Brick Found on the Beach.You might be wondering why I am showing a stupid brick. In one of my recent posts, I mentioned using your eyes and scanning the beach for non-metallic objects. Not only can non-metallic objects sometimes be valuable, but they might also provide important information about the site or what went on there in the past.
A brick could indicate an old home or other structure, or it could even indicate the presence of a shipwreck.
If you know what you are looking for you can often get an idea of how old a brick is or where it might have come from.
Bricks are often found on old shipwreck sites because they were used in the galley.
Of course not all bricks come from shipwrecks, but there are some signs that will help you determine if it might be.
Brick Shown in the Mel Fisher Artifact Database.Here is a brick found on either the Atocha or Margarita site. I forget which now.
Notice the black areas and the course materials in the brick. It shares many features with the brick in the first photo. Unfortunately the photo doesn't show the first brick well.
You can see that the brick from the database has a broader and flatter shape
The Mel Fisher artifact database also shows some bricks that seem to be modern bricks that were mixed in with the wreck debris.
I wonder if the black areas could have been created by smoke from the galley. I don't know.
The Exploring Florida web site mentions galley bricks found on the wreck site of the San Pedro. The web site says, "A Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve is open at the San Pedro site for divers. The San Pedro is among the most picturesque of the 1733 wreck sites. She is located in a white sand pocket surrounded by turtle grass. Abundant marine life inhabits her grave. A large pile of ballast stones contains flat, red bricks from the ship’s galley."
That is another example.
Here is the link if you want to read more about that.
http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/shipwrecks/shipwrecks.htm
I've mentioned the Queen Ann's Revenge before. It is a wreck that has been studies a lot. I found a pdf file containing information on the bricks and tiles found on that wreck site.
They also show a picture of a ship's galley. Here is the galley.
The study mentions a variety of types of diagnostic information that could help determine the source of old bricks. Some have quartz inclusions, for example. And the dimensions of sample British and Spanish bricks differ, as do French, I believe.
You might want to take a look at the study. Here is the link.
http://www.qaronline.org/techSeries/QAR-B-07-03.pdf
I understand that bricks in Spanish are called ladrillos, which is also a word sometimes used to refer to more flat and broad bricks.
In summary, some bricks come from shipwrecks. Keep your eyes open for possible clues like that.
On a different subject, researchers have found that the Biblical account of Moses crossing the Red Sea is possible. They discuss how the wind could have affected the water levels, which were considerably different back then, to create a land bridge across the sea.
If you'd like to read more about that, here is the link.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/research-bible-may-have-been-right-about-red-sea-miracle/
I don't know if you've ever seen the photos of what appear to be chariot wheels under the Red Sea. I think they were in National Geographic as well as other publications.
Forecast and Conditions.
Seas are relatively calm now with winds from the south. The high tides are still pretty high.
There is nothing much in the topics to watch.
Next weekend might have higher seas again. We'll have to wait a few days to see about that.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcase.net
