I SAID IT...I DID IT!!! MY PERSONAL GRAIL FIND...FINALLY

[romeo-1]

I've been detecting for 6 years and the one target that has been eluding me has been the cannonball. Well, that changed this morning! Winter is mostly for research and that is what I've been doing for the past several weeks. I've been studying text and maps of a large scale battle which took place in my area in the early 1700s. I knew I was getting close last week when i found the 26 pound mortar fragment. I used that information and found a map which steered me a couple kilometers away from the area I found the mortar frag. Now, it is winter so the ground is frozen solid and there is still a couple feet of snow. Luckily the area I am hunting is a tidal beach. It was a siege battle consisting of over 30 ships and 2000 men. The text i read detailed "two days of cannonballs and mortars raining down on the landing". The maps i found showed the landing about two kilometers from where I found the frag.

With this information in hand I set off this morning before the sun came up. My detecting time in this area is limited due to the tides. It was -24 degrees Celsius (-11 degrees Fahrenheit for my American friends) this morning but I was dressed for the conditions. Even so, I'm pretty sure I came close to frostbite in my fingers. Detecting these salty conditions are horrible but I was given a lesson after I posted looking for advice on the T-Net Fisher forum. I set my detector and off i went. I started finding musketballs soon after starting and was happy with that. About an hour in I was approaching the area detailed on the old maps and found two more chunks of mortar. I didn't bring these back as I just couldn't carry them. Soon after the second frag I got a nice overload signal which is what I was hoping for. I drove the shovel in and a couple inches down out popped my very first cannonball! I detected for another30 minutes and found a few more musketballs and decided to call it a day.

Cannonball is a 12 pounder! I haven't cleaned it up yet so not sure on any markings. The real funny part is I PM'd IronPatch yesterday to tell him about my plan for today. I told him that I could not imagine not finding a cannonball today! Psychic? NO! Research, perseverance and a little luck!

 

[Iron Patch]

Yep! Research can and often does make the difference!


And yes, he absolutely wrote me yesterday saying he was going to dig a cannonball... or 20. I'm glad it's just one because 20 would be hard to take because we have no Winter hunting site here. That said, it could easily be 20 by the time that shore is beat.

 

[peanut]

Thats awesome! I cant wait till I find one of those, I dug my first 12 pounder frag about 3 weeks ago, and dug my first James shell frag last saturday.
Congrats and hope you find a bushel basket of those
peanut

 

[The Patriot]

Well well, finally you made it to the cannonball club!....had a gut feeling you were going to pull that off....funny I read your previous PM yesterday about that mortar and how you thought it would be neat to get a cannonball in the dead of winter...you'll have my numbers beat by spring I'm sure!!! now only if I can get a 8 reale...
Congrats buddy well deserved!

 

[romeo-1]

Yep! Research can and often does make the difference!


And yes, he absolutely wrote me yesterday saying he was going to dig a cannonball... or 20. I'm glad it's just one because 20 would be hard to take because we have no Winter hunting site here. That said, it could easily be 20 by the time that shore is beat.

In preparation I even rigged a sling to my detector so that I could keep my hands free to carry them out...next time I'm taking a backpack!

 

[romeo-1]

Well well, finally you made it to the cannonball club!....had a gut feeling you were going to pull that off....funny I read your previous PM yesterday about that mortar and how you thought it would be neat to get a cannonball in the dead of winter...you'll have my numbers beat by spring I'm sure!!! now only if I can get a 8 reale...
Congrats buddy well deserved!

Thanks! I was just about to shoot you a PM!

 

[The Patriot]

Well well, finally you made it to the cannonball club!....had a gut feeling you were going to pull that off....funny I read your previous PM yesterday about that mortar and how you thought it would be neat to get a cannonball in the dead of winter...you'll have my numbers beat by spring I'm sure!!! now only if I can get a 8 reale...
Congrats buddy well deserved!

Thanks! I was just about to shoot you a PM!

just sent you one...

 

[Charlene]

Sooo very happy for you, what a great find. That cannon ball will surely keep your blood pumping and wain off frost bite

 

[Engineer in MD]

Congratulations, sweeet find. May you find many more. Just goes to show that research pays off.

A canonball is definitely on my wish list.

 

[civilman1]

Congratulation's Romeo Had to be a good feeling

 

[liftloop]

excellent job.. nice dig..

 

[Daedalus]

Wow , just Awesome !
Keep at it and you will have a stack of them .

 

[bootybay]

just goes to show ya.... think positive, and bammm you got it... that is just totally awesome and I hope you find at least a bakers dozen ( 13 of em)

 

[JerV3]

Congrats,

That thing is nice man.

Jer

 

[Iron Patch]

You know you've been at this long enough that one of these years I'm going to have to start saying you earn your finds.

 

[romeo-1]

You know you've been at this long enough that one of these years I'm going to have to start saying you earn your finds.

One of these years To tell you the truth, this is really the first find that I believe I actually did earn. I've been very lucky in my detecting career and have put in effort to find sites but this is the most research I've done and when I was finished the research I was reasonably sure I was going to find what i was looking for.

 

[umrgolf]

I like the Babe Ruthian style of callin shots well done

 

[Iron Patch]

You know you've been at this long enough that one of these years I'm going to have to start saying you earn your finds.

One of these years To tell you the truth, this is really the first find that I believe I actually did earn. I've been very lucky in my detecting career and have put in effort to find sites but this is the most research I've done and when I was finished the research I was reasonably sure I was going to find what i was looking for.

yeah I can't argue with that one and it didn't really surprise me you did it. I have a decent button find that I have the feeling of really having earned it because it took three times going to the field to find the small site. I probably would have given up but the research was so solid I knew it had to be there.

 

[Don in SJ]

Congrats on getting a personal goal that you earned through your research and braveing the elements! Surprised the detector worked, of course you could bundle up, but not Mr Fisher.

Don

 

[romeo-1]

Congrats on getting a personal goal that you earned through your research and braveing the elements! Surprised the detector worked, of course you could bundle up, but not Mr Fisher.

Don

I packed the extra batteries...just in case!