As my brother and I swam closer, things became somewhat creepy! Here's why; There it was directly in front of us and at first, we still weren't exactly sure just what it was. The way it hung vertically suspended off the bottom, it looked very much like a body with it's arms spread , covered in some kind of tarp! We looked at each other briefly hovering, wondering what to do next! Of course we had to find out and that's just what we did. With courage now gathered, we crept closer and closer....until there we were right next to the "Phantom"! Mike cut open the tarp and it was with much trepidation that I timidly poked my hand through the opening. I felt something big and squishy! My hand recoiled almost involuntarily! I thought to myself, "Quit being a baby!" Once again, I reached back in.
I grabbed what felt like cloth and pulled it out. It was a sleeping bag! Thankfully, it was empty. What we'd originally thought might be a body covered by a large tarp was actually a large tent! It appeared to either have been a washed out campsite or may have fallen off of a boat. As we dug around inside the tent, out popped a laundry basket and several pieces of clothing including some very sexy purple panties! This was obviously a campsite for two and the birth control pills and two toothbrushes attested to that. Over several dives, my brother and I thoroughly explored this site. Among our other findings were 2 tin cups and a coffee pot, a cooler, more clothing, a large flashlight, and a 3-57 Magnum Black Hawk Ruger in a heavy leather holster with art work on the stock. It was very similar (at least to me) to the gun that Clint Eastwood used in the Dirty Harry movies and it was loaded with armor piercing hollow point bullets!
We found this out when we turned the gun into the police. My thought was "What if it was involved in a crime?" And so off we headed to the station. After turning the gun in and taking down our identification/information, the officer told us that the gun probably was not involved in any criminal activity. He said this because the gun was holstered, still loaded and the cereal number hadn't been filed off. I asked if we could have the gun back if it came back clear. We were informed that it was no longer their policy to return weapons of any kind once they'd been turned in. The gun would probably be melted down and used to make razor blades. That was that.....or so we thought!
Returning to the tent site, my brother and I cleared the rest of the area. We loaded our gear bags with what ever else we could find and then sent them up with lift bags. This included several blankets, and various different pieces of small camping equipment, nothing more of any real value. Most of the stuff that could be was salvaged, cleaned up and donated to Goodwill. Just about a week later, my brother found out through a friend that the gun was worth between fifteen hundred and three thousand dollars! His friend knew a gun collector who was a former police officer. He would've run the numbers through colleagues still on the force. If the gun came back clean (it did), he would've bought it right then and there. It hadn't been submerged long and all the gun needed was a good cleaning and it would once again fire. Apparently guns hold their worth very well and anything with artwork on it becomes even more valuable! No wonder the police officer had a big smile on his face when I stupidly turned in my find! What an expensive lesson to learn. I'm getting smarter by the dive and at least we took pictures!
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