Summer's Dive Finds

[adshepard]

Did a bunch of diving in Downeast Maine this summer and came up with many different finds. It was not my most productive year in terms of bottles but I had a few interesting finds. The first is this Portland Creamerry bottle. It is quart size with many ribs. The seam goes all the way up to the top. It does have a neat "PC" logo on both the side and the bottom of the bottle.

Since I don't collect milks it will go up for sale.

Alan

 

[adshepard]

Here is a second find. The bottle is not all that interesting. It's a blob top "Wm. Robinson and Sons" from Boston. However getting this bottle out of the water was the most challenging retrieval I've ever had. It took two days to get it out of the water!

I was fanning a likely spot for bottles when I spotted what I knew would be an older one. I fanned away the loose mud and gravel and there encrusted in a black concretion was this bottle. I have no idea what the concretion is composed of it is rock hard. The neck of the bottle was completely encased and the body half-way covered. I had about 15 minutes of air left at about 40 feet down. I took out my dive knife and grabbed a rock and tried chiseling away the concretion without breaking the bottle. after 10 minutes I was tired and had only chipped away a small chunk of the blackish concretion. Running low on air I had to leave the bottle. I marked where it was with an old log and heaed out of the water.

The next day I returned with a mini crowbar determined to get the bottle. I found it quickly enough and found a nice mooring bolt to use as a hammer. I carefully pounded away at the concretion for another 15 minutes and finally the bottle broke free. A day long soak in a reduced muriatic acid bath removed any remains of the concretion.

As I said not a great bottle, although it has an interesting crooked neck, but retrieving it successfully gives it a nice story.

Alan

 

[adshepard]

Not a bottle but a favorite find of the summer. It's a rather ornate brass door knob. I have no way at this time to prove it came off a steamship nor can I date it but it was in the debris field of bottles and steamship china so I feel it is from a steamship. The front of the knob is quite worn from use.

Alan

 

[botlguy]

Fantastic post in my opinion. Being a sort of pioneer diver (Late 1950s) I really related to your story although I never retrieved one bottle while diving. Thanks for the vicarious adventure. Like that doorknob, a lot.

 

[cacarpetbagger]

Good luck on future dives.

 

[Bass Assassin]

adshepard, thanks for sharing this post with us. I always have been intrigued by what could be lying under the water, as that is "virgin" territory. Those are cool finds and i really like the doorknob. If only it could talk. ..keep posting and best of luck to you

 

[GACDIG]

I like the Robinson and Sons. It has a nice crude blob appearance. The door knob is a beauty.

 

[idigjars]

Cool finds. Love the door knob. Thanks for sharing & good luck finding more in upcoming dives. Paul

 

[sandchip]

Yeah, those are some neat finds. Looking forward to what you find next.

 

[adshepard]

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Here is one of the nicer botlles of the summer. It is a very clean Geo. C. Frye bottle from Portland, ME. According to info I found on this site the company started in 1868 and was still operating in the 1920's. Don't know if it is common or not.

Alan