For the last few months I have been treasure hunting with a good Mate and fellow Pirate by the name of Lee. I met Lee several years ago during a a treasure hunt out by The Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda, he was a dirtfisher then and about to leave Bermuda at the end of a work permit to return home to England. We chatted a bit about detectors and water hunting versus dirt hunting and he said that if he ever came back to Bermuda he would get himself an Excalibur just like the one I was swinging, he seemed like a decent bloke but I didn't see him after that and thought no more of it until I ran into a surf pirate working the shallows at Horseshoe Bay one day last year. Who would it be but the same English bloke who I had run into several years before, he was back on the island working and sure enough he was swinging an Excal 2.
We chatted a bit and swapped bits of advice and met up again on a different forum, then we started to hunt together ocassionally and pretty soon we shared hunts regularly and became friends.
Lee is getting married next week in Georgia to a lovely American gal who is also an ex-marine, so it was time for him to ship out of Bermuda and onto a new life and new adventures - Bermuda's loss and America's gain.
[attachment 156932 LastHuntWithLee005.JPG]
Yesterday Lee and I got together for one last hunt before he flies out for Georgia tomorrow and I decided we should hit a beach that we have never hunted before. This beach is next to the old Mortello Fort in St. Georges and we were hoping for something good. The tower has been there since the Victorian era so I was hoping for Old and Lee was hoping for Gold.
[attachment 156933 IMGP0616.JPG]
There was a strong surge running at this beach and we only hunted it for about an hour before pulling out and retreating to a more accommodating beach but I managed to pull some old silver out of the surf before we left. An old silver, sundial ring - the inscription reads Carpe Diem on the front and the inside has numerals to indicate the time by how the sunlight shining through the hole hits the inside of the ring, this design has been around since the Middle Ages.(see pic of the light shining through below)
[attachment 156936 LastHuntWithLee009.JPG][attachment 156937 LastHuntWithLee010.JPG]
We fell back to Clearwater Beach and Lee finally hit his target of a gold signet ring, no benchmarks on the ring but it is definitely gold and I would guess it to be 14k with the letters ARI on the front. A very nice ticket. For my part I found some WWII era American Silver out of Clearwater Beach - a 1944 quarter, a Mercury dime, two Rosies and my first war nickel (also 1944).
[attachment 156938 LastHuntWithLee011.JPG]
We stopped off at the Swizzle Inn for lunch on the way home and I treated Lee to lunch as is the tradition here in Bermuda. The Swizzle Inn has a dresscode but I have always believed that it is better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission so we slipped in to the patio area and charmed the server into ignoring our wetsuits. (technically speaking we were wearing suits)
A big pitcher of Rum Swizzle washed down the delicious fish sandwiches and then it was time to drop my buddy Lee off at his home. Lee will be missed and who knows he may be back just like the first time I met him several years ago.
All a pirate needs is a good ship, a good first mate and the stars to sail by. Fair winds and calm seas to you, my Friend.
Cheers,
Eric
We chatted a bit and swapped bits of advice and met up again on a different forum, then we started to hunt together ocassionally and pretty soon we shared hunts regularly and became friends. Lee is getting married next week in Georgia to a lovely American gal who is also an ex-marine, so it was time for him to ship out of Bermuda and onto a new life and new adventures - Bermuda's loss and America's gain.
[attachment 156932 LastHuntWithLee005.JPG]
Yesterday Lee and I got together for one last hunt before he flies out for Georgia tomorrow and I decided we should hit a beach that we have never hunted before. This beach is next to the old Mortello Fort in St. Georges and we were hoping for something good. The tower has been there since the Victorian era so I was hoping for Old and Lee was hoping for Gold.
[attachment 156933 IMGP0616.JPG]
There was a strong surge running at this beach and we only hunted it for about an hour before pulling out and retreating to a more accommodating beach but I managed to pull some old silver out of the surf before we left. An old silver, sundial ring - the inscription reads Carpe Diem on the front and the inside has numerals to indicate the time by how the sunlight shining through the hole hits the inside of the ring, this design has been around since the Middle Ages.(see pic of the light shining through below)
[attachment 156936 LastHuntWithLee009.JPG][attachment 156937 LastHuntWithLee010.JPG]
We fell back to Clearwater Beach and Lee finally hit his target of a gold signet ring, no benchmarks on the ring but it is definitely gold and I would guess it to be 14k with the letters ARI on the front. A very nice ticket. For my part I found some WWII era American Silver out of Clearwater Beach - a 1944 quarter, a Mercury dime, two Rosies and my first war nickel (also 1944).
[attachment 156938 LastHuntWithLee011.JPG]
We stopped off at the Swizzle Inn for lunch on the way home and I treated Lee to lunch as is the tradition here in Bermuda. The Swizzle Inn has a dresscode but I have always believed that it is better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission so we slipped in to the patio area and charmed the server into ignoring our wetsuits. (technically speaking we were wearing suits)
A big pitcher of Rum Swizzle washed down the delicious fish sandwiches and then it was time to drop my buddy Lee off at his home. Lee will be missed and who knows he may be back just like the first time I met him several years ago.All a pirate needs is a good ship, a good first mate and the stars to sail by. Fair winds and calm seas to you, my Friend.
Cheers,
Eric
