1800s shipwreck piece found on Corolla beach

[SkyPirate]

The last day of my vacation I decided to do some detecting on the drive on beach in Corolla NC. I found about 76 cents in quarters and a zinc penny, many Corona and other beer caps and a lot of beercans. I went way up near the VA line. I had my Tesoro set to all metal cause I did not want to pass anything up. I got a good strong signal and started to dig! At about 20 inches I saw a rusty piece of iron, I dug a little more and it looked like the top of an old rail road spike. I got my hand around it and tried pulling it out but it would not budge. I dug down a little more and saw wood. I found the edges and started working my way down the long side.
I thought for a minute that it may have been a telephone pole. After about 15 minutes of digging I had all sides clear and tried to lift it out of the hole. That piece of wood must weigh about 50 pounds. I could barely get it out. By the time I did get it out, there were a few interested spectators watching. One guy was pretty excited about my find, he said he used to be a volunteer at the Graveyard of the Atlantic museum in Hatteras. He told me that by the looks of the iron spikes in the wood that I had probably found a piece of a late 1800's - early 1900's shipwreck. I did not have a camera with me but I took some pictures when I got the piece home. The wagon is 39in.L x 23in.W

 

[N.J.THer]

Congrats on the find. I love that strip of beach...found a early 1700s Spanish Cob back in April on that beach.

NJ

 

[SkyPirate]

any ideas on the best way to preserve the piece?

 

[kdn502]

Cool piece of history!! It's always amazing to see what comes out of the sand in OBX... Never go there without my Tesoro

possibly a piece of an old vessel discovered earlier this summer
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/05/oldest.shipwreck/index.html

 

[Woodland Detectors]

Nice find!
I'd love to see what it looked like sailing.

 

[Skelly607]

That a nice convo starter!

 

[{Sentinel}]

That Beach is only about 20 minutes from my house. There's an old ship wreck that floats on and off the beach right there at the VA/NC line. I've found some nice stuff down there as well. Congrats on the find. If I were you I'd try to strip as much rust off the iron spike that i could and then seal it and keep the whole thing indoors with your collection

 

[DewGuru]

Nice score!!

 

[SkyPirate]

Cool piece of history!! It's always amazing to see what comes out of the sand in OBX... Never go there without my Tesoro

possibly a piece of an old vessel discovered earlier this summer
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/05/oldest.shipwreck/index.html

Nope, I saw that one at the Graveyard of the atlantic museum down in Hatteras, they dated that one to the 1600's.

 

[SkyPirate]

That a nice convo starter!

convo?

 

[Hill Billy]

That a nice convo starter!

convo?

Conversation starter.

Cool find right there, Congrats.

 

[ohiograndpa]

Thats neat !!

 

[N.J.THer]

That Beach is only about 20 minutes from my house. There's an old ship wreck that floats on and off the beach right there at the VA/NC line. I've found some nice stuff down there as well. Congrats on the find. If I were you I'd try to strip as much rust off the iron spike that i could and then seal it and keep the whole thing indoors with your collection

I didn't realize you were that close to the area. Next time I'm down at Corolla I'll let you know. Maybe we can meet up for a hunt if your up for it.

NJ