In the Union Lines

“At last the orders came to turn the right flank of the enemy. We passed down into the hollow, filed off still farther to the left, and passed over another elevation, when we came to the railroad, just below the brickyard. Then, with General Parke at our head, we pushed on, passed in rear of the breastworks of the enemy, and as we came upon the high open ground behind it we came under a raking fire from the rifle pits across the railroad and the brick-yard, where the enemy lay in large force.”
JOHN WRIGHT,Major, Comdg. First Bat. Fifth Regt. Rhode Island Vols.

“Where do you want to go man? The Fairgrounds?” N.Y. Rob asks as we look for some 9v batteries in his garage. “Naw, I mean that place has been hit so hard and the only thing we’re going to find is trash and pennies. Lets try behind the woods behind the Toyota dealer. The Union marched right down the railroad tracks there.” I say, and off we go.

"The first one of the day!"

Me and N.Y. Rob are getting spooled up quick on the CW battle of New Bern, and due to gaps in our relic hunting schedule which is usually filled with fossil, bottle, and Indian relic hunting days I’m rekindling my Civil War passion and he’s just starting his.

“We pushed on at the double-quick until we came under cover of the trees, where we formed in line of battle and prepared to charge on the enemy in the battery. As they had retired, I was ordered first to send one company and afterward the whole battalion, and to proceed cautiously and find out what the firing was on our left. I sent the adjutant ahead to find out the direction we should take. As it was pointed out by the general's aide, Lieutenant Lydig, we passed down into a hollow and ascended the left-hand side cautiously until we reached the brow of the elevation, when we came in view of the enemy and immediately opened upon them a brisk fire, which immediately had an effect, for their fire slackened and stopped when we ceased firing.

We opened upon them two or three times afterward until we were afraid of firing upon the Fourth Rhode Island, who were advancing upon them on our right. When the Fourth charged upon them we ceased firing and awaited orders.”
JOHN WRIGHT,Major, Comdg. First Bat. Fifth Regt. Rhode Island Vols.

"Relics right off the front line of battle!"

N.Y. Rob is just about jogging thru the woods swinging his detector way too fast and high, he’ll learn I think to myself. This little patch of woods between Hwy 70 and the tracks has been hit by hundreds of enthusiasts over the decades, and the woods are clean as a whistle. No relics and like a good detectorist no trash either. I have the right tool for this deal the mighty Excalibur, and I’m moving slow and steady.

After a while I’m kind of resigned to not finding anything but enjoying my after work fun with Rob and eyeballing some of the remaining CW entrenchments still in the woods when “BANG” the Excalibur sounds off with a deep target. As I dig I don’t expect to see what is in my hand when the dirt is moved around. A nice expended .58 3ringer. Man! What a thrill to find a actual front line bullet shot by some Reb at one of N.Y. Rob’s relatives.

Rob comes over and I stay a few yards off the railroad grade and soon am rewarded with more fired rounds. The Excalibur penetrates thru rotting wood and any deep and missed rounds are mine to keep. It really was quite a nice way to close out a day, and reinforces the metal detecting mantra “No place is ever hunted out.

Searching the Neuse

Searching the NEUSE

The other day me and N.Y Rob finally got our schedules insync! We both had high hopes to find a few Yankee or Rebel war relics around Rob's neighborhood as he lives right behind the front lines for the Battle of NewBern N.C.

N.Y. Rob way out in the river looking for something good.

Since we just started daylight savings time here in the east, so me and Rob had a few hours of daylight to poke around the area after work. We first hit the back acre of his house for a few minutes with nothing to show, then decided to hit the beach along the Neuse River. The beach starts at the end of his lane and once long ago during the war had fortifications with a 4 Gun shore battery.

Just downriver from this spot are the front lines of the battle anchored by Fort Thompson which today sports a subdivision on its high ground. Hopes were high as N.Y Rob's father in law talks of his childhood days when the locals would roll cannonballs home from the river during low tide, and as luck would have it today was a unusually low evening tide.

Also, N.Y.Rob has found a few CW pipebowls, and lead poker chips among other period pieces right on the shore.

BBS technology really works in the water!

My Excalibur worked excellent on the Neuse and penetrated deep into the muck, finding stuff a foot and a half down. The matrix was a few inches of muck, 6 inches of sand, then clay. I'd love to tell you I found some relics, but only a fired bullet was found and that was on the shore in the river bank.

However, I think with a little luck and perseverance a arty shot will be pulled someday. I'll keep you posted!

New Year Plans!

Hey Friends & Family oh…and visitors!

Boy Howdy, I’ve been busy lately and haven’t had any time to do much of anything ‘cept work at home and with the Corps. However, I figure I’ll post my plan for 2009. Lets see, hmmm for sure I hope to be lucky enough to hunt the barren moonscape at the PCS Aurora Phosphate mine this year! With a little luck maybe I can pull down a nice complete Megalodon tooth and stare in wonder at its pristine beauty; Only at Aurora!
http://www.elasmo.com/

On the fossil front I hope me and Glenn keep our dive buddy system in tack and hit the Atlantic in search of that big 7inch tooth that will make one of us a legend in the fossil community! Glenn keep those 120’s filled with Nitrox!
http://www.aquaticsafaris.com/

Stink'in trans blew up in South Carolina n when your a bucks down type of guy well, hey you rebuild it yourself. But now nobody wants to drive the beast outta town.

What else, well today I’m starting off on my Civil War kick, seems my pal Goosebumps has spied some of Burnsides Union entrenchments in the swampy area off the Moorehead to New Bern railroad. So the metal detectors are in the trunk and ready to go for later.
http://www.civilwarshop.com/

Me and N.Y. Rob always have big plans and this year we are gonna do it up right. See N.Y. Rob bought a nice big boat and plans are in action to dive off of New Bern’s old dock area for some of those 1800’s bottles. Also nearby across the river is the abandon Civil War Union fort which was shelled heavily during D.H. Hill attack in 1863. “Shells and shrapnel fell into the Neuse like raindrops on a pond” Of course we are just looking n touching but not taking.

Indian relics are getting in the mix this year for sure, plenty of sites to hit and I’m making sure to put my miles in on the field looking for points. Of course, I’m gonna hit the gold mines of North Carolina http://www.bearfootgold.com/ at least once if not more. I got sluice parts over at the weld shop jus gotta get over there!

Okinawa? Hey, If everything is right I may do a space A holiday deal in the fall when the weathers good for caving for relics and nighttime raids on the resort beaches for the platinum and gold! So stand by and check in once in awhile! I look forward to hearing from you!
- Robert Wilke

Field Trip to one awesome collection!

On a beautiful fall day in eastern North Carolina, members of the East Coast Fossil club were treated to a special event prior to a scheduled hunt of Greens Mills Run park. The Club members were able to view noted amateur paleontologist George Powell’s fantastic fossil collection collected from various spots along the coast from Virginia to South Carolina.

The one of a kind relics were truly an awesome collection of one man’s passion for the fossil collecting hobby. His collection as evident in the pictures truly rivals if not surpasses many large museum quality displays.

George was such a great host welcoming us to his private collection room and then spending a few hours explaining different nuances of the hobby and answering many questions from club members.

Everyone learned much about our hobby from the visit, and the one on one time with George was great as we did not have the hills of Aurora tempting us into short conversation.

George’s famous 114 Parotodus-benedeni associated dentition was only one of the highlights of the collection, all of the members were impressed with the display of Meg’s in all their glory with the red felt and highlighting! (Glenn’s got to do something about his Megs kept in the tool box!)

My question to George was “What’s going to happen to your collection in the future…? Are you going to donate it to a museaum?” “Nope, I told the wife and daughter to sell the whole thing and enjoy the money from it!” was the reply. And that my friends is probably what will happen to ours too!

In Search of: 18 grand!

What you diving fer? Asked the grizzled old man. “Oh, just old bottles and whatever other junk may be laying on the bottom.” I answered. The old man points off into the water, “Well you mights want to keep your eyes open for a safe down thar.”

Hooch waiting for the safe, and me in the water.

The old fella, is local seaside historian “Hooch” Henry. A Marine Veteran of WW2, Korea, and Vietnam, he’ll even show you the bullet hole he got on Okinawa. “That Jap popped up outta nowhar and shot me right in the gut”.

Anyway ole Hooch and the neighbor next to the pier both state that a few years back the Sheriff and two inmates in orange jump suits were at the seawall and the story goes that they threw a safe containing 18 grand in the river off the end of the pier.

According to the neighbor he has never seen the safe come up or anyone dive for it, that’s why he’s asking what I’m diving for. We all agree to share in the spoils (if any) and they show me the area the Sheriff indicated a few years ago. The water is swift with the current not yet at slack tide however, the visibility is good with the cooling of the river water. I spend about 30 minutes on the bottom working my way haphazardly around . I spot a few unidentifiable heavy objects in the muck but I’m pretty sure they are not a safe even though nobody knows the size and shape I’m supposed to be looking for.

I’m soon out of air, and the only startling find was a decomposing large piece of mammal of some sort, with ghostly white pieces of flesh swaying in the current. As the Governor of CA. would say at a time like this "I'll be back!"

A few days later, Me, Hooch, the Neighbor and my buddy Culley a deep sea Navy diver with access to the Navy Dive locker goodies are back to run grid lines over the area and lift bags to the heavy objects.

The search starts out slow due to heavy slit in the water due to the recent rains, but on the second tank the visibility clears and we can scan and cover more ground easily. As we work the area, occasionally Culley’s and my goodie bag fill up with bottles and fishing gear. When we surface and have Hooch haul it up and dump it out on the dock and get ready to head back down.

Kevin Culley- Navy Diver finding bottles but no safe.

I’d love to tell you that I’m drying 100 dollar bills in the clothes dryer but, it wasn’t so. We both got a couple of nice old bottles and I got a sweet rod and reel but no safe. Maybe we were off a few yards or the memories of those men slipped a little in the intervening years, but for me the water is probably going to get too cold by the time I’ll get some off-time to try again. Any underwater safe is going to have to wait till next year!

Fossil Hunt

Whaaaaaaap! Clunk! Swoosh….. Swooosh. Soon a man is seen scuffling thru the muddy flats towards us. He’s holding his hand gingerly as he maneuvers thru the debris scattered along his path. Perhaps your thinking this must be a description of WWI Verdun France and a doughboy is making his way to an aid station. Naw, it’s just Gerald “Reel Tooth” making his way along the creek bed of GMR to show off another one of his great finds during his amazing dig.

Yessir, quite a crowd showed up for a early morning dig along the chilly banks of Greens Mill Run. It seems that after posting a few of my finds recently on the web, a all-star lineup of diggers showed up primed to find fossils due to the Aurora fossil hunt cancellation.

A professional Gold mining crew led by RobJon from up country North Carolina showed up for the first time. I was sure they were going to start suction dredging the mighty GMR but they were unsure of the city ordinances. I soon found the Professor in the stream working Will and Lois’s claim. He had a professional GMR local hunter and ole Goosebumps busting gravel from 10 feet below the river bed. “Hey Professor, don’tcha know that’s Will’s claim? He’s got that on file at East Coast HQ! You’ll get fined if you get reported.” I stated to him. “I’m claiming this area in the name of ECU educational research!” He exclaimed, as he showed me a possible 3 inch Great White that had the top broken off.

I knew where I was not wanted so I kept moving upstream. Soon, I spotted the “King of Fossils” himself waiting on his folding chair for his hireling to produce a fossil worthy of his highness’s collection. It was good to see Brian in good health and back in the game; I just wonder how he gets these guys to do all the digging?

King of Fossils

The V.P. of E.C.F.C came up to me about then and demanded to be taken to the area that I worked a few weeks prior where I found that G.W. Anyway, this is the part of the story were chance took a turn for the benefit of Gerald.

Me and the V.P. met Gerald as he was returning back downstream, (maybe he was lonely) Anyways, he had a simply beautiful Great White in perfect shape I’m guessing over 2.5 inches. He decided to turn around and go back to the area he was working before instead of downstream and that my friends turned out to be the play of the day.

Within 30 minutes, Gerald scuffled over to where we were, and I could tell by the sh*t eating grin (see picture) he had something good. A rare perfect Megalodon! No dings, all serrations, beautiful color, 4 + inches. It was a great find! Over the next hour I still did not have even a piece of bone from where I was digging! However Gerald kept pulling fossil after fossil from the same dang hole. Fossils such as, a turtle shell, another perfect front GW, the second 4inch Meg, and possibly the largest Mako from GMR in recent history.

It was nuts, but a fine day it was for Gerald! For the rest of us, the report was that everyone got something very nice, except for the V.P.of E.C.F.C who has bad luck at GMR. I’m not sure about the Gold mining team, but they were working hard to claim their first GMR mantelpieces. But as we all know the lady of the river doesn’t give her treasures to newcomers easily.

LSM-45 (Landing Ship Medium) Oct 2008

Landing Ship Medium – 45

On a beautiful Friday afternoon, I headed towards a little visited training area aboard Camp Lejeune to check out the local Jacksonville semi-historical ship LSM-45. The ship has been in the local paper off and on over the last few years as its final fate ebbs and flows as the seasons change around it.

WW2 era muscle and 1980's Detriot MUSCLE!

The ship was transferred here to be a part of the new Marine Museaum of the Carolinas when that agency was planned to have a building built off the New River. However that plan fell apart due to local political issues regarding the proposed site. The proposed Museaum now will be land locked near the Beirut Memorial in front of Camp Johnson.


I headed out to see her myself after getting finished retaking my Range Safety officer class aboard mainside. Riding along in my Grand National during this late summer day was a nice treat, except I couldn't open her up on the backroads as you never know where a Military Police may be lurking. Soon I motored near the wharf were the LSM lay by herself. Other than a few people who were casting for shrimp down the way there were no other people to keep the old ship company.

The ship was shocking in bad shape, more than I imagined. It would take a act of extreme sacifice in money and effort to make the LSM shipshape. That was unforunate as one reason I was there was to take a looksee at the ship to ascertain the possiblity of requesting it for one of the bombing targets at Bombing Target area 11.


Up at the island as we call it, we have problems with getting hulks of ships out in the shallows for fixed wing aircraft and helos to shoot at with rockets and bombs. Something as large as the LSM and especially the fact that she's made of steel which takes the explosions better than newer decommision ships makes her a real jewel as a target ship.

It would be a great shame to blow up a old WW2 Pacific warhorse, but I guess she would have some life left training the new breed of warrior and save the goverment some target money while she's at it.