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Teenager finds his own buried treasure, sort of
By Dan Scanlan, Shorelines
Christopher Arvin got a big bang out of his Christmas gift - literally.
The 13-year-old Mandarin boy's new metal detector led him to what St. Johns County officials believe was a very old cannonball under the sands of the Mickler's Landing Beach Park access ramp Monday afternoon.
Christopher, his father, David, and five St. Johns County Sheriff's Office cruisers, two fire trucks and the bomb squad truck were there when a robot detonated it.
"At first I felt kind of scared because I didn't want it to explode in our faces," said Christopher.
"I didn't want my ears to get hurt, so I was in the truck. When it exploded, it sounded like a meteor hitting the ground. ... I didn't really expect to find that. We were just looking for coins."
It looks like it's a genuine Civil War-era cannonball, said sheriff's office Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit Sgt. Kerry Tanner. He said it could have been shot from a ship 100-plus years ago, hit the ocean bottom and been "rolling around for years, then wash up and get covered."
"The thing on it had a small indent on top where a fuse would be placed," Tanner said. "It doesn't happen that often, but there is so much ordnance in the world that you can go to some Third World countries and find remnants of World War I."
David Arvin said he and his son were sniffing around other parts of the county with the metal detector earlier Monday afternoon, then went to the Mickler's Landing Beach Park off Ponte Vedra Boulevard.
After about 30 minutes searching the sands, they were walking to their car when they got to the beach entrance and the detector beeped, so they started digging.
"We got to the top and found the rusty piece, then exposed the whole top. I saw it was a sphere and remembered some of the mines that had been found, and I said we had better not mess with this," the father said.
They called the sheriff's office shortly before 4 p.m.
A deputy took one look and secured the area, calling in the explosives disposal unit.
To be safe, a plastic explosive was planted next to the cannonball and remotely detonated.
kenb
By Dan Scanlan, Shorelines
Christopher Arvin got a big bang out of his Christmas gift - literally.
The 13-year-old Mandarin boy's new metal detector led him to what St. Johns County officials believe was a very old cannonball under the sands of the Mickler's Landing Beach Park access ramp Monday afternoon.
Christopher, his father, David, and five St. Johns County Sheriff's Office cruisers, two fire trucks and the bomb squad truck were there when a robot detonated it.
"At first I felt kind of scared because I didn't want it to explode in our faces," said Christopher.
"I didn't want my ears to get hurt, so I was in the truck. When it exploded, it sounded like a meteor hitting the ground. ... I didn't really expect to find that. We were just looking for coins."
It looks like it's a genuine Civil War-era cannonball, said sheriff's office Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit Sgt. Kerry Tanner. He said it could have been shot from a ship 100-plus years ago, hit the ocean bottom and been "rolling around for years, then wash up and get covered."
"The thing on it had a small indent on top where a fuse would be placed," Tanner said. "It doesn't happen that often, but there is so much ordnance in the world that you can go to some Third World countries and find remnants of World War I."
David Arvin said he and his son were sniffing around other parts of the county with the metal detector earlier Monday afternoon, then went to the Mickler's Landing Beach Park off Ponte Vedra Boulevard.
After about 30 minutes searching the sands, they were walking to their car when they got to the beach entrance and the detector beeped, so they started digging.
"We got to the top and found the rusty piece, then exposed the whole top. I saw it was a sphere and remembered some of the mines that had been found, and I said we had better not mess with this," the father said.
They called the sheriff's office shortly before 4 p.m.
A deputy took one look and secured the area, calling in the explosives disposal unit.
To be safe, a plastic explosive was planted next to the cannonball and remotely detonated.
kenb
