Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Object Dug Yesterday On The Treasure Coast (top center of photo) Find and photo by Gaylen C. |
Gaylen C. made an interesting find Monday. Below is how he described it.
Yesterday morning I was detecting along the bottom of the cut between South Beach Park and the south jetty of Ft Pierce inlet with my new Nokta Legend ( beach mode, C discrimination, wet sand, 25 sensitivity, 7 stability) when I got a very strong 42 signal and started to dig right at the base. Kept digging, about 10-12" and found a fairly large object. As I cleared sand away by hand I found it to be a large round object. Whoopie, I had found a cannon ball. It might be another 1715 find for me on this beach. When I got enough cleared out to lift it I found that I could not. So I stuck my shovel underneath and pried upward. As I did the object became more exposed and proved to be cylindrical, about 12 or more inches long and 6+/-in diameter, and not round like a cannon ball. I had merely uncovered the rounded end at first. I immediately decided it was an artillery shell, and relatively modern, and called 911. After a while, FPPD officer showed up, took a look and called for help and the bomb squad. Tentatively identified as a 105mm shell, but after several hours when it was removed I found out that the bomb squad identified it as a "drop bomb" detonator, and was "unstable and hazardous". Took about 3 hrs for the bomb squad to move it off the beach, and I was told they were going to take it further south to a more remote section of beach and then detonate it.
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| Another View of the Object Dug by Gaylen. |
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| Bomb Squad Removing Recovered Object. |
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| Another View Of the Bomb Being Removed by the Bomb Squad. |
Galen added the following thoughts.
I am sure this object was dumped on the beach during the latest nourishment project. Quite likely from either the inlet itself, or further out . In either case ,where it could have been dropped over the water, possibly during practice back in the day. I saw no markings on this piece. I did notice the bomb squad technician poured a bottle of water over it, either to see it more clearly, or further release it from the sand.
Here is a video of the removal posted on the Fort Pierce Police Department Facebook page.
Thanks Gaylen. Interesting day at the beach.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com |
It looks like we'll have some bigger surf on Friday, but it won't last long.
Good Hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net