5/19/20 Report - Bonsteel and Douglass. Renourishment Coming To Beaches Near You. Distancing. Surf.

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

Frederick Douglass Beach Monday

Photo by Steve M.

Steve M. sent these photos from Frederick Douglass beach.  As you can see it is low tide, and there are a lot of shells.

Frederick Douglass Beach Monday.

Photo by Steve M.

Sunday Steve was up at Bonsteel.  I haven't been there for a good while.

Bonsteel Sunday

Photot by Steve M.

Thanks Steve.

Bonsteel Sunday

Photo by Steve M.

DJ found sent me the following information from Indian River County offices.

Seagrape Trail Dune Crossover Update - In response to questions regarding when Seagrape beach access will reopen, it likely won't be before late 2020 or early 2021. It was badly damaged from high surf, strong winds from the east and higher than average tides, and County staff deemed it was not repairable. The descending stairwell and pilings will need to be designed, permitted and replaced. Seagrape Trail Beach Access is located in Sector 3, which is scheduled for a beach and dune nourishment project starting in November 2020. The replacement of the crossover will take place and be synchronized with the beach and dune nourishment project.

I added the underlining.

Sector 3 includes Turtle Trail too, so expect a lot of new renourishment sand in a few months.

Thanks DJ.

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A couple months ago I added a social distancing hoop and coronavirus cap to the fashion model below.

Turns out it was not too far off.  One restaurant is using wearable innertubes for distancing.

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N536P6JBl50  for the video.

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Surf Predictions

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Looks like the Treasure Coast will see an increase in the surf in a day or two.  We'll see how the timing of the wind and surf direction plays out.

The general level of knowledge and discussion about metal detecting, especially beach metal detecting, has advanced since the time this blog began.  It used to be that people watched for and talked about big waves.  There was little talk, however, about the importance of the direction of the wind and swells.  Some detectorists (though they weren't called that much back then) may have understood the importance of direction, but if they did, it wasn't often a part of the general discussion.  If you don't believe that, dig up some of the old metal detecting books and magazines and take a look.  The importance of wind and wave direction simply was not understood and talked about as much as it is today, and I think this blog had something do to with that.  That is just one example of how I believe this blog has advanced the general level of knowledge and discussion of beach metal detecting.   I could mention several more examples that I think you'll agree with if you think back to ten or twelve years ago.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

2/17/17 Report - History of a Few Changing Treasure Beach Names. More On Identifying Targets From Metal Detector Signals.

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

You've heard all of the names:  Anchor Wreck, Cannon Wreck, Unknown Wreck, Cabin Wreck, etc.  It can be confusing.  It can be just as bad with beaches.

Some beaches have multiple names.  Some names are left over from days gone by.  Some were informally named by locals before they had an official name.

You might have heard of Colored Beach.  That is a name that was used for many different beaches in many different communities in the days of segregation.  There were beaches that were used by Blacks when they were not welcome at the best beaches in the community.  Those beaches were often called "Colored Beach."

There was one such beach near Miami on Virginia Key.  I used to detect it often and found good numbers of silver U. S. coins there.  That part of Virginia Key, which borders Bear Cut, was nearly abandoned at one time, but the entire island got a makeover in more recent years.  Before it got renovated it was the site of a few movies and TV shows that required a tropical setting.

The beach south of Fort Pierce that is named Frederick Douglass Memorial Beach was once a "colored beach." It is named after Frederick Douglass, the famous African American abolitionist.

Maybe you've heard of the Christmas Tree that was north of John Brooks Beach.  It is gone now and has been gone since 2004.  It was nothing more than the remains of an old trunk or stump that stood north of the John Brooks beach access.  People used to decorate it with junk they found on the beach, such as ropes, buoys, or anything that happened to be nearby.  It was a landmark referred to in books and used by detectorists as a landmark.

One treasure beach that has a lot of different names is Bonsteel Beach.  Before it was known as Bonsteel Beach, it was referred to as Chuck's Steakhouse.  Chuck's Steakhouse was torn down, It  was north of the Bonsteel Beach Access. 

The same beach is sometimes called Half Reale Beach.  That is because of the predominance of half reales found there.

The same beach is also called "Money Walk."  You can imagine how it got that name.

Since no shipwreck has been found off shore at that location, there are several theories about how the cobs got there.  I might discuss those some other day, including theories about why so many half reales are found there.

The Brevard County boundary was south of today's Sebastian Inlet until 1959 when the land south of the inlet was given to Indian River County as a result of the bridge being built.

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Yesterday at first I had the wrong link posted for the video about how a signal can change if the position of a target is changed.  After someone kindly informed me of the mistake, I corrected the link, so if you looked earlier and got the wrong link, which happened to be in Italian, here is the corrected link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1L96xy9nRZo

The primary purpose of the link is to show how the signal will change if a coin or ring shaped object is on edge rather than laying flat.

Concerning that, Bill P. sent me the following email message.

Regarding your post from today (2-16-17), one of the most distinct sounds I hear on my Minelab is when I'm over a gold earring. 2 totally different sounds when the clasp is open and closed (specifically hoop style earrings). When open it can sound just like a bottle cap. I don't pass those up often unless I'm in an area where folks have had a beer bash. Watches also give funky junk sounds sometimes. Years ago I found a nice gold ladies ring next to a chunk of rusty iron. Talk about a funky sound. I'm glad I dug it anyway. Bill P...

Thanks much Bill.

I can always identify long thin targets such as nails from the signal even with detectors such as the ATX.

Bent thin targets such as fish hooks have a very distinctive signal.  A broken finger ring and unclasped hoop ear ring would be similar.

The signal from a broken gold ring will not be as strong as an unbroken ring.

I used a bent brass tag in my video.  Being bent, it will present a variety of surfaces to the detector coil depending on the various angles and the signal will change accordingly.

Those are general observations.  Different detectors and different settings can cause different signals.

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The weather is beautiful.  There is a touch of coolness in the morning air.

The surf is still small, but unfortunately we are no longer getting much of a tidal change, and no negative tides.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comast.net

6/22/15 Report - Recent Atocha Finds. Bonsteel Beach. Nautical Archaeology Research Resources. Roman Artifacts Found By Detectorist.

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

The above is an illustration is from a dissertation on flint lock pistols found on a 17th Century shipwreck.
Source: http://anthropology.tamu.edu/papers/Garigen-MA1991.pdf



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In the past couple of posts I showed some of the super finds made by Treasure Coast salvors   The guys down south on the Atocha are making finds too.

One very nice lead bale seal was found.  It is being researched to see if they can identify the owner.  


Other recent finds on the Atocha site include four silver coins, a musket ball, several large spikes, encrusted objects, pottery, and some big ballast stones. The location of the large ballast stones suggests that there might well be more to be found to the East.

They will also soon be resuming the search for the Lost Merchant. 

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One Treasure Coast coin beach that doesn't get mentioned as often as some of the others is Bonsteel.  Back a few posts I was talking about hurricanes Frances and Jeane.   One detectorist picked up 24 half reales there in one day.  I'm sure there were others doing the same.

Bonsteel is known for producing small half reales.

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I just added a great new link to my Treasure Site Reference Link List.  The link that I added will take to a large number of graduate dissertations from the Texas A. & M. Nautical Archaeology program. \

That provides a lot of really good information.  The dissertations are good alone, but if you go to the references listed at the end of each dissertation you'll find a lot more good research materials.

Whether you are interested in Chinese porcelain from 17th Century Port Royal or the development of English anchors from 1550, you'll find plenty of interest in these dissertations.

Here is the link that I added to my list.

http://anthropology.tamu.edu/html/graduate-theses-dissertations.html

The dissertation on flintlock pistols which provided the above illustration is on that list.

You might want to look through that list if you haven't done it for a while.

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Bronze Roman Urn Found By Detectorist
Source: See LiveScience.com link

A man in England went exploring with a metal detector and made the discovery of a lifetime: an exquisitely preserved Roman-era grave filled with artifacts, including bronze jugs, mosaic glassware, coins and hobnails from a pair of shoes, all dating to about A.D. 200.

Here is that link.

http://www.livescience.com/50510-grave-artifacts-roman-england.html

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For many years I hunted exclusively in the all-metals or pinpoint modes.  That included a number of detectors.  Some of the best of those were built by individuals rather than any of the major detector companies.  However I did use detectors made by the major manufacturers and used those almost exclusively in the pinpoint or all metals mode as well.

That often results in greater sensitivity and depth, but that isn't the only benefit.  The "raw signal" that you get in those modes will help you get a good idea of the size, shape and depth of the object.  If you use it enough, you'll learn how much information you can get from that.  Knowing something about the size, shape and depth of a target often gives me the identity.  

I once explained how to identify nails and similar objects in all metals mode..  I'd rather know the size, shape and depth first, and then IF I actually want to know more about the object's identity before digging it, switch to a discrimination mode or target ID display.

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On the Treasure Coast don't expect any improvement in conditions this week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net