parsonwalker
Bronze Member
Stumbled on a 12 pound Cannonball today. Mudduck, Digging Buddy and I started early. I was getting SPANKED all day. Those XPs were kicking my little Tejon's rear-end. I had been hunting 7 hours and clearly in last place, when at 5:15 PM I got a screaming signal at the edge of the swamp. I was absolutely certain it was junk because this place has been slammed over the years. Who's going to MISS a signal like this unless it's junk? But at six inches, I was already in very old undisturbed earth and still screaming. At 12 inches it sounded like a washtub and I thought "Hmm! This could just possibly BE something." At about 18" I was thinking, "Man, wouldn't it be cool if this was a shell or a canno . . . CLUNK." Shovel hit something hard and solid-sounding. Water was filling the hole quickly so I stuck my hand in and found . . . ROUNDNESS! Couldn't dislodge it so I pried it loose with the shovel. When I reached in and hefted it, I knew before it broke the surface of the water.
This is a "recreated" in-situ pic. The ball came from about 8" deeper than this but it was not visible under the water. So I stuck some sticks in the hole, knocked the crud off the ball, rinsed it off and took the above pic. 18 days ago, I found my first cannonball. It was a 3 1/2" six pounder. This is a 12 pounder.
Here's where it gets funny (REALLY funny) and I find out why this signal has been missed for 30 years: I set the cannonball by a tree and I get ANOTHER slamming signal. I think, "Holy Cow! There's ANOTHER one!!" I set the machine aside to dig, and a THIRD loud blast sings out. "Good GRIEF!!" I say, "This place is LOUSY with cannonballs!!" Man, I jump down into the muck and I must have looked like the Tasmanian Devil slingin' mud and digging like a badger. Out comes a piece of iron water pipe. Then a 90 degree iron "elbow" - then another water pipe. Two more followed. I'm sure people had heard all those signals, dug a piece of pipe or two and just figured, "Shoot, it's just a bunch of pipe," and moved on. I guarantee that's what I would have done, IF ONLY I HAD DUG WATER PIPE FIRST. But I didn't. My FIRST signal was the 12 pounder. Then all the junk. Guarantee I would have left it!
It was a killer day for all three of us. Mudduck found a nice grape shot, two pieces of ramrod, quite a few pieces of shrapnel and a new record of 46 bullets. Digging buddy found a very nice eagle button, a flat button, 7 dropped Gardners, a nice Belgian bullet, 32 other bullets, and a good number of frags. I found a straight razor blade (part of it) a few bullets and percussion caps, two big frags, and the 12-pounder - and the ball was in the last 45 minutes of the day. So between us, we dug 105 bullets today, but by gosh, we worked for 'em. Deep and we sawed through LOTS of roots. (We all carry Corona folding saws for just that purpose).
The XP Deuses found the most relics by far. But the lowly little "beep & dig" Tejon spanked 'em in the end! Kudos to Digging Buddy who is very unselfish with his invites to his spots.
Here are the finds broken down by finder. You can see how badly I was getting beaten!
This is a "recreated" in-situ pic. The ball came from about 8" deeper than this but it was not visible under the water. So I stuck some sticks in the hole, knocked the crud off the ball, rinsed it off and took the above pic. 18 days ago, I found my first cannonball. It was a 3 1/2" six pounder. This is a 12 pounder.
Here's where it gets funny (REALLY funny) and I find out why this signal has been missed for 30 years: I set the cannonball by a tree and I get ANOTHER slamming signal. I think, "Holy Cow! There's ANOTHER one!!" I set the machine aside to dig, and a THIRD loud blast sings out. "Good GRIEF!!" I say, "This place is LOUSY with cannonballs!!" Man, I jump down into the muck and I must have looked like the Tasmanian Devil slingin' mud and digging like a badger. Out comes a piece of iron water pipe. Then a 90 degree iron "elbow" - then another water pipe. Two more followed. I'm sure people had heard all those signals, dug a piece of pipe or two and just figured, "Shoot, it's just a bunch of pipe," and moved on. I guarantee that's what I would have done, IF ONLY I HAD DUG WATER PIPE FIRST. But I didn't. My FIRST signal was the 12 pounder. Then all the junk. Guarantee I would have left it!
It was a killer day for all three of us. Mudduck found a nice grape shot, two pieces of ramrod, quite a few pieces of shrapnel and a new record of 46 bullets. Digging buddy found a very nice eagle button, a flat button, 7 dropped Gardners, a nice Belgian bullet, 32 other bullets, and a good number of frags. I found a straight razor blade (part of it) a few bullets and percussion caps, two big frags, and the 12-pounder - and the ball was in the last 45 minutes of the day. So between us, we dug 105 bullets today, but by gosh, we worked for 'em. Deep and we sawed through LOTS of roots. (We all carry Corona folding saws for just that purpose).
The XP Deuses found the most relics by far. But the lowly little "beep & dig" Tejon spanked 'em in the end! Kudos to Digging Buddy who is very unselfish with his invites to his spots.
Here are the finds broken down by finder. You can see how badly I was getting beaten!
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