Colonial Campaigns Club (CCC)

Here's a short summary of an article from today's Asbury Park Press that has Colonial connections!

A Seaside Park, New Jersey resident using his metal detector found a canon ball buried in two feet of sand in South Toms River last Friday. Intrigued he put it in a bucket of water and took it home. After removing some rust with a kitchen knife he found a cicular hole with rope like matter, he could also smell gun powder. Interested in preserving his historical find, he went to the internet for help. He was directed to contact the San Diego Naval Ordiance Unit, which he did on Sunday. On Monday he receives a phone call to "keep the canon ball in water, don't touch it and await the bomb squad from the Earle Naval Weapons Station in Colts Neck, NJ". Within minutes of he phone call, state police, local police and the fire company arrive to evacuate his apartment building and the surrounding block. His efforts to preserve the find, were overruled by the bomb squad who carted it away for destruction. He and his neighbors seemed more concern with the loss of an historical artifact then the potential danger.

Local historians suggest three possible sources of the projectile. The unsuccesful 1778 British raid on Toms River, the successful 1782 British raid on Toms River, or a ship too heavy to move in low tide which threw the item overboard.