Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
48-foot hull of a well-preserved 18th century vessel dubbed the 'Holy Grail of shipwrecks' washes ashore on Florida beach with copper tacks and roman numeral etchings still intact... |
| Section of Old Wreck Appears on Beach. Source: See msn.com link below. |
Experts speculate that the wreck may have laid under sand offshore for years, then washed onto the beach due to storm activity, explaining how the ship remained so well preserved...
Here is the link for more about that.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/48-foot-hull-of-a-well-preserved-18th-century-vessel-dubbed-the-holy-grail-of-shipwrecks-washes-ashore-on-florida-beach-with-copper-tacks-and-roman-numeral-etchings-still-intact/ar-AAvhmGj
If you have the chance to get up there and view this before it is removed or something should definitely do it. I don't know if it is still there. But if you do get a chance to look at it, take a close look at all the metallic parts. It is a good chance to learn something.
Thanks to Dean R. and Bruce B. for alerting me to this story.
When I saw that peat washed up Tuesday, I thought there was also a chance for some old wood to wash up as well. I was in an area where wood planks have washed up in the past.
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On 3/26 I posted a report by someone who detected a lot several times, recorded all finds, and then sifted the entire lot to find out what if anything he had missed. The results were amazing, both in the total number of coins found on that small lot, but also the number of old coins found, and what everybody should take notice of is the low number of old coins found as the result of multiple thorough metal detecting sessions despite the large number that was in that ground. Most people would have detected the site a few times and maybe thought they had found most of the good coins that were there and thought it was time to give up and move on not realizing how many more old coins were waiting for them there.
If you have not read the 3/26 post and the total report of that experiment, I highly recommend that you do that. If you don't you'll be missing out on proof of what is often said and speculated about in the metal detecting community.
The person who sifted that entire lot offered the following important comments and observations concerning that experiment.
No one was more shocked by the results than me. I suspected there was more in the ground, but had no idea of the actual amount. When I started, I did not intend to do [sift] the entire lot, just the areas I thought would be most productive. However, I just kept finding more, then decided to finish the job.
I have a few other comments. I can't be sure, of course, but I strongly suspect that this lot was never hunted prior to the houses being demolished. It has nothing to do with the number of finds, but much of the lot was covered in a concrete pad and for many years during the detecting era it was a dangerous area. This would make the conclusions more valid.
A point I don't think I emphasized enough is the difficulty detecting from the surface. The first detectorist found 8 silver coins over 2-3 hunts. I knew there were likely some more silver dimes because he found 3 silver quarters, a silver dollar, and only four dimes. That is a strange distribution. I actually briefly hunted the lot before they cleared the house piles and found a couple of clad coins only. It is just mind-boggling to me, in hindsight, that I found no old coins on my first hunt on a lot with more than 225 in the ground! When I went back, I found a silver half and silver dime and some wheats, some of which were on the surface. The second time I found two silver dimes. Over many hunts before I tried sifting I never found more than 2 silver coins with the detector. I worked that lot thoroughly and repeatedly with multiple detectors because I strongly suspected there was more there. I remember being frustrated about it. So even though 30% of the silver coins were found using a detector, that was after an unusual amount of detecting, including moving at a snail's pace with a small coil and my Safari from different directions. I feel confident saying that a more common scenario would be for the lot to be detected significantly less before being abandoned in search of greener pastures. My point is that my detected finds likely overrepresent the percentage of finds that will be found using a detector on a site with heavy trash.
Overall, it was eye-opening for me. The results were exciting...and daunting. I now know there are a lot of great finds still to be made, even in well hunted areas, but it might not be easy.
I added the parenthesis and bolding for clarity and emphasis.
Thanks once again to the author of this report.
People are always looking for new unhunted sites. Many of the old sites still hold more good finds, perhaps more than you would ever imagine. Realizing how much more might be there is the first step to getting the finds you've been missing.
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As you probably know, Easter is on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring equinox. Yesterday - Thursday - was a full moon, and today is Good Friday, which is the perfect time to talk about crosses.
A couple days ago I showed a silver ring with a cross on it. Alberto S. found the same ring offered by WalMart. So it is no Tiffany or anything really old. I had no idea that it was anything but common modern despite my joking around.
Isn't it remarkable how prevalent the cross is whenever you talk about treasure hunting. You'll find a cross on most cobs in one form or another, as well as on rings, pendants, and other things. You can't escape that. And there is a reason.
Something happened that changed the world, and 2000 years later people still wear and display the sign of the cross. That in itself is remarkable. But what people wear is not as important as what is on the inside.
You meet all kinds of people. There are kind generous people, and then there are grumpy demanding people. It is the same in metal detecting as it is in the world in general. I'm glad to say that the readers of this blog, judging from the emails I receive, are almost exclusively of the kind generous type.
Some people can't get along with anybody and they think it is the fault of everybody else. Some are always seeking and never finding. They are looking in the wrong place. Others have found the secret and carry their joy with them no matter what is going on in the world around them. They are the ones that fill the Easter baskets and scatter the eggs and rejoice everytime one is found.
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The surf will be 3 - 5 feet today and less tomorrow and Sunday.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcas.net
