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The
audio signal of the metal detector startled me. I was about twenty
minutes into my dive and I was beginning to wonder if it was working
properly – I should have come across a beer can or two by now. I moved
the detector’s coil back and forth in front of me, made a determination
where I thought the signal was strongest and reached down into the silt.
 I had
recently studied a map in Russell Bellico’s Sails and Steam in the
Mountains that was titled “The Attack and Defeat of the American Fleet
under Benedict Arnold by King’s Fleet Commanded by Captain Thomas Pringle,
Upon Lake Champlain, the 11th of October, 1776”. The
engraving depicted of the Battle of Valcour Island. Besides Valcour
Island and several square miles of the lake’s features, the map also
included the British and American vessels, their routes of travel and
their positions during the engagement. Although it was produced in
London in 1776, the contours of the island and mainland shorelines
appeared fairly accurate. Were the positions of the fleets accurate
too? I had dived the bay before and knew its floor consisted of
heavy silt; could battle debris still be present but hidden from view?
Wm. Faden 1777 The North American Atlas
Collections of the Library of Congress
Earlier in
the month, I had searched for signs of the British line with little
success. This was my first search for the American line. I continued to
reach through the silt and felt nothing besides an underlying bed of
clay. Although I found nothing, the detector continued to indicate the
presence of metal. After I checked my air pressure, I reached deeper and
still found nothing. This process continued until the full length of my
arms, my head and shoulders were beneath the silt. I was about to give up
when my hands closed around a large, round object. Its diameter seemed
too large for round shot; was it a mortar’s bomb?
Whatever it
was, its surface was still smooth. Its encapsulation in the heavy silt
and clay had prevented its oxidation and corrosion. I tried to pull it up
and out of the silt but it didn’t budge. I’d have to break the suction
created by the sediment.
As I worked
my hands around its contours, I soon found it wasn’t a mortar’s bomb; it
was tubular rather than spherical. Several private camps had once
populated Valcour Island and my next thoughts were that I had uncovered a
section of sewer pipe. Then I felt the flare, moldings and bore of a
cannon’s muzzle.
“What was it
like to find the cannon?” or some variant, is the most common question
that I’m asked. All I remember is a sense of disbelief and having to
remind myself to breathe as my head flooded with questions:
Why is it here? Is its carriage underneath it? Did the crew throw
it overboard? Is it part of a wreck? Did it once belong to the gunboat
that the Maritime Museum recently discovered? What am I going to do now?
I checked my
air pressure and it was time for me to surface. It was also getting dark
and I marked the site with a small buoy before returning to my boat. Once
aboard, I called a friend and fellow diver, Terry Aubin, and made plans
for returning to the site the following day.
Terry and I
returned early the next morning. We agreed that Terry would check the
site out for himself and draw his own conclusions as to what lay beneath
the silt. Although we could see a small crater where I had excavated the
previous day, it was filled with a cloud of silt that obstructed our
view. Terry would have to make his determination by feel. I sat by as
Terry’s arms, shoulders and head disappeared into the crater. A moment
later he emerged, brushed off the silt and gave a “thumbs up” signal
(diver sign language for “lets surface”).
At the
surface, Terry agreed with my assessment and my concerns – it was a cannon
and the excavation was clearly visible. In exploring the discovery, I
left a scar on the bay’s floor - a scar that could possibly attract the
attention of other divers. I was concerned about what unknowing divers
would do with the excitement of such a discovery. Would they wrap a chain
around it, quickly pull it from the bottom and possibly damage it? Would
they agree that the cannon should be placed in a museum or a private
collection of their own?
I was having
difficulty dealing with the excitement of the discovery myself. I had
uncovered what was most likely a significant piece of early American
history; but what had once been protected and preserved by the sediment,
was now exposed and vulnerable. The initial excitement of that discovery
was quickly turning into panic.
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