powder . Pic two is one I found many years ago and about 60 % . One thing I learned from my research is thee were a number of days it rained so often in flight the fuse was snubbed out so the ball did not explode , hit the ground intact and broke like an egg into many fragments. This example I suspect was a ground burst with some of the frags staying in the hole and others exploding out. These are one of my favorite finds as u can re con struck them .
Last week I was working an area , probably for the 5th time ,and got an iffy minus 6 on my Deus. That reading usually tells me to get out my digging tool and dig that target. Sure enough out came a good size fragment of a mortar. Rescan the hole and still getting a reading. Out comes two more small frags. Hell looks like I am on to maybe a complete Brit mortar here or maybe enough frags to make a display . After about 20 minutes a total of 12 frags was found. Check out pic 4 to see what they look like after being in Mother Earth for over 240 years now. l did weigh the frags later and about 6 pounds and that of a 4.25 inch mortar ball. Pick number 5 after cleaning . My theory here is it was fired on a rainy day , did not go off , impacted deep in the ground about 18 inches and no doubt when it hit that large rock I fragmented. Now I need to build a base to support the heavy iron. Last pic is of a rare American brass rare 12 pounder with the state seal of an Indian designed by Paul Revere in 1775 on the barrel and inset in this last pic.. BTW after his battle he as courtmarsheled for cowardness as was the commodore of the fleet. AS u see nothing came of that. Gary
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