downeastdigger
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So, being temporarily out of work, I've been trying to keep myself out of trouble. Got in a few dives this week. No rare bottles, just some ebay stuff, not too bad. Photos below.
But today, I unintentionally created a stir in town, just by trying to be helpful :]
I was scouting out a river a couple of towns over. It had been drained down about halfway, as they have been working on a dam repair there.
I was walking along the bank, about a mile from down town, away from any houses, and I looked in the water of the very low running river, and saw something weird. It was a car ! I could see the antennae poking up above the water like a periscope, and the outline of a modern made car, some sort of sedan.
I figured I'd report it to the police. The only way I knew to reach the local police was to call 911 on my cell phone. I called and explained to them what I saw in the water. I told them I couldn't tell how long the car had been there. They asked me to describe exactly where I was, and they'd send someone over, right now. I said ok.
I continued to walk down the bank to look for bottles. In about 30 seconds, I heard a siren. then another and another, until there were what sounded like 10 sirens blaring! I figured there was a big fire downtown, and that no one would come to look at this car.
then my cell phone rang, and it was the police. They said the officers were down at the river looking for me, and couldn't find me. I said, " all those sirens aren't coming here because of this car, are they?. He said yes, and I told him THIS ISN'T AN EMERGENCY! I TOLD YOU THAT! The cars been in the water for a long time probably!
There were probably 5 fire trucks, 15 police cars, CANINE UNITS with German sheapards ready to leap in the water, a RESCUE BOAT ( which I didnt see, but heard over the radios was on it's way). I'm not exaggerating. There was a footbridge across the river which I had taken to get across the river. I looked upstream and saw fully dressed officers running across the bridge, and climbing down to the muddy riverbank. I yelled upstream to stop them, and finally got the message to them that there was not a car full of live people sinking in the river.
We apologized to each other for the miscommunications. Things calmed down.
Still they wanted to get the car out of the river. Could have been a dead body inside, or at very least, someone dumped a car in the river, and that would be a crime.
I lingered for a bit, with my clam digger, going up and down the bank, looking for bottles. I wandered back. There were about 15 uniformed officers along the riverbank, trying to figure what to do. They had called a tow truck. I wandered back, and asked them who was going to go into the river and hook the car up with the cable. They all passed the buck. I usually stick up for the fuzz, but they were all just hanging out waiting to figure out what to do next, and waiting to see if there was a dead body in the car.
Eventually, the tow truck guy showed up. I told them I happened to have my scuba gear in the truck, and wound up volunteering to hook up the cable. I was planning to dive this morning anyways, so I wound up in the yucky river, in my cute rubber suit, while 15 uniformed guys lined up along the riverbank watching me.
As I grabbed the cable, and started my descent, I looked at them and pointed to the whole line and said, "this is what's known as morbid curiousity". They all laughed. They did look pretty funny, they really didn't need to be there, there weren't helping or anything. They just wanted to see what was lurking in the car.
I got it hooked to the frame ok. The tow guys pulled it out with a wench, and it was truly fascinating to watch it be dragged slowly out of the river. It looked like a submarine at first, with the antenae as the periscope, slowly cutting the surface of the water.
It turned out to be a 1980 Toyota Celica. The window facing my side was open, the other side was rolled up. So the cops all called out to me and asked " you see anything in there?" All I could see was mud filled up to the steering wheel. It was an odd thing to do, looking in the car for a dead body.
Made for a very interesting day. The local paper showed up as well, and took some pictures. The article link below shows the car, and gives the history of how it had been stolen 30 years ago. Pretty amazing that they could pull up the VIN number, and trace it all the way back to another generation!
Here's the article.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=ROCNEWS01
But today, I unintentionally created a stir in town, just by trying to be helpful :]
I was scouting out a river a couple of towns over. It had been drained down about halfway, as they have been working on a dam repair there.
I was walking along the bank, about a mile from down town, away from any houses, and I looked in the water of the very low running river, and saw something weird. It was a car ! I could see the antennae poking up above the water like a periscope, and the outline of a modern made car, some sort of sedan.
I figured I'd report it to the police. The only way I knew to reach the local police was to call 911 on my cell phone. I called and explained to them what I saw in the water. I told them I couldn't tell how long the car had been there. They asked me to describe exactly where I was, and they'd send someone over, right now. I said ok.
I continued to walk down the bank to look for bottles. In about 30 seconds, I heard a siren. then another and another, until there were what sounded like 10 sirens blaring! I figured there was a big fire downtown, and that no one would come to look at this car.
then my cell phone rang, and it was the police. They said the officers were down at the river looking for me, and couldn't find me. I said, " all those sirens aren't coming here because of this car, are they?. He said yes, and I told him THIS ISN'T AN EMERGENCY! I TOLD YOU THAT! The cars been in the water for a long time probably!
There were probably 5 fire trucks, 15 police cars, CANINE UNITS with German sheapards ready to leap in the water, a RESCUE BOAT ( which I didnt see, but heard over the radios was on it's way). I'm not exaggerating. There was a footbridge across the river which I had taken to get across the river. I looked upstream and saw fully dressed officers running across the bridge, and climbing down to the muddy riverbank. I yelled upstream to stop them, and finally got the message to them that there was not a car full of live people sinking in the river.
We apologized to each other for the miscommunications. Things calmed down.
Still they wanted to get the car out of the river. Could have been a dead body inside, or at very least, someone dumped a car in the river, and that would be a crime.
I lingered for a bit, with my clam digger, going up and down the bank, looking for bottles. I wandered back. There were about 15 uniformed officers along the riverbank, trying to figure what to do. They had called a tow truck. I wandered back, and asked them who was going to go into the river and hook the car up with the cable. They all passed the buck. I usually stick up for the fuzz, but they were all just hanging out waiting to figure out what to do next, and waiting to see if there was a dead body in the car.
Eventually, the tow truck guy showed up. I told them I happened to have my scuba gear in the truck, and wound up volunteering to hook up the cable. I was planning to dive this morning anyways, so I wound up in the yucky river, in my cute rubber suit, while 15 uniformed guys lined up along the riverbank watching me.
As I grabbed the cable, and started my descent, I looked at them and pointed to the whole line and said, "this is what's known as morbid curiousity". They all laughed. They did look pretty funny, they really didn't need to be there, there weren't helping or anything. They just wanted to see what was lurking in the car.
I got it hooked to the frame ok. The tow guys pulled it out with a wench, and it was truly fascinating to watch it be dragged slowly out of the river. It looked like a submarine at first, with the antenae as the periscope, slowly cutting the surface of the water.
It turned out to be a 1980 Toyota Celica. The window facing my side was open, the other side was rolled up. So the cops all called out to me and asked " you see anything in there?" All I could see was mud filled up to the steering wheel. It was an odd thing to do, looking in the car for a dead body.
Made for a very interesting day. The local paper showed up as well, and took some pictures. The article link below shows the car, and gives the history of how it had been stolen 30 years ago. Pretty amazing that they could pull up the VIN number, and trace it all the way back to another generation!
Here's the article.
http://www.fosters.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=ROCNEWS01
