8/3/19 Report - Order of Calatrava. Research Reveals Items Salvaged At Palmar de Ays. Beach Changes and Beach Slopes.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Source: See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Calatrava

"Calatrava is the Arabic name of a castle recovered from the Moslems, in 1147, by the King of Castile, Alfonso VII, called el Emperador. Located in what was then the southernmost border of Castile, this conquest was more difficult to keep than to make, especially at a time with neither standing armies nor garrisons were known. In part to correct this deficiency, the military orders such as Knights Templars were founded, where men could fulfill a vow of perpetual war against the Muslim. The Templars, however, were unable to hold Calatrava, and the king found further volunteer warriors when Raymond, Abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Fitero offered himself. 

This step is said to have been suggested to the abbot by Father Diego Velázquez, a simple monk, but one who had been a knight, and thus was well acquainted with military matters. Diego was inspired with the idea of employing the lay brothers of the abbey to defend Calatrava. These Cistercian lay brothers--at that time a recent innovation in monastic life--not being in Holy orders, were variously employed in manual trades such as those of tending herds, construction, farm labor, or husbandry. Diego recommended that they become soldiers of the Cross. Thus a new order was created in 1157...

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Calatrava for more about that.

You'll see below why I brought that up today.

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Some beaches are relatively steep and some flatter, but the slope also can change from day to day.  I talked about that yesterday.

The size of the grains of sand has a lot to do with the slope of the beach.  Beaches with smaller grains tend to be flatter.

People tend to think about the waves and incoming water, but the water is continually washing out as well as in. The outgoing water is as important as the incoming water.  What you see is the net effect.

The amount of force of the incoming water determines what gets washed in, and the amount of force of the outgoing water determines what gets washed out.  It is always a tug of war.

The reason that small grained beaches are flatter is that there is more runoff.  Most of the water that flows onto the beach flows back off.  When it the water flows off, it takes some things with it, depending upon a number of factors.

When the grains are course and the beach is porous, some of the water does not flow back out.  There is always a balancing act between the incoming and outgoing forces.  Erosion occurs when more sand is getting washed out, and accretion occurs when more sand is getting washed in AND is dropped on the beach.  It gets dropped where the force of water decreases to the point that it is no longer carried along.  All that might seem perfectly obvious, but if you can visualize it, I think you'll find it very helpful.

As I've explained before, a certain amount of force is required to get an object moving, and a certain amount of force is required to keep it moving.  When the force decreases enough, items get deposited.  That is how sand is moved and deposited, and that is how coin lines and holes are formed.  Of course, it takes less force to move sand than coins, and they have different "drop points" too.

Bigger waves tend to move larger particles, which creates a steeper beach.  In summer you generally have smaller waves that push in and drop off smaller particles and that creates a flatter beach.

Most of the time when you get erosion, the sand doesn't go very far and waits just off shore to be washed in again.  The same sand keeps getting recycled in and out.  That sand movement, which I sometimes refer to as superficial, does not uncover any old items.  It is just the recycling of the same sand.  When that sand moves, there is not likely to be anything old in it.  Other objects require more force to move and tend to be deeper.  Enough sand has to be moved for them to be first uncovered and then moved up the slope.  They aren't going anywhere though until they are first uncovered.

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Laura Strolia, 1715 Fleet researcher and author of the book I've mentioned before, The Marigalara of the 1715 Fleet, was translating a document from the Spanish archives mentioning valuable items being salvaged from the water at Palmar de Ays.  Notice that a enameled gold item was specifically mentioned.

Here is some of what she said.

I just finished page 240 of my book on the 1715 fleet, and coincidentally, I recently translated a document from the archives which may contain an answer for your posted object. Officials had sent a shipment of valuable items to the Sevillian Consulado in Spain for sorting. These goods were salvaged from the waters at Palmar de Ays and verification was needed as to whom owned them. One of the objects was listed as “una venera de calatrava en una conchita de vidrio guarnecida y su rosa de filigrana de oro” (AGI, Contratacíon, leg. 640, Nov. 17, 1716, Cádiz). This was a scallop (badge) of the Order of Calatrava. The small shell was garnished with (enameled) glass and its rose was of gold filigree...  

Hope this helps—Laura Strolia.

ps I literally translated the list of goods on the same day you displayed the Calatrava badge, but I did not  see the post until today. There is no doubt that God works through us all to help each other. 

Thanks much for sharing your research Laura. 

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I have two threads going that I plan to continue - dating items and beach dynamics.  I also have some other topics in mind. 

We are having big tides now and around a two-foot surf.

There is one system on the map that is worth watching.

Source: nhc,noaa.gov

That system is headed in our general direction and looks like it will show more development some time next week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net