At a Glance
- The couple went beachcombing to search for anything interesting the storm might have washed up.
- At first they thought they had found a rock.
- Other curiosities have washed up on different beaches after Dorian.
What one beachcombing South Carolina couple thought was an interesting rock buried in the sand led them to discover a pair of Civil War-era cannonballs, apparently delivered to shore by Hurricane Dorian.
Aaron Lattin and Alba Ospina set out for Folly Beach, on the South Carolina coast about 12 miles south of Charleston, to look for anything interesting that might have washed up after Dorian passed the region last week, WCIV-TV reported.
"Right here, the whole Charleston area is exactly where the Civil War began, so to find something causes you to look back and realize what a big part of history that was," Lattin told the station. "It's very exciting."
(MORE: 2,500 People Missing in Bahamas After Hurricane Dorian)
Sixteen cannonballs were found on the same stretch of beach after Hurricane Matthew in 2016, according to the Associated Press.
The two cannonballs found by Lattin and Ospina aren't the only curiosities to have washed up on U.S. beaches after Dorian. A bottle of human ashes with a note inside was found on Cumberland Island, Georgia, and more than a dozen bricks of cocaine turned up on two separate beaches along Florida's east coast.
Originally, Lattin wanted to get a metal detector to hunt for Dorian treasure. But the couple instead went out with no special equipment, and spotted an object buried in the sand.
"I thought it was rock, but when I started to dig around it, it was very round," Lattin told WCIV. "We were kind of joking around like maybe it’s a cannonball or a sea mine or something like that."
Google confirmed their suspicions. The next day, they found another one nearby.
That's when the couple called local authorities, who sent in police, fire and explosive ordnance disposal teams to make sure there were no live explosives.
"It makes me happy and emotional to be a part of the history," Ospina said.
