Construction crews find what appears to be a cannonball in Willoughby Spit area sand

NORFOLK, Va.—Talk about an explosive start to the day!

You can never be too careful about what lies beneath the surface.

A discovery made a huge splash when a cannonball was found in the Willoughby Spit area of the HRBT Expansion Project.

While crews were moving sand on the beach, they found a cannonball!

But according to the Hampton Roads Connector Partner, it's just one of many finds.

Norfolk Police tell us it was found around 8 a.m. Tuesday as construction crews were busy bulldozing sand.

Construction was stopped as several agencies responded to the scene and assisted with the examination of the object, which was confirmed to be a cannonball.

They tell us the U.S. Air Force recovered it for disposal.

Now, this isn't all they've discovered at that job site!

Over the past 1.5 years of construction, they've found eight iron cannonballs, all measuring between 8-9.5” in diameter.

Crews have also discovered an M-1 combat helmet liner that the Virginia Department of Historic Resources says was manufactured between 1942 and 1970.

They've also found portions of a sunken vessel lifted from the seabed along with several other ship remnants.

Most of them have been discovered after becoming lodged in equipment, and as soon as they're found, military explosive experts are called in to investigate, and they're removed from the site.

So far, they haven't found any sunken pirate's doubloons, but there's always a chance!