Cape Cod national seashore wrecks

jyt2017 · May 24, 2010

There are hundreds if not thousands of wrecks off the seashore here. Most are fishing vessels, some military and fewer Spanish galleons.

One has been located and a museum was put up for it to display some of the finds.

Has anyone had any luck detecting along seashore? Despite my efforts to google it...I cannot come up with an exact location. I was wondering if anyone knew. The Whydah is the one I believe.

Yes...I was thinking of detecting close to it on shoreline. Exact location hard to get though. And national seashore I believe is offlimits.

Anyway...HH -Joe

cuzcosquirrel · May 24, 2010

I have heard it is against the law to detect in front of the Whydah site. I think Barry Clifford specificly talked about this in one of his books.

bottomscratcher · May 25, 2010

It's somewhere off wellfleet. Off limits from what i've heard. The museum is pretty cool. Are the beaches in P town part of the national seashore? If not I bet it's good hunting off season.

jyt2017 · May 25, 2010

Gotta ask what are the chances the park ranger will find you and actually bust your balls over it.

I am willing to try. Play dumb. I mean chance to find one coin...just one. Ok maybe more stuff has washed up. Who knows. Anyway...thanks. HH -Joe

bottomscratcher said:
It's somewhere off wellfleet. Off limits from what i've heard. The museum is pretty cool. Are the beaches in P town part of the national seashore? If not I bet it's good hunting off season.

piratediver · May 25, 2010

Joe: I am the archaeologist on the WHYDAH project and it is illegal to detect on the beach, anywhere on the Cape Cod National Seashore for that matter. I'm not sure what the fine is but they would probably confiscate your detector also. The wreck site is located on Marconi Beach, there is a sign for it on Route 6. It is a beautiful beach with cold, clear water, gets crowded on the weekends.

There is a museum in P-Town with some artifacts we've recovered and a 5 year nationwide tour currently in St. Louis.

If you have any questions, ask away.

Pirate Diver

jyt2017 · May 25, 2010

I dont want my detector taken away. But would be worth a few walks after a storm. Thanks for info. HH -Joe

piratediver said:
Joe: I am the archaeologist on the WHYDAH project and it is illegal to detect on the beach, anywhere on the Cape Cod National Seashore for that matter. I'm not sure what the fine is but they would probably confiscate your detector also. The wreck site is located on Marconi Beach, there is a sign for it on Route 6. It is a beautiful beach with cold, clear water, gets crowded on the weekends.

There is a museum in P-Town with some artifacts we've recovered and a 5 year nationwide tour currently in St. Louis.

If you have any questions, ask away.

Pirate Diver

piratediver · May 25, 2010

Take a walk after a Noreaster, you might get lucky!

Pirate Diver

infoverload · May 25, 2010

Although I'm new to the hobby I've done my research. They'll confiscate detectors, there was a post by a police officer on another forum. He was doing some research about a military base, detecting here and there on the shore, they confiscated his detector and issued a citation.

Just keep it legal folks. You'll ruin it for the rest of us.

cuzcosquirrel · Jul 9, 2010

I wll probably be visiting the Provincetown Museum in about two weeks. Hope you guys have some t shirts available.

PhipsFolly · Jul 11, 2010

Sorry... this is a rant but I just gotta' say it...

So sad that we as Americans (myself included) allow our government to take away our rights and freedoms on a daily basis and do nothing to stop the greedy and power hungry politicians and their land and money grabbing that they have perpetrated for so long.

Our parks and seashores supposedly belong to all of us... it is our tax dollars that pay for these National Seashores (and the salaries of the Politicians that are making up the rules as they please... and the salaries of the Rangers that work in these parks)! Why are we not getting together and telling the government that outlawing metal detecting on our seashores is not acceptable and demand change?

What is their justification for banning it? Because they can... And because they know that there may be something of value there... same thing is starting to happen in Florida. The government knows that there are items of value to be had and they haven't figured out a way to control and tax us on things we find while detecting so they choose to make it unlawful and control it that way. If things keep going the way they have been... without the citizenry of this country standing up for our rights, we can kiss metal detecting and treasure hunting goodbye in the not too distant future... along with many other freedoms that we have enjoyed in this country.

There is nothing wrong with the hobby of metal detecting and if we as detectorists are respectful to others and are responsible with filling in our holes that we dig, why can't we detect on OUR beaches?!!

This is a time of great change in this country and it is an opportunity for each of us to show what we are made of... if you agree with what I have said here, then do something about it... take the time to write to your politicians, write up a petition and get it signed by as many people as you can and try to get laws like this changed, form a group to protest unfair laws like the metal detecting ban and get the media involved. Corrupt governments hate the media... hehe!!! Let's not just stand by and accept what little scraps the government chooses to leave us with... pretty soon the plate will be licked clean before it even comes to the table. Remember... your silence will not save you. Obama liked to talk about change and all that "Yes we can" stuff... so how about we hold him to it and demand change FOR the people...

Wow... I guess I had a bit of pent up frustration there... it sure felt good to get it off my chest though... thanks for that... see you on the beach.

PhipsFolly · Jul 11, 2010

Oh, and the story of the Whydah is fantastic. Kudos to Barry Clifford for undertaking this endeavor, for meeting with success, and for sharing it with us all... what an amazing find. I sure hope to catch the touring Whydah exhibit and eventually get up to the museum in P-town... I have heard nothing but good things about it. :thumbsup:

birdman · Jul 11, 2010

The Whydah museam in P-town is amazing and well worth the visit!! I could not believe the artifacts they had in there that told such a story.

cuzcosquirrel · Jul 30, 2010

I had a good time at the museum and got a t-shirt. I really liked the display with the cat head butted pistol and coins in it. I ended up not going out to the beach in front of the site, but it would have been really hard to do it. I would like to snag a piece of wood from the ship sometime to make a chess set or a box out of.

blacksambellamy · Aug 4, 2010

infoverload said:
Although I'm new to the hobby I've done my research. They'll confiscate detectors, there was a post by a police officer on another forum. He was doing some research about a military base, detecting here and there on the shore, they confiscated his detector and issued a citation.

Just keep it legal folks. You'll ruin it for the rest of us.

That police officer was me. Im just glad i had my cheap detector that day

...I have never been back since and have moved all my detecting offshore beyond the reaches of the national seashore. It was my fault for not researching the laws but i do think they could have given me a pass after seeing all the good i was doing. All my research on the old military camp can be seen here at www.campwellfleet.com.

I would think ( especially in this economy) that someone who is willing to do free research and turn over everything to the parks Dept would be embraced.....not the case at all