Whats up with finding so many brass nails and brass square nails?

[makahaman]

Been hunting in the water and finding lots of brass nails and brass square nails? There used to be a wooden pier there in the 1800's, why so many brass nails? Is that what was used back in the day for piers so that they wouldn't rust? Any suggestions to this inquiry would be great!!

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

Smaller brass nails could be from modren smaller boats made of plywood.
Large brass spikes are often found near older shipwreck sights.
They could be from the wooden pier, but I suspect that would be too expensive.

 

[Dominicanhunter]

I just found a large iron one, in Dominican Republic, next to an old sugar factory (1600's) in a place called Nigua. The owner (by that time) was Diego Caballero.