Cannons, History, Supplies, Secrets, Location-Related Stuff, and Even Mystery-Solving!
It's not just bells that can give major clues. Cannons can be a major artifact for giving clues too! And not just because of the cencretion (sp?) that sometimes grows on them... the cannons themselves can be clues! Sometimes they have symbols on them that narrows the date down. And the size and type themselves can be a clue... there are some ships that have only certain sizes of certain cannon-types.
For example, only first-rate line-ships from the 1700s have huge bronze cannons. These ships were the top military ships, and the key to Britain's naval dominence (sp?). And they were very good ships... only a few (next to zero) of these ships have gone down in the English Channel. These are called "line" ships (or something similar) because of their fighting style. Ships would go into two parallel lines, and move along those line, blasting each other with cannons along the way.
Back to cannons. Bronze cannons were expensive in those days... more so than iron ones... but for good reason. They lasted longer than iron ones. But the expenses made sure only certain ships had them... like major military ships. So finding a huge cannon made of bronze can point to one of these. Especially when it used to 42-pound cannonballs... those were huge! However, the difference in the bore (sp?) hole between a 42-pounder-shooter and the next size down is minimal... only half an inch!
Which leads us to the next problem in treasure-searching underwater. I've mentioned that sometimes you can't see very well underwater, even with high tech. Well then, trying measuring something underwater! Not exactly easy! And it's not the only problem caused by sight-problems... sometimes, you just don't have the right tool for this job or that job. It's times like these when you have to pretend to be MacGyver, and assemble a tool out of the junk and stuff you have.
And supplies and tool problems aren't always related to underwater. If you spend too long at sea, supplies begin to run low. And, while some problems can be figured out by doing minor "MacGyver"s and clever solutions, major problems can arise, and a cranky crew often follows. Since the crew basically lives on the ship during trips, this can be a major problem. But there can be cranky problems anyways... the crew lives so much together and so close, everyone basically knows everything.
Sometimes, politics and secrets come into play. I've mentioned territory and legal problems. But sometimes, you discover something belonging to a certain government. While it's unconfirmed when you find it, if you figure out it belongs to this government or that one, you have to get permission. When it's a possible big whopper with lots of monetary value, you've got to watch your back until you can confirm it belongs to this or that government. Why? If you spend too long on a site, people may get suspicious and way too curious for their own good, come around, and mess up the site and your mission!
How would they know where you are? There's a system called the AIS. Ships transmit their location, and it's posted on a public website. Useful for avoiding collisions and other problems, but it becomes a problem when you need to keep a shipwreck site safe from other people, including competitors and unofficial treasure-hunters which can mess things up for you and maybe the site. It's then when you need to start being clever, maybe even hopping to different spots to lose their trail or giving off a test or two to see how close you're being watched, and doing what you can to keep the secret.
However, that can give a good excuse for checking other sites. Sometimes you can figure out a mystery! Maybe even discover that a shipwreck is one thing, when everyone else thinks it's another! With the Internet and a little research, maybe you can pinpoint what the ship was! Sometimes you discover that it was what everyone thought, or a certain group of people thought, though it can be viewed as something else if not investigated thoroughly! It's a cool thing!
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