Pearl Harbor Merc through the ice today!

[mudpuppy]

[attachment 280008 dec713-2.jpg] Last year I went into this place on the 23rd of Dec and found some silver rosies, so this morning I went back in. Its a hard climb down and even harder coming out, slip sliding on the oak leaves under the snow, hanging up on the briars, trying not to fall, but prepared for it by holding the Pro with the downhill arm so that if I did, it would be on top of me and not under me! It was out of the wind... 20 degrees with a wind chill of 10..this little backwater was all froze up, so I left my gear on the bank and went out to bust and move some ice. I would stomp and cut loose a big floe, and then gently start to push it out of there to open up the water. You can see from the pics that it would start to ice right back up! It was like swinging coil through slush!
We have a big Lake effect snowstorm going on, screen of the Pro got covered up! but it was not a bad hunt after a guy got used to it...

I hit this 1941 merc and got to thinking about the irony and chill of that? To find a 41 merc on Dec 7th? A very peaceful and calm morning down in here, not in Hawaii 70 years ago, the contrast between there and here and the insulating distance of Time, but how the merc tied me in with the event and made this day special in some strange way...how 70 years ago there was a hell of a fight in a warm water harbor, and 70 years later I can hunt through the ice in a snowstorm as a free man...
Mud

 

[William-NM]

Well, amen to your reflections on that fateful day. That story sounds stranger than fiction 70 years later, thank God!. Geeze, I'm all for free will, but we're gonna have to chip in for one of those ice-breaker ships if you keep this up!

 

[mudpuppy]

I tell you William, I think Im done!

More reflections: About 2 miles through the snow West of where I took the first picture sits a WWII Submarine called the Silversides. Its sister ship was the Flier...If you google the Flier you can read what happened to her. She hit a mine at night, and went down in less than a minute. Out of the 86 crew aboard, 13 made it out, and only 8 made it to shore. One of the guys that made it is from where I live up here and he grew up on the West Mich water...He dedicated his life to finding the Flier, and researched and traveled to where He thought it went down...the TV show Dive Detectives followed his notes and went to look for it in 2009 and dropped there anchor right on top of it! I got to meet him (Alvin Jacobson) once when I was salmon fishing with his son. He told me the story of that night...said he was very comfortable in the water from being in it up here all his life, still...
Mud.

 

[jim tn]

Nice finds, reflections and story. Naw, don't pack it in. Global warming will save you in a day or two. HH jim tn

 

[mudpuppy]

Yeah Jimmy, Once I get home and thaw out, I want to go right back! You know I'll go straight through! One more gold! Theres gotta be a pony in here somewhere!
Mud

 

[Ytcoinshooter]

Great post. By any standards that's some hard core hunting. Congrats!
Thawing with an adult beverage like an Irish coffee takes the edge off the chill for me.
HH - Bruce

 

[ajaj]

Nice!

aj

 

[fongu]

Congratulations. You are a dedicated and hard core dirt fisher, mud. December 7th always reminds me of the sacrifice of our veterans and I got divorced on Dec-7th, 1976. One was a tragedy and the other was an answer to prayers. I'd keep that 1941 mercury dime myself.
When I read about the guy making in the water because he was used to it when his sub hit the mine, I reflect on the fact I could barely swim 3 laps of the pool yesterday in my dive class. It's been almost 30 years since I went swimming. Had to swim most of it on my back. I knew having a back and neck injury limited me to a lot of activities I used to do, but didn't know how much it would affect your ability to swim.
You earned that dime, just stay safe out there. HH.

 

[tabman]

Now that's COLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

tabman

 

[upnorth]

I really enjoyed your post and the comments. It was quite interesting. You are hard core to be sliding around in the icy water !

 

[senda]

Hi Mud, good work, persistence give good results. His findings have been a coincidence of dates, I like his stories. My first discovery of a battle without knowing also coincided in the same month and day 175 years later ...
His hunts remind me that my heating does not work three days ago and soon will come to the penguins home lol gotta warn the technician. Be sure you be careful not to end up in the frozen section of the supermarket ....
Cafe Irish ... a good whiskey, hot coffee and cream sweet little uhmmmm Ideal for the cold!:clsoedeyes:
regards
pathway

 

[88junior]

Mud what's the battery life like hunting in those frigid conditions?

 

[mudpuppy]

Hey Junior, seems like what JohnEdmonton's been telling us, if a fellow can bundle up the control box with some bags of chemical heat, I believe it would be a good idea...I remember after a while I was getting squirrelly performance and the lcd in the screen seemed to be having weirdness due to the cold. I'm guessing I had two hours of decent performance and only noticed it at the very end of the hunt just running stock with no protection or any other measures...It could have been just me though, as I was sort of stupid cold by then as well, had a hard time getting out of the waders and unlocking the car etc...I had fresh batteries in too...but it was pretty danged cold, not Canadian sub zero cold, but cold enough to affect a normal batterys performance I'm thinking. That said a fellow has to wonder, with a sealed battery compartment and control box, I wonder if the temp variances of bringing the thing inside/outside could set up some sort of temp variance suction or compromise the seals when the temp changes from one extreme to the other? You know, like taking it out of a hot car and submerging it in cold water? I keep all my detectors outside in the car year round, but these are the things I think about and wonder if anyone knows for sure?
Mud