Friday, March 18, 2011

3/18 Report - Pirates and Treasure Lore of Florida & Super Moon



Wood Carving Found on Treasure Coast Beach This Morning.

It's funny what you can find on a beach. Almost everything and anything. I found this wood carving this morning. Just a funny curiosity. It reminds me a bit of the voodoo and Santeria stuff that I used to find on the beaches of South Florida sometimes.


Some people were surprised when I mentioned cobs being found in the Miami area. I guess most people think of the Treasure Coast when it comes to shipwreck treasure, but don't forget that other areas of our state have a lot of treasure too.

I think most detectorists in the Miami area focus on the beaches where they can find a lot of gold. There are several good reasons for that, but there is a lot of history to the area and a lot of old treasure that has been found around there too.

If you ever visited Key Biscayne and the old lighthouse, just about a hundred yards away from the lighthouse you can still see signs of an old spring that was used as a supply of fresh water by some of the first explorers. I've heard it said that three barrels of treasure were once buried near that spring. And a chest was found not far away from there. Fresh water was also obtained from around the mouth of the river near downtown Miami.

Anyone who is familiar with pirate lore of that area knows about Black Caesar and Ceasar's Creek and some of the prominent treasure discoveries in that area.

There are many historic areas in South Florida and around the state where treasure has been found and can still be found. I think one of the problems with hunting old treasure down south is that much of the area is now either private property or protected by parks. But I think another reason that few people hunt old treasure down that way is that people think that all of the old stuff has been discovered. I also think that they follow everybody else, most of whom seem to be detecting the glitzy beaches. Again, nothing wrong with that, but don't forget about the shipwreck and buried treasure in an area with so much history.

The last few days I got so engrossed in some of the research resources that I've been browsing that this blog took a bit of a turn, but that is temporary. I just can't help but share some of this interesting material. I really enjoy reading the history and think that you will find it both interesting and helpful.

I ran across this article that was printed in 1946 in The Tequesta,the journal of the Historical Association of South Florida. It discusses a lot of different pirates and treasures and is not confined to South Florida but talks about many different parts of the state and includes the 1715 Fleet treasure and the ventures of Henry Jennings.

You might be surprised that in 1946 mention is made of one man using his prop wash to blow sand off a wreck, and the article also talks about one of the early radio frequency detectors brought into the state.

There is too much good stuff to tell you about, so I'll just give you the link.

Here it is.

http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/1946/46_1_01.pdf

That isn't what I was going to talk about today, but this article is so good that I just had to share it.

On that topic, I think I mentioned the other day a detectorists that I knew that found a chest full of coins in the Keys in the 1990s.

I hope you enjoy research material like the article today and the research resources like the links to maps that I posted yesterday. I generally post the things I like and I'm never quite sure if anybody else will like them.


Kovel's Komments says, Spider-Man's first appearance in Amazing Fantasy comic book No. 15 in 1962 led to the private sale of a near-mint copy of the comic book for a record $1.1 million. It was sold this month by a private seller to a private buyer.

It is sometimes funny what things bring in big bucks.


Forecast and Conditions.

Some people are talking about what they call the Super Moon that will be tomorrow. The moon will be closer tomorrow than it has been for eighteen years. That means Super Tides. The high tides will be higher than normal and the low tides will be lower than normal. Some beach and water hunters go a lot by the amount of discrepancy between the high and low tides, preferring to hunt when the difference is greatest. I take that into account, but don't put as much emphasis on it as some others.

This morning on the Treasure Coast you could see the higher water line form the last high tide. Some beaches were scalloped and I even saw some small cuts near the high tide mark at one location.

Tomorrow might be a good day to get out at low tide to search that area.

I also heard that a lot of sharks are headed north from Palm Beach County.

It seems to me that sharks are bothered by the electrical pulses emitted by detectors. I'm going by my personal observations and wonder if anybody else thinks there might be something to that. I know it didn't bother a barracuda that always followed me around at one location. After a while he would start to get on my nerves.

I didn't see Seagrape Trial today, but from what I saw there in the recent past, this new high tide might make it one of the better beaches to try.

The wind is now from the east, and on the Treasure Coast seas are running around two feet. It still looks like Monday might have increasing waves.


Happy Hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net