Raid on Essex ,War of 1812

[coinnut]

Most everyone already knows Dan and I have been working with archaeologists on various projects. For most of this year we will be looking for a 17th century fort, and evidence of a short War of 1812 skirmish. This hunt was a first attempt to locate some large calibur musket balls or some canon grape shot from that skirmish. It didn't happen lol It is a picture perfect location of water and ships, but the over 90 degree weather didn't help much.
http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr228/del1786/historicsign_zps0d1c82c1.jpg (http://s486.photobucket.com/user/del1786/media/historicsign_zps0d1c82c1.jpg.html)

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr228/del1786/essexpoint_zps0c1ef007.jpg (http://s486.photobucket.com/user/del1786/media/essexpoint_zps0c1ef007.jpg.html)

http://i486.photobucket.com/albums/rr228/del1786/2011/Essex%201812/1730homeandproperty_zps593e5fb3.jpg (http://s486.photobucket.com/user/del1786/media/2011/Essex%201812/1730homeandproperty_zps593e5fb3.jpg.html)

Although the machines were working well with not much EMI, the 10+ inches of fill dirt eliminated any chance of getting to the 1800's layer of important relics. The best we could do was some flat buttons and a couple of Indians. Did find a Hartford Car club badge of some sort, and the biggest shot gun type shell I have ever seen :shocked04: It's pictured next to a regular size shell. We will be returning again next week to try another approach. Not pictured is a nice pewter ladel handle with a snake and shell motif and a nice silver plated bell.

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[Lodge Scent]

Cool finds Coinnut! That shell brass is crazy! I've heard of 4 gauge shells used in swivel guns for waterfowl but is that a 2 gauge?

Man, I hope you guys find that fort !!

[pulltabsteve]

1912 - The Union Metallic Cartridge Company of Bridgeport and Remington Arms Company were combined into one company and became Remington U.M.C.

Whatever it is, it was made after 1912. Cool find G. :waving:

[Epi-hunter]

Hey George sorry to hear you and Dan didn't have as much success as you had hoped today. Too bad about the fill dirt - not much you can do about that unfortunately >:/ :shocked04:verreaction: But it sounds like you may have a plan in mind.

Love hearing your stories and updates about this - thanks for posting! :bananadance:

[del]

Leave it to Coinnut to find the biggest shotgun shell in history at a 1730 colonial home lol lol and i had such high hopes of coppers to , especially when i turned on the ol'DFX and on my third swing I get a solid +85 , singing like a large cent . :shocked03: :shocked03: only to be very dissappointed by an aluminum boat cleet. :hairpulling: >:/ >:{ >:{ then another a couple of steps more >{ >{ >:# items like a 1940's car liscense plate at 12 inches , pull tabs at 8 inches , yes the fill dirt they must of brought in was very deep. :girlcry: :girlcry: i did find a 1903 indian some clad and three 1800's era buttons .

[Epi-hunter]

OMG. Pull tabs at 8 inches. That is just wrong on so many terrible frustrating horrible levels.

:omg:

[aloldstuff]

Thanks for this update and sorry to hear that fill sort of ruined the day. You and Dan are doing a great service and look forward to more updates.

[Bell-Two]

Too bad about the fill, why doesn't fill dirt ever come from a Colonial site and be loaded with goodies instead of junk.... :confused:

[OxShoeDrew]

OMG. Pull tabs at 8 inches. That is just wrong on so many terrible frustrating horrible levels.

:omg:
lol. Did you guys plan on being near the water for yesterday's oppressive weather? Nice going. Hope to hear more next week!

[del]

for those that are into history
here is a very nice narrative about the history on the Raid on Essex during the War of 1812 the actual area we were detecting and any evidence of the raid.

On a cold April night in 1814 a British raiding force rowed six miles up the Connecticut River to burn the privateers of Essex, then known as Pettipaug. Before the raid was over they had torched 27 ships and taken or destroyed thousands of dollars’ worth of rigging materials. The raid resulted in the single greatest loss of American shipping of the entire war.

During the War of 1812 the British navy’s blockade of Long Island Sound nearly shut down commerce along the Connecticut coast. In shipbuilding towns such as Pettipaug many hard-pressed merchant ship owners were unable to carry out the normal coastal and West Indies trade that their livelihoods depended on. Some began arming their vessels as privateers. These were privately owned warships meant to attack and capture British merchant ships on the high seas. The captured vessels and their cargos were sold at auction and the profits split between the owners, the captain and crew, and the US government. For the young United States with its extremely limited federal navy, privateering was an important part of the war effort.

Despite the obvious risks, the building and financing of privateers represented a potentially lucrative investment opportunity while also serving the national cause. Pettipaug was already a well-known shipbuilding center. That several vessels were now being armed and new privateers were being built there did not escape the Royal Navy’s attention.

But a raid on Pettipaug would not be easy. Essex is located six miles up the Connecticut River from Long Island Sound and a great sand bar at the mouth of the river prevented large naval vessels from entering. A raiding force would have to penetrate deep into the American heartland without the direct support of warships. Still, the British recognized that the chance of destroying a large number of privateers in one place, rather than having to hunt them down one by one on the high seas, was worth the risks involved. The raid was led by Captain Richard Coote of HMS Borerand involved crews mustered from four British warships of the squadron blockading New London and the Sound. They anchored off the mouth of the Connecticut River on the evening of April 7 and dispatched 136 sailors and marines in six heavily armed ships’ boats.

Their first task was to secure the fort at Saybrook, which dominated the mouth of the river, so the raiding force would not be trapped on the way out. Unbelievably, two years into the war, the British found the fort without a garrison, guns, or ammunition. They continued to row upstream against wind and tide, arriving on the Pettipaug waterfront at 3:30 the next morning.

According to Coote’s report to the Admiralty, “We found the town alarmed, the militia all on alert, and apparently disposed to oppose our landing with one four pound gun.” But the British had come with overwhelming force, their boats undoubtedly armed with swivel guns and carronades. “After the discharge of the boat’s guns and a volley of musketry from our marines,” Coote continued, “they prudently ceased firing.”

No one in the sleepy village had expected the war would be brought so far inland. But here it was. According to a report published in the Connecticut Gazette a few days after the raid the British made a simple ultimatum to the town’s people gathered there in the wee hours. “Captain Coote informed them that he was in sufficient force to affect the object of his expedition, which was to burn the vessels; and that if his party were not fired upon, no harm should fall upon the inhabitants, or the property unconnected with the vessels…” In other words, the message was, stay out of our way and you can keep your town. The good people of Pettipaug looked at the marines, did the math, and withdrew. Quietly, riders were sent out into the night to seek military assistance from New London and surrounding communities.

As British marines secured the town, sailors set to burning ships and removing naval stores from waterfront chandleries and warehouses. They also took the town’s considerable stocks of West Indies rum, an important commodity in an age when soldiers and sailors on both sides were issued half a pint of rum a day as part of their compensation.

As the harbor blazed throughout the night, several heroic but futile attempts were made to save individual ships by towing them out of sight or extinguishing flames with buckets of water. Despite these efforts, however, by 10:00 the next morning the British had torched 25 vessels, keeping meticulous records of the names, tonnage, rigs, and potential armaments of each, from the 400-ton ship Osage to 25-ton coastal sloops. They loaded the stolen chandlery supplies and rum into two captured privateers, the brig Young Anaconda and the schooner Eagle. With militia from neighboring towns beginning to reach the area, it was time for Captain Coote and his men to make their escape.

As the British towed the two captured ships down river against the wind on a falling tide, the Young Anaconda went aground a mile south of the town. Its cargo was transferred to the schooner, and the brig was torched. Despite being exposed to sporadic musket fire from shore, Coote decided that proceeding through the narrower stretch of river farther downstream in broad daylight posed a greater risk than waiting for the cover of darkness. He anchored the schooner and his boats and waited for nightfall.

At this point, Major Marshe Ely, commanding the growing American militia forces from Lyme and Saybrook, sent a small boat under a :usaflag: of truce to deliver a message to the British. Ely was confident he now had Coote at his mercy: “Sir, To avoid the effusion of human blood is the desire of every honorable man. The number of forces under my command are increased so much as to render it impossible for you to escape. I therefore suggest to you the propriety of surrendering your selves prisoners of War and by that means prevent the consequence of an unequal conflict which must otherwise ensue.”

Coote disagreed with Ely’s assessment. In his report to the Admiralty he wrote with typically British understatement, “My reply was verbal, assuring the bearer, that tho’ sensible of their humane intentions, we set their power to detain us at defiance.”

At sunset the British transferred the stolen supplies and rum to the boats, set fire to the schooner, muffled their oars, and began slipping downstream under cover of darkness. US marines dispatched by Stephan Decatur from New London had begun to arrive, along with federal troops and additional militia and volunteers. Several artillery pieces were quickly set up on both sides of the river. The British came under increasing musket and cannon fire from both banks. Two British marines were killed as the boats ran the gauntlet, now illuminated by bonfires and picket boats with torches. The musket and cannon fire from the narrows (today spanned by the I-95 Baldwin Bridge) was intense. Coote reported, “I believe no boat escaped without receiving more or less shot.” Yet the black of night and the swift outbound current enabled the British to drift silently past the fort at Saybrook, drawing only ineffectual parting shots from the defenders now gathered there.

By 10:00 p.m. the raiding party had reached the safety of the British warships. For the loss of only two men killed and two seriously injured the British had torched more than two dozen American ships and taken or destroyed thousands of dollars’ worth of supplies and equipment—not to mention all that rum. It was perhaps one of the most successful small boat raids in history.

The British raid devastated the local economy and nearly ruined the handful of old shipbuilding families who owned most of the vessels that had been destroyed. The prevailing local attitude was that the disaster had resulted from the federal government’s total neglect of its duty to protect this important shipbuilding community. This was made clear in a letter from the selectmen of Saybrook (which at the time included Pettipaug) to Connecticut Governor John Cotton Smith. “Your Excellency must be sensible that the Inhabitants of this Town feel Indignant at the General Government for declaring a war of offence & then leaving…the Mouth of the Connecticut River unprotected… under the guns of a large squadron of the enemy.”

Four months later the British bombarded Stonington. Unlike the strategic raid on Pettipaug, the attack on Stonington was a punitive bombardment of an extremely exposed, and as it turned out tenaciously brave, coastal town. Two weeks after that, on August 24, the British burned the nation’s capital. The raid on Pettipaug had been eclipsed, and the town did its best to forget this dark chapter in its history. Within two years it had changed its name to Essex, and the raid passed into obscurity and folklore.

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

nice lookin house! i will have to send this link to turtlefoot(the headstamp guru) on friendly forum and see what he has to say about this cannon shell! :shocked03: nice story fella's!

[coinnut]

nice lookin house! i will have to send this link to turtlefoot(the headstamp guru) on friendly forum and see what he has to say about this cannon shell! :shocked03: nice story fella's!


I'm thinking it was used to shoot a large quantity of fowl flying by. Probably can't shoot them these days like that lol

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

I'm thinking it was used to shoot a large quantity of fowl flying by. Probably can't shoot them these days like that lol

George this is what doug had to say.like i said before.some people collect coins etc.doug collects headstamps.
below is his response




turtlefoot
Headstamp Addict

Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: The Ozarks
Posts: 6,188
Re: doug you gotta id this huge headstamp!
Quote:
Originally Posted by HEAVYMETALNUT
doug a freind of mine found this monster headstamp,can you id it ?age,purpose?
http://www.americandetectorist.com/f...?topic=13443.0
HOLY !!!!!!!!

That thing is HUGE! I thought the two 4ga heads that I have were big!

That is not from a normal shotshell. It is also not from a punt gun that was used by market hunters to kill dozens of ducks/geese with one shot. It is actually from a Yacht Cannon. This was basically a signal cannon.

This shell will date from 1911 to the early 1920's and was sold empty only.

It's a great find!
Doug
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[coinnut]

So it's too big to hunt fowl :shocked03: definitely lots of different ships here, so a yacht is a gimme It's earlier than I thought it would be. Sold empty only ....meaning you had to load it yourself? Thank him for the ID and I will pass that on to the museum. I wish it was mine to keep lol

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

So it's too big to hunt fowl :shocked03: definitely lots of different ships here, so a yacht is a gimme It's earlier than I thought it would be. Sold empty only ....meaning you had to load it yourself? Thank him for the ID and I will pass that on to the museum. I wish it was mine to keep lol

I will tell him G.

[del]

So it's too big to hunt fowl :shocked03: definitely lots of different ships here, so a yacht is a gimme It's earlier than I thought it would be. Sold empty only ....meaning you had to load it yourself? Thank him for the ID and I will pass that on to the museum. I wish it was mine to keep lol


nice George but its the wrong kind of boat cannon we're looking for :grin:

[coinnut]

nice George but its the wrong kind of boat cannon we're looking for :grin:


You know how I am lol They need to be more specific next time. :rolleyes:

[HEAVYMETALNUT]

You know how I am lol They need to be more specific next time. :rolleyes:

welcome back G! let the razzing begin! can't ya tell me missed ya? <}

[RobW]

So what's your plan with the fill issue George :dontknow:

Bulldozer:huh::huh:thinkingabout: lol

[coinnut]

So what's your plan with the fill issue George :dontknow:

Bulldozer:huh::huh:thinkingabout: lol


I may do that as plan B. lol Big coil on the 3030, if I can get my hands on one. Or the monster SEF coil (18x15 is it?) on the E Trac.. Run all metal, dig every target in a 10x10, If the ground even chirps a bit, I'm opening up the hole :yes:



can't ya tell me missed ya? <}


Dave, I had NO idea you had them feelings for me :embarrassed: Back at ya :kiss: lol

[RobW]

I'm opening up the hole :yes:



And I've seen your holes.... :shocked03:.... rofl


So you got a 3030? How do you like it? In your opinion is it worth shelling out the big bucks for if you already have the E-trac? :dontknow: :thinkingabout:

[CTCDT]

Thanks for the History Dan.

[del]

your welcome Chuck , i was hoping to see you soon on one of these projects

[coinnut]

And I've seen your holes.... :shocked03:.... rofl


So you got a 3030? How do you like it? In your opinion is it worth shelling out the big bucks for if you already have the E-trac? :dontknow: :thinkingabout:


After that comment? :lipssealed: :lipssealed: :lipssealed:


The E Trac is still a great silver machine and always will be. But I usually don't go back to a machine unless the new one is a dud. lol

[del]

we've been still at this project almost exclussively this past few months (George more so than I due to family and home issues) . Scouring the banks of the Connecticut River for signs of the British's landing in Essex and ensuing battle that took place. It has been very slow with an occasional musket ball being found here and there . The banks of the river have been used for farming and as homesites for hundereds of years , errosion and bank building maintanence has been going on about as long . Now multi-million dollar homes exist with manicured lawns and very picturesque views line the shores , no doubt much of that particular days history is lost. There has been some sparks of good news , Coinnut did find a small area that gave up multiple musket balls and the calibers looks right for the type of weapons the British used.There was also a ballast stone pile located just off shore in the river and parts will be excavated to varify if it was indeed one of the captured Privateer ships , the Anaconda or the Eagle .Ballast stone for those not fammiliar with what it is , its a type of stone used to weigh a ship down to sit right in the water as they can actually be to boyant and not float evenly when not loaded down with normal cargo.An expert came out an measured and sized up the pile and said it was consistant with about thirty ton vessle. When they excavate the stone they expect even after 200 years to see the ships wooden hull ribs and the chips and wood shavings still laying an the floor (because these ships were so hastely made) preserved under all that stone . Our goal is to find buttons (military or civiliian ) , any accroutments , weapon parts ect. from that time period in the researched areas of the battle sites . there were a few cannon batterys set up in various places along the Connecticut river but finding an areas that is not built up or disturbed is very challenging. we hope to continually add more pictures and info about this project as we go .

Dan

[Lodge Scent]

Very cool Dan. Hopefully something you can positively date to that period will turn up under your coils.

[giant056]

One of my best button finds was from that era, hopefully something will surface soon thumbsup01

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[coinnut]

Right now we would kill for one of those lol