Cannon find fuels lobsterman's treasure hopes A chance find a few hundred yards off Marblehead Neck may have revealed the existence of a historic shipwreck - and even a pirate's treasure, a local lobsterman hopes. Harry Noyes of Marblehead was on a winter voyage in February with his partner Dennis McGrath of Beverly, looking for sea urchins destined for Japanese markets. McGrath, a veteran diver, had made several passes when he spotted something on the floor of the bay, 45 feet below the surface. Closer inspection and a bit of digging revealed a long, cylindrical shape - a 40-inch, 110-pound cannon. After hauling it aboard, Noyes soon learned that it is likely as much as 300 years old, plugged, loaded and ready to fire. He's been warned to take care lest it dry out and create a real blast from the past. And even more intriguing, he's been advised that there's only one kind of seaman likely to keep his cannon loaded and ready to fire - a pirate. "Marblehead was a haven for privateers," Noyes said, "which is another word for pirate." That leads him to yet another supposition - that there's more down there. "They don't just throw loaded cannons overboard," Noyes said. Noyes suspects he's found a spot where an unknown vessel went down. "I'm not going to get too specific about where," he said. Further, he thinks there may well be more cannons. More ship. More artifacts. Maybe even gold. "All my life," Noyes said, "I wanted to find treasure." With this discovery, he added, "Always at the back of your mind - are you going to find a chest with all sorts of gold coins?" "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum," his wife, Jeannie, said with a smile on her way out the door. "Sometimes there are benefits to being married to a pirate." It won't matter to Noyes, however, if there aren't any doubloons. "Even if it's not gold," he said, "for me it's a treasure of history." He dreams of restoring the cannon and displaying it at Abbot Hall or the Marblehead Historical Society. "They think it's a swivel cannon," he said. A number of reporters from television and print outlets were contacted for the announcement, which featured Noyes wearing a black T-shirt including a skull and crossbones and the words "Got rum?" The decision to go public followed a letter from Victor Mastone of Peabody, director of the Massachusetts Board of Underwater Archaeological Resources, conceding that the find belongs to him and McGrath. "We didn't want to tell anyone before," Noyes said, out of fear someone would jump his claim. Even now, he warns that relatives on Marblehead Neck are keeping watch on the site. State regulations mean 75 percent of anything found will go to the two men, Noyes said. In addition, they'll have to follow strict regulations about recovery. "They even tell us what to do if we find human remains," he said. He doesn't expect to. The cannon alone Noyes estimates to be worth $20,000 -- although the cost of removing three centuries of encrustation is yet to be determined. For the time being, he has stabilized the weapon in a plastic tub - once used to store bait fish - filled with fresh water and baking soda. The characteristic ridges and some markings - including a large "P" - can be seen clearly on the barrel. Noyes has been in contact with various experts. A call to the Whydah Museum in Provincetown got an estimate of several thousand dollars just to get help cleaning the cannon. Noyes is confident there's a cheaper way. Noyes' assistant Steve Donahue agrees. "He's got the setup if someone knowledgeable would come down and help," he said. That's part of the reason for going public -- to see if someone will offer advice and assistance. Meanwhile, Noyes has been on the Internet, contacting experts as far away as Texas. Anything gained from the find will be split with McGrath. "We're 50-50," he said. "I run the boat. He's the diver." The pair expect to dive on the site this week with underwater cameras and metal detectors. It won't be easy, Noyes said - spring waters are cloudy. "The last storm," he said, " ... It stirs everything up." Noyes was once a commercial diver himself, describing a career cleaning off the propellers of giant tankers and Navy nuclear submarines. "I quit diving when they almost drowned me. But I will go down again. If there's something down there," Noyes said. "... And if there is more down there. You know. The sky's the limit." Alan Burke writes for The Salem News of Salem, Mass.