romeo-1
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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!
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!
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the way the battle set up with steady shelling of the landing site --count on there being more to find there. 
, you are out digging up an historic cannonball. 
Great research and Congrats on your personal achievement and goal 
