A cannonball found in North Myrtle Beach by a man with a metal detector likely came to shore during a recent beach nourishment project. Its story goes back to the days of Civil War blockade runners and the ships that chased them

Recovered shell (NMB); type of fuse on shell (Tyrus Tingle); pipe and bulldozer (Dylan Burnell, USACE, Charleston District)

When you’re dredging and then dumping two million cubic yards of sand – equal to 200,000 dump truck loads – onto a 26-mile stretch of shore, small objects are bound to make it through to the beach.

That appears to have been the case when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Charleston District conducted beach renourishment in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Days after that portion of the massive Grand Strand project was completed, a metal detector enthusiast found a 20-pound Civil War-era cannonball in the popular tourist destination. A Horry County Police Department bomb squad deemed the shell – which had a fuse and likely black powder inside -- to be dangerous and neutralized it.

Desirae Gostlin, a spokesperson for North Myrtle Beach police, told the Picket “dredging is our best guess” for the reason the ordnance ended up about a foot deep in front of a resort at 48^th Avenue S. and S. Ocean Boulevard.

General vicinity of shell discovery, overlaid on USACE dredging zone map

The Corps said it could not confirm the shell went through a submerged pipeline and to the beach, where other pipes dump sand and water onto the work area. Heavy equipment then shape and grade the sand.

“Discoveries of historic ordnance during beach renourishment in the Charleston District are rare, said public affairs specialist Dylan Burnell.

Artillery shells have turned up elsewhere in the Palmetto State. For example, a Parrott round was found in 2004 at a residential construction site in Murrells Inlet, below Myrtle Beach.

While news reports focused on the metal detectorist and the fate of the cannonball, I wanted to dig into (pardon the pun) the story of the shell, which clearly was in the area of Union naval operations during the Civil War.

Rick Simmons, author of “Defending South Carolina's Coast: The Civil War from Georgetown to Little River,” said there was no Confederate artillery in the vicinity of where the shell was presumably dredged up a few miles off North Myrtle Beach. Back then, the coastline was sparsely populated.

So it’s almost certain the ordnance is tied to Federal forces.

Their targets were the constant flow of blockade runners trying to bring desperately needed supplies to Southern ports, notably Wilmington, N.C.

The Official Records (OR) of the conflict include numerous accounts of ships capturing or sinking blockade runners such as the Argyle, James Bailey, Florida, Nicolai I, Vesta, Scotia and the Sue.

“The area from Wilmington to Charleston was quite active, and with no Confederate batteries for about 40 miles in the middle, the Union was always patrolling” near what is now called Myrtle Beach, Simmons wrote in an email.

“My guess is that it was artillery dropped from or fired by … a Union ship,” without the round exploding, he said.

Tourist can't take find back home with him

A metal detecting hobbyist from Dudley, Mass., told News 13 in Myrtle Beach he heard an unusual sound through his headset while walking near the North Beach and Beach Cove resorts on Feb. 7. A North Myrtle Beach police officer helped uncover the object and the county bomb squad was called in.

“HCPD Bomb Squad transported it to a secure, secondary location to safely neutralize it,” Horry County director of public information Thomas Bell told the Picket. “Best determination is that the cannonball dates back to 1850-1860. It was 20 lbs. with a black powder core, so it was determined to be potentially explosive.”

The finder told the local TV station he believes the shell belongs to him because he found it on public property and it has been rendered safe. (At left, authorities at the scene; photo NMB Police)

City and county officials disagreed. People cannot possess explosive devices in South Carolina without proper permits, said Gostlin.

“Although it would definitely be a cool relic to own, the cannonball was not taken home by anyone,” North Myrtle Beach Police said in a Facebook post. “Whether an item is historic or not, if it’s suspected to be explosive, it must be treated as live until professionals determine otherwise. Public safety always comes first.”

Bell said county police cannot release military munitions to the public, even upon demolition. The remains of the shell, he added, will be sent to Shaw Air Force Base.

State underwater archaeologist Jim Spirek said, unfortunately, bomb squads typically destroy ordnance if a fuse is found. “CW ordnance is quite harmless and when proper techniques are applied (they) can be ‘inerted’ safely and saved for study, display, etc.” He mentioned the conservation of scores of fused artillery shells found in the wreckage of the CSS Georgia in Savannah, Ga.

I asked Bell whether the county considered doing the same with this artillery round.

“HCPD places public safety as the highest priority when it comes to such incidents. Due to the nature of the cannonball, HCPD made the determination that disposal was the safest route,” he replied.

There weren't beachgoers back in the day

Now, back to informed speculation about the cannonball.

Spirek, who has conducted numerous studies of Civil War shipwrecks, echoed Simmons’ assertion there were no Yankee or Rebel batteries erected along this specific stretch of the South Carolina coastline.

“Perhaps a small sailing vessel was coming/in out when spotted by a Union warship on patrol that took a pot shot or two at the vessel, or even at a Confederate cavalry patrol. If dredged farther off the coast, then perhaps a shell from one of the running chases between Union blockaders and Confederate blockade runners,” the archaeologist wrote in an email.

Locations of two Rebel forts overlaid on current U.S. Geological Survey map; click to enlarge

Simmons, who has written numerous books and teaches writing and history at the Georgetown (S.C.) School of Arts and Sciences, described the wartime scenario in the region.

The Union navy shelled Fort Ward at Murrells Inlet relentlessly in late 1862 and early 1863. Above that, Fort Randall was positioned at Little River right near the North Carolina border. (Below, the Union's USS Monticello)

“In between you had a long 40-mile stretch of.....nothing. Technically, that whole area from above Georgetown to the North Carolina line is a big island, and if you think about it there are bridges that access the Grand Strand now in Georgetown, leading into Myrtle, and up at OD/North Myrtle. But at the time, it was difficult to get across as there were no real bridges.”

Only Murrells Inlet and Little River were ports, hence the two small, three-gun batteries at those locations.

“There were a few light artillery companies that floated around the district such as the Waccamaw Light Artillery and Santee Light Artillery and others, but while they did engage Union ships on occasion once they entered the rivers (such as the Black, Sampit, Pee Dee, Waccamaw), I don't recall ever seeing anything about them trying to engage Union ships along the coast,” Simmons wrote.

So that puts Federal gunfire on a blockade runner as the most likely scenario for the artifact.

Simmons first thought perhaps it was related to the long chase of the blockade runner Margaret and Jesse in 1863. The USS Nansemond and other vessels captured the vessel in the vicinity and likely opened fire. The author now says they may have nabbed the prize farther out to sea.

How the dredge may have sent round to shore

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced one day before the discovery of the artillery shell it had completed the North Myrtle Beach phase of the beach renourishment. Work on Myrtle Beach follows. (You can follow the project at this tracker)

“The $72 million project is fully funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is designed to reduce the risk to life and protect critical infrastructure behind the dunes along the Grand Strand,” the agency said.

I asked Burnell, the spokesperson for the Charleston District, to describe the process, given my curiosity about how the cannonball may have made its way ashore.

Basically, a dredge loosens sand and pumps it through a pipeline to the beach. The system transports dredged material (a mixture of sand and water) from the offshore borrow area to the shoreline.

“If an object is within the borrow area and small enough to pass through the system, it could be transported with the sand. However, we cannot confirm that this occurred in this instance,” Burnell said. (At left, another view of the shell; North Myrtle Beach Police)

At the end of the pipeline, a deflector directs the material into a temporary containment dike. Within the dike, the sand-water slurry spreads out, allowing the sand to settle while the excess water gradually drains back toward the ocean. 

After sufficient dewatering occurs, bulldozers and other heavy equipment shape and grade the sand in accordance with the project’s engineered template, restoring the beach to its designed elevation and profile.

Pipelines used to distribute sand on the shore at North Myrtle Beach (Dylan Burnell, USACE)

Burnell said the USACE wasn’t involved with the discovery of the cannonball or investigation.

Still, it has some advice.

“We appreciate the public’s vigilance and encourage anyone who encounters a suspicious object on the beach to avoid handling it and notify local authorities.”

Artillery shell after bomb squad set off small explosion to disarm (North Myrtle Beach Police)