Working the Seattle Seafair dive team opened many opportunities to recover stuff on the bottom of Lake Washington. Drunks would be dropping all kinds of stuff over the side for us to find. We were good about returning what we could to the owners.
After the 1992 Miss Budweiser crash at SeaFair in Seattle, my cousin Alan Buchanan, started the research to find the missing prop. The engine was recovered quickly, but the cause of the accident was thought to be from the prop detatching at some point prior to the crash. Anyway, I got my C-card in the spring of 1993 and started diving with Alan that following summer. After SeaFair 1994, Alan called and asked if I wanted to scavange some Miss Budwieser parts off the bottom of Lake Washington. He wanted to get some of the valuable actuators that were still attached to the wing and tail fins. I just wanted a chunk of Miss Budweiser, which we found some really nice stuff, including about a 6' chunk of the starboard sponson beautifully sporting the Budweiser logo still. We had a nice pile of spoils at the bottom of our line but had some remaining bottom time so we decided to check out the last wedge of our search grid and lo and behold we found the missing prop and a sheared off chunk of the shaft lying in the mud. At first it looked like a beer can until we got closer and Alan saw the shaft. Talk about finding a unicorn. We were so excited about the prop we forgot the fiberglass pieces on the bottom. Alan ended up selling the prop to one of the other boat teams after Miss Budweiser threatened to sue him for it. I can't remember but I think Miss Tide ended up with the gem.
That is the object I am holding in the avatar picture. Good times.