Treasures...

If you look up treasure in a dictionary you will see 1) Wealth stored up 2) something of value. To some it would take a treasure chest full of gold coins and gems, to others it as simple as an old bottle. It’s all how you look at it.

What are you looking for? We all would love to find a treasure chest full of gold but that is not going to happen. Some of us have found gold and silver and old bottles. You just have to start looking. At times something as small as a penny in the street it’s all treasure!  One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Being a diver I get to find treasures most people don’t get to see and that is under water. People never think about divers and throw everything in the water. That is why it is always a good place to dive around docks, bridges, and walk ways by the water. I have found many wedding bands and rings in this one area. I think because it is easy to drive up and park your car right there and just toss the rings right in to the water. It could be if he/she wants the ring back their can go find it and in to the water it goes. Bad for them good for me!

In the old days trash was dumped in to the water and it was gone, out of site out of mind!  It also happens on dry land, trash pits and old out houses were the dumps in their days. Bottle hunters look for and dig in these sites. Some do very well digging in these sites and not just bottles, rings and coins are just some of the other things their find!

   Underwater you have to have a eye to spot thing because marine growth cover everything. I was on a dive one time where a diver picked up a bottle that looked broken and it was coved in growth, but he kept anyway and late he cleaned it up and it was a whole short pony bottle, it was a real nice find! So it is a skill you have to work on, if you’re not sure what it is bring it up. Until you know what you have you hang on to it! Not everything just sits on the bottom, some time you to dig, but you have to know where to dig. Knowing where to dig can save you a lot of time and time is something you don’t have a lot of underwater. Water temperature, currents, air supply and light all work against you, so by knowing what to look for and where to look for it you have a better chance of coming up with some treasure.

And then there are days like when you get a phone call from the local Life Guards who say they have found something submerged in the surf and ask for you to come out and take a look. After a bit of poking, prodding, and investigation the "Treasure" turns out to be a World War Two mine and the military DOD comes out and blows your treasure up with C4 in the surf just to be safe...

Maybe not the most attractive treasure found by the Dive Team but lead fishing sinkers have been a favorite of many divers to sharpen their underwater skills and have been very beneficial to the Dive Team equipment fund. Several "Tons" of sinkers have been gathered, cleaned, sorted, and sold at the annual Fire Department's Fishing flea market each year...

One of the most intriguing objects has been a small brass container that is made up of three compartments and is dated April 1876. It was found in the Manasquan Inlet and still has not been identified....

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