Provincetown beach box mystery baffling
James Walker, president of the Cape Cod chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation, shows off a rusty metal box with wheels
that was recently discovered near Race Point Light.
PROVINCETOWN — A few days after the pounding coastal storm in early March, Gary Childs saw something completely weird sunk deep in the sand at Race Point Light: an upended, rusty metal box with five wheels, almost like a small coal car.
It was new debris on the beach, revealed by eroding sand, Childs said yesterday near where he'd first seen the box.
He volunteers with the Cape Cod chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation, which maintains the Race Point Light buildings. He's walked that part of the beach plenty of times. It has a wide view across waters that ripple this time of year with competing currents, feeding whales and birds.
But usually you don't find something that looks like a little railroad car out there. And, Childs said, it was attached to a mysterious, taut cable that disappeared into the surf.
"Whoa," I don't know," said Childs, who lives in South Yarmouth. "It looked like it belonged on a set of railroad tracks."
Now, about a month later, members of the Cape Cod lighthouse chapter hope to find someone who can help them get to the bottom of the mystery.
In the last four weeks, volunteers have dug up the box, lugged it onto a piece of plywood and dragged it up from the beach with a four-wheel-drive truck.
James Walker, president of the chapter, estimates the box weighs about 400 to 500 pounds. They've turned it on its end, to drain it of sand and water. They've pulled one side of the box off, and found inside — to their surprise — a big winch and heavy cable wrapped around it. The cable exits out the top of the box, which supports a theory that it was lowered and raised from something above it, as needed, said Childs.
At the lighthouse yesterday, the box sat baking in the sun, a kind of bright orange and brown rectangle, with about 30 inches between the wheels: two on one side, and three on another. The box is about thigh-high. Bolts and metal parts are encrusted with a kind of gnarled sea growth. Some of the parts are made of stamped steel, from an industrial, mass-production era that might be around World War II, said Walker.
Railroad historian John Kennedy, who is chief executive officer of Cape Rail Inc., theorized that the "car" probably wasn't related to the railroads, particularly because of the winch inside.
"It sounds more like a unique industrial piece or a military piece," Kennedy said.
Walker, who organized the mysterious box's rescue from the beach, has checked with some local historians and done Internet searches on the part numbers on the box, and he has some questions out to old Coast Guardsmen and sailors.
"Somebody is going to know all about it," Walker said yesterday.
By April 08, 2010 [on-line article]
Provincetown box mystery solved
The mysterious rusty box found on the beach near Race Point in Provincetown is the anchor of a moored mine from the World War II-era.
After digging the mystery object from the beach,
this is what was found.
"There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that what was discovered on the beach at Provincetown is the anchor of a Mk 6 naval moored mine," said Derick S. Hartshorn of the Association of Minemen, a naval organization.
Read much more about this mine anchor in tomorrow's edition of the Cape Cod Times.
By Eric WilliamsApril 08, 2010 [on-line article]
To see more information, including photos and drawings of these types of mines, click here.
Watch a CapeCast video report on the strange box:
Excavating the "box," long hidden under the sand, was an interesting project. The following pictures illustrate the operations involved in unearthing the object, later identified as the anchor of as Mark 6 navy mine, according the Derick S. Hartshorn, former navy mineman and member of the Association of Minemen.
[Photos courtesy of James Walker, president of the
Cape Cod chapter of the American Lighthouse Foundation]
Upon notification of the Cape Cod discovery, members of the Association of Minemen offered comments and suggestions on the find. Some members recalled their experience with the Mk 6 mine. Others offered suggestions regarding the potential disposition of the artifact. Here are a few of the comments received:
No doubt the anchor and the cable rachet is fully identified as a Mk 6 mine anchor. The sea displacement of the square looking metal box over the years is no doubt indicative of the strain of the cable where a "fluke " and or the weather sent a portion of the "first line of Americas defense” ashore. People need to see this and thank God for America's mine defenses and keeping our folks safe along our shores.
Jack Allen Powell, former mineman 3-2-52 to 56 USN
It just occurred to me what "might have" happened to this anchor. The Mk 6 mine case sits atop the flooder mechanism in the top of the anchor keeping it closed so as to provide some buoyancy & stability right after the mine is launched. During these 8-seconds or so the dashpot operates to drop the plummet which is supposed to cause case & anchor separation. When the mine case is freed to float on the surface the spring-loaded flooder is now free to operate & flood the void in the anchor. The anchor starts to sink. The 80-lb plummet keeps the ratchet free & the cable drum pays out cable. However, it the mine case & anchor do not separate you have a "sinker" where both go to the bottom still attached to each other. The anchor will still flood, but more slowly. With the buoyant mine case sitting atop the anchor, I think the likelihood of the unit being moved about during periods of strong currents & turbulence is increased.However, there's still another possibility. Mine walking during long periods of stormy seas. Supposedly, a Brit-laid minefield during WW-II, the whole minefield mind you, moved 10 miles from where it was originally laid. MIW students in Charleston rolled their eyes on that story. But when I checked on the story's validity some old minemen swore it was true. How did it happen, you might ask? When a large wave strikes the mine case it may lift the anchor a few inches off the bottom & the whole unit may move down current a few inches. The next wave does the same & over & over it goes.So there, you have two possibilities & there could be others just as plausible as mine.
Have you ever worked on those beasts? I did spend much time on those babies. From what I could see in the video to me it seemed like the cable drum was full or almost full. If that were true then the mine did not deploy. They indicated that there were 4 wheels. Where did the 5th wheel go? The anchors used the 5th wheel to operate the dashpot which when fully operated would allow the plummet to drop and this in turn would allow the mine case to be released, rotate and roll free upward from the case. The anchor would pay out cable (with the mine case on the surface until the dashpot hit the bottom this would allow the pawl lever to lock into the gear tooth on the drum and stop paying out the cable. At this point the mine would start to be pulled under the water to the preset depth (length of the plummet cable). The anchor being heavier than the mine case would pull the whole works down should the fifth wheel NOT operate. When the mine would be "planted" the personnel had to pull the pin to allow
the 5th wheel to operate when the mine left the launching track. pin not pulled the whole thing would sink.. They showed cable that was frayed and broken which could happen if over time the parts securing the case to the anchor broke/rusted through and the mine case surfaced and floated off or sank due to rusting and could be on the bottom somewhere nearby. If it floated it could have been recovered years ago. The mine case was not bolted on. Just held on by two metal elongated loops and one turnbuckle that hooked to the plummet. Looking at the pictures yon the mineman site you can see that around the center is a line - that is the weldment where the bottom half (right side) explosive and the left top side (air filled) were separated and the mine upon being released by the plummet would upright itself thereby releasing the other two loops on the opposite sides of the mine. The loops were by each of the stands with the front leg was directly over the plummet (bomb looking thing on the front of AOM site pictures.
If you didn't know about the MK 6 this should help you out. Another thing for those guys that found it - watch Run Silent Run Deep or other sea movies of WWII will show ships going between MK 6 and MK 16 mines. In the 50's the mines were still surfacing at times around the Pacific- Asia area.
I myself worked on those babies while at West Loch, assembling and assembling them throughout my 2 years there. Sure were greasy but we had fun with them..
Several years ago I visited the battleship U.S.S. North Carolina, along with another former Mineman, where she is on display at Wilmington, NC. After we left the ship, we wandered in a 'junk yard' of naval equipment near the ship. Imagine our surprise to find a Mk. 6 mine, anchor and all, among the relics rusting there. I don't know if it is still there, but it might pay to check it out if someone wanted to display a mine.
Jim,Thanks for passing this on to me, great story, loved the video of the find too, why can't I find them? I agree with Derick on all. Though it could have easily swept in from a storm, it also could have floated in from far away. It may well be from WW1 and easily WW2, Korea, Nam, Peacetime, so many have been lost, so many exercises launched over the years. I wouldn't bother with a serial too much, neat to know if you can find one, not many places to look that info up however. If you truly don't want it anymore for local history, I would offer to purchase it from you, I have a ball and all horns, to go on top, even a dashpot, and I may be able to restore it to some benefit. Is the side of the anchor still with it, couldn't tell in video, or if someone removed. If found that way, it most definitely wasn't a live one, could've been a jettison they didn't want even, deep sixed, or someone found once before and opened it. I don't see it coming off in a large storm either, but they are powerful. Last storm here moved 16 ton blocks like they were balsa wood, it wasn't even a bad storm as hurricanes go either. They are not as rare as some may think, although I was surprised that nobody knew what it was, ergo the need for the AOM and like organizations. There were a lot of monuments made in WW1 for the Great Barrage effort, but most are forgotten or hidden from view somewhere. I can't put a value on it other than it's rusty and I want it. They sold the balls for .50 cents each in bulk to a surplus guy I knew in NV years ago, kept all the anchors. I paid Mr. Buck 100.00 back then for the BBQ kit he was trying to sell them off as. EOD school in Indian head, MD had a nice one made. I know it's heavy, but if you can set up shipping, wouldn't need any packing protection really, and we can agree on a cheap and fair rusty price LOL, I would love to buy it. Glad to pay you for your time and effort too, no problem. Whatever I might find out about it after some research, I'll pass on as well. A closer look for me will definitely date it better. While I believe that the depth of burial looks pretty old, would have to say the 1944 hurricane that hit there did it. MIT has access to all kinds of secret stuff too, worked on mines and minefields, still, could be theirs even. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34224911/ I'm surprised the local museum isn't all over it as well. It looks cool out on the beach there, wish I could come up and see it, beats south TX by a longshot. Many thanks, Great Job Derick, I'm sending this video page to all I know, they'll get a kick. ttyl, Jim
Jim Cernick, AOM HistorianMy number is 361-775-1219
If you like I can speak with my chain of command about having the anchor sent to us for refurbishment. We can also do any research that would be possible. Considering the age of the anchor there may not be any historical data for it. We could provide refurbishment of the anchor prior to it being permanently placed wherever its final destination may be. May also be able to provide an inert MK-6 ball to go with it. But that is up to my chain. Anything we can do to help, just let me know. If you forward me any numbers or information they get from the case, I can get someone started digging for historical data if it exists.
Would it be possible to have some photos taken of the case and emailed to me. Would like to see exactly what we are dealing with. Spoke with my Master Chief and he said we could possibly send a couple people to pick it up and bring it back to our shop.John A. Pennington, MN1 (SW)
ET / VEMMS Division LPO Command DAPA
NMC Unit Charleston Assistant Facilities Manager
Further investigation has disclosed that during World War II, there was a US Navy Training and Storage Facility in Provincetown. Jim Walker recently sent me the following e-mail:
"My wife and I went to Provincetown today and talked to a old-timer he showed us the old Navy mine building he said the Navy gave it the town of Provincetown. They used it for many years as a vocational school when a regional school has built they sold it to be used as a ware house. It still looks good. It is at 241 Bradford St., Provincetown."
This is the building reported to have been the US Navy Mine Storage
and Training Facility which existed during World War 2
STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Derick S. Hartshorn -
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