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Cannons, statues and a JEEP: The extraordinary treasures which keep being pulled from Detroit River

Detroit Police Department
Just one of the cars found in the Detroit River [Detroit Police Department]

Six 16th century cannons, a host of guns, a war memorial statue and a Delorean – these are just some of the treasures that have been dredged from the Detroit River in recent years.

The river, which runs 28 miles from Lake St Clair to Lake Erie, acts as a natural border between the US and Canada – as well as a graveyard for objects that have been ditched there since the city was founded.

Divers have to use their hands to hunt down treasures as visibility is so poor [Detroit PD]
Divers have to use their hands to hunt down treasures as visibility is so poor [Detroit PD]

In 2009, a war memorial statue was discovered, while divers have unearthed hundreds of guns (including a mid-20th Century Carbine rifle), a Jeep Cherokee, a 6,000 pound anchor from the steamship ‘Greater Detroit’.

Visibility in the river is very poor, so police divers tend to feel along the bed as they hunt for new treasures.

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A haul of 11 guns was found in one go at a particularly popular dumping spot near a bridge.

Cannons alone make up a big chunk of the debris rescued from the watery resting place – six have been found since the 1980s, with the most recent cannon weighing in at 1,300 pounds and measuring more than six feet long.

A war memorial statue was found in 2009 [Detroit Police Department]
A war memorial statue was found in 2009 [Detroit Police Department]

The cannons are thought to have ended up in the river after being hauled out onto the ice in winter; Librarian Dan Harrison from Henry Ford College theorises that the British dumped them because they were “too worn-out or small to do the job”.

A lot of hand guns have been recovered; the public are not allowed to dive in the river because there is so much crime scene evidence down there [Detroit Police Department]
A lot of hand guns have been recovered; the public are not allowed to dive in the river because there is so much crime scene evidence down there [Detroit Police Department]

“I’ve told them to keep looking, because we aren’t necessarily done yet,” he said, as he suspects three more cannons are submerged in the area.

“For as long as this city has been around, people have been throwing stuff into the water,” Sergeant Dean Rademaker of the Detroit Police Underwater Recovery Team told the Free Press.

Found under the murky water of Detroit River [Detroit Police Department]
Found under the murky water of Detroit River [Detroit Police Department]

Members of the public are forbidden from diving in the river within Detroit city limits – partly because the low visibility makes it very unsafe, but partly also because there’s so much criminal evidence ensconced under the water.