The U.S. Navy required me to retain a civil engineer to design shoring for
two particularly deep pit excavations in 1984 and 1985 on the site of a 1794
Spanish cannon battery buried under a 1898 U.S. Army artillery battery. We used
stiff timbers faced with pallettes and 6X6" cross-bracing timbers in order to
hold the walls back when we got down to one and then three meters. I left the
shoring after hearing an ungodly loud crack the day we were to backfill in
1985. I have never had the courage to reopen another deep pit. When I think about
it now, I shudder. Those privy pirates really do risk their lives down at that
depth.

Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.