Salvage

A lot of you guys have some great ideas.. Try a solution for this without spending a fortune. I have found a wreck in 30' of water, so far I have counted 7 iron cannons, three anchors and lots of other (things). How do I get them home without having giant equipment? I figure the 7' or 8' cannons must weigh in at 1000lbs? Anchors? Anybody done anything like this before?BB

Well, Bill. It sure sounds like you should have ordered bigger davits.

Bill - You can float them to the surface with air bags...but then what? Where are you going with them and how far?

I would be very careful about jurisdictional ownership. You may find that you go through a lot of effort only to find that someone else owns it, or at least lays claim to it.*

bill, you can take a skiff with high sides and sink her next to your boat. load the cannons on it strap them on and bring the skiff to the surface and pump the water out. You may need high sides on the skiff and make several trips. Use a couple of air bags to float the skiff if you need to but you would be amazed how much a 2" trash pump will pump with a few well placed ropes on the skiff.

Air bags are nice, and expensive. Fill some 55 gal drums and sink them, then inject air to float them. Works the same way and a lot cheaper.

I'd advise reporting it to the approp maritime museum authorities in your region - this is far too big an operation for one person, especially without the requisite experience. We are not talking salvage here, but historical artefacts of importance. You would retain finders rights, but really, no disrespect, and all credit to you for locating it, but surely the right people should be involved here in my view. You don't want to appear in the local paper as a plunderer of an historical site I'm sure.

I've used both lift bags and drums on previous jobs. You're fortunate to only be in 30' of water, so the drums might work however you won't have control over the ascent of the items.
Keep in mind one of the other posts that suggested you check on rightful ownership of the items.

To quote Brody from "Jaws",

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

I think you may need a bigger lawyer if you have not reported this to the relevant authorities.

Tidahapah wrote:
I think you may need a bigger lawyer if you have not reported this to the relevant authorities.

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*That's for sure.* That's for darn sure.

I like the sink the lancha idea, it still mighy come in handy. Bought a 20' rusty stee bardge and we are welding a tripod and lifting thingamagigs, going to tow it to the site and kill our selves, should be fun! For all you guys warning about lawers ( pronounced, Liers here) get off it and live, I allready filed with BZ of the find. The one Im after is on Turneffe that went down with $800,000.00 of gold coins at the value in 1798. What a great adventure,Yea? Today,St Paddys Day, is the one year since Ive (shes ) owned me. Yea Irish Miss, for bad or good,a treasure hunter owns her now.Remember, your just goining to die. BB

Go get 'em, Wild Bill!!* We're rootin' for ya!!*

belizebill wrote:
For all you guys warning about lawers ( pronounced, Liers here) get off it and live, I allready filed with BZ of the find. The one Im after is on Turneffe that went down with $800,000.00 of gold coins at the value in 1798. What a great adventure,Yea? Today,St Paddys Day, is the one year since Ive (shes ) owned me. Yea Irish Miss, for bad or good,a treasure hunter owns her now.Remember, your just goining to die. BB

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Might have been a good move to announce that small but important bit in your original post..?

Mate if it's all legal then you have no probs.
I would be investing in some flotation bags and a nice big compressor mounted on a small barge with an A frame and winch.
Looks like your next boat may be a 63 ft Nordie if all that gold comes up.

Wow, sounds like you have a few years of fun, adventure and hard work ahead of you.

Need any help?

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Bob

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Many years ago when I was a commercial diver we used truck inner tubes as lifting floats. They were cheap, readily available and didn't bang around like 50 gal drums. A lot cheaper than lifting bags! If, for some reason, you needed to reduce the lift rate as your salvage was rising, you just stuck your knife into a tube or two - easily repaired for the next lift.

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