Old Bottles & Ceramics
 

Hi All,
I've been diving alot in Winni over the past 5 years or so. I'm mostly an ocean diver but have friends around Winni that bring me up regularly. I love diving for anything historical-old bottles, ceramics & glass insulators.

Q1: I have read numerous books about the history of Winni (Three Centuries On Winni, Follow The Mount, Bear Island Reflections and several more-great stuff!), but I'm interested in hearing from anyone who suggest more places in Winni to dive for artifacts. Any ideas? I have brought some of my finds to the LW Historical Society. Nice folks.

Q2: Last October I found a wreck not on the Bizer/Winni chart. I re-dove it last week as the milfoil was down considerably. It appears to be a barge, possibly a gundalow. Rough underwater measurements: 20x60 feet. Heavy timber construction very similar to the horseboat off Bear. Stones in hold appear to be for ballast, not scuttling as was the case with the Lady. I date it clearly in the 1800s, not later, but thats possible.

Any ideas appreciated.
Diver1111.

Any idea

Diver:

I can't answer any of your questions, but I was wondering how many feet of water your find is sitting in.

Depth
 

This vessel is only in about 15-20 feet-surprisingly shallow. If you were looking for it you could see it from a boat but otherwise you'd miss it.

Sometimes they are wharf beds
 

I know off of the southern tip of Jolly I. was an original main wharf. There is an old support dock bed with rock and wood still lying in almost the original state in about 18 ft of water.

Check with Tom Wachsmuth at Dive Winnipesaukee in Wolfeboro. He probably knows of this one. There are lots of wrecks that are no longer on the Bizer chart (or never were). But Tom would probably know something about this one.

As for junk, PM/e-mail me, as I have a few favorite spots that seem to yield a lot of old bottles and other "trash."

Possible I.D.
 

Hi All,
I have been researching this wreck and I spoke with a man who is in a good position to comment about lake history. His thoughts were that my find is likely a work barge owned by Edward Lavallee (a former captain of the Mount?) Apparently Mr. Lavallee owned a side business in which barges were needed for lake work. I'm going to get some photos of this thing and post a better description along withthem if I can. I will measure it too.

Furthermore he thought, and I did, that it sank versus being scuttled.
Diver1111

Very interesting. Thanks!

Love to see the photos.

g

Hi

Some of the island residents that have been on Bear for as much as 90 years tell of how they disposed of their trash years ago. The children would row out into the lake and sink their cans and bottles.

This was a different day before environmental activism.

Bear Island
 

Yes, I read a reference to that same thing in the 2nd "Bear Island Relfections". According to some diver postings there is suposed to be a dump right in the vicinity of the horse barge. Dangerous place to dive. I've done it, early in the morning, and after checking the Mount's schedule, flagged up well and using great caution.
Thanks.

First dive
 

The first time I ever dove was when two young divers were looking for bottles off of Sandy Point. I think it was 1970. They asked if I wanted to try it so of course I answered with an affirmative. After later getting my certification that does not seem like a wise move but hey I was young and foolish.

Does anyone collect old bottles off of the bottom of the lake?

If you want so see some old engines try the cove at Sandy Point. I think they were anchors in the olden days.

I'm an old bottle junkie. The sites off of any of the islands with the big old homes on them (western side of the Lake) are usually good locations for that sort of old junk. "Back in the day," when people used the Lake as their dump, the folks in those houses would burn much of their garbage, including bottles, and then dump the remnants in the lake. That's why some of the bottles found are blackened. The glass, metal, and ceramic stuff remains. And it's amazing how many old machines and odd whatnot are down there.

There are two old engine blocks off our shore in Tuftonboro, each in about five feet of water. They were anchors for floating docks way back when. My family has had that place since 1945, so they pre-date that year. The old stone steps leading down to that dock are still there, along with the shore anchors for the old dock -- all grown over for years, but I know where they are.

Two weekends ago, Senter Cove Guy and I dove a little cove near our place, and found another (bigger) engine and some other big upright piece of old metal that was obviously used as some kind of anchor or mooring. Also found a couple large, unused mooring "disks" -- concrete disks, probably 8 feet in diameter and a good 6-8 inches thick. Those things ain't goin' ANYWHERE.

I have found alot of cool bottles off the Wolfeboro side of Barndoor. The Coolest thing I personally have found is a NH license plate from 1911. I found it in Back bay by the sawmill docks covered in silt. The chest with the gold still lingers somewhere out there.