7/8/20 Report - Mel Fisher Expeditions and Finds. Quintessential Treasures. Digital Treasure.

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

Quintessential Treasures That Fortunately Were Never Lost.
See link below.

Not lost but still representing the kind of objects that any treasure hunter might dream of finding.  I'm sure that out there somewhere are lost objects that are as finely crafter and beautiful as these.

Click here to see more Sotheby's auction items like these.

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Down south, Mel Fisher's Expeditions are working on the the well-known Atocha and Margarita sites, but also the less well known "Lost Merchant" somewhere off the east coast of Florida, and another 1622 wreck that has yet to be found.

The Magruder went sifting for emeralds and then back to the area known as the Bank of Spain.  Their latest finds included a nice emerald, 1 complete silver candlestick, a piece of a silver plate rim, some pottery shards and half of a silver coin.

The Mel Fisher museum in Sebastian will be reopening on May 8.

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The nature of treasure is changing.  I guess it always did.  Wealth is becoming less tangible.  Most transactions no longer require coins or currency.  It is done digitally.  Digital currencies include cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies, central bank digital currencies and e-Cash.  You've probably heard of bit coin for example.

And you know about the scammers that do their own form of illegal digital treasure hunting by mining the digital information that resides on our computers.

FBI Director Christopher Wray on Tuesday warned Americans that the Chinese government’s theft of American information is taking place on so large a scale, suspected incidents make up nearly half of his bureau’s counterintelligence cases.

Speaking at an event hosted by the Hudson Institute in Washington, Wray said that Chinese thefts amount to “one of the largest transfers of wealth in human history,” and that the American people are the victims...

See https://www.foxnews.com/politics/fbi-director-wray-says-half-of-bureaus-5000-counterintelligence-cases-are-related-to-china

Yesterday I mentioned some of the products of our culture. If you thought China might be a place you could escape from our culture, the Chinese have been going to great lengths to become wealthy by stealing our Culture.  Can you believe they even have a Shanghai Disneyland Park?

Now that Crossfire Hurricane is over maybe the intelligence agencies can spend there time on more useful things.

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One great book that I think you'll enjoy is Bill Bryson's At Home: A Short History of Private Life.  It goes into the invention or evolution of the things around us and how we live today.   It is really an very exceptional book on the history of most everything we encounter in our homes and lifestyles.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

There is a 60% chance that the system up by North Carolina will develop into a cyclone in the next 48 hours.  It is expected to continue to the northeast though. 

Most days now there is something developing somewhere.  I think we are supposed to get 20 some names storms this year.  It was upgraded some the last time I saw the forecast.

Looks like the page view counter will hit 2.5 million later today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/13/20 Report - Archaeology of Manila Ports. Passing of Eugene Lyon. Fort Pierce Reef. USS Nevada.

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

Rocks Being Moved For Construction of Reef.

Source: WFLX.com (link below)

St. Lucie County has begun construction on a reef inside the Fort Pierce Inlet just off Raccoon Island.  The reef will create a deeper than normal area inside the lagoon that will be assist development of juvenile fish and serve as a sand trap for beach grade sand.

Here is the link for more about that.  (Thanks to DJ.)

https://www.wflx.com/2020/05/12/st-lucie-co-creating-artificial-reef-inside-fort-pierce-inlet/

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Deepwater searchers have located the wreck of the famed USS Nevada off the coast of Hawaii.

A team consisting of U.S.-based archaeology firm SEARCH, Inc. and robotics company Ocean Infinity announced the discovery on Monday.

USS Nevada was located 65 nautical miles southwest of Pearl Harbor at a depth of over 15,400 feet...

Here is that link.  (Thanks to Douglas.)

https://gcaptain.com/searchers-locate-wreck-of-unsinkable-uss-nevada/

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Dr. Eugene Lyon, an international expert on Spanish Colonial Florida and the Spanish maritime system, died on May 3, 2020 in Vero Beach, Florida.,.

Most of us probably know him for his work in the Spanish archives to identify the Atocha and Margarita. 

Dr. Lyon received the grade of Orden de Isabel la Católica (Official of the Order of Isabella) from King Juan Carlos of Spain, and the grade of Comendador in the Order of Christopher Columbus from the President of the Dominican Republic. The City of St. Augustine granted him its highest honor - the Order of La Florida. In 2003, the Florida Historical Society gave him the Jillian Prescott Award for lifetime service to Florida history. In 2005, he received the Mel Fisher Lifetime Achievement Award...

Here is the link for more. (Thanks to DJ.)

https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/staugustine/obituary.aspx?pid=196167090

Condolences to all friends and family.

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If you ever found a blue and white fine porcelain shard on a Treasure Coast beach and wondered if it is Kanghsi or if you just want to know more about the Manila galleons and Spanish trade with China, you'll want to read Archaeology of Manila Galleon Seaports and Early Maritime Globalization. 

Source: Academia.edu link below.

You'll find photos of many types of artifacts, including Spanish colonial coins, cannons and, of course, an extensive collection of porcelain as well as shipwreck distribution patterns.

Source: Academia.edu link below.

Here is that link.

https://www.academia.edu/41712660/The_Chinese_Porcelain_from_the_Port_of_San_Blas_Mexico?email_work_card=title

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Today we'll start with a 2 -4 foot surf increasing a foot or so by the end of the day.  The surf on Thursday and Friday is now expected to be around five or six feet.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

9/21/18 Report - The People of the Treasure Galleons and Those Who Salvaged a New World Wreck. Internet Domination.

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

In 1634, the galleon Los Tres Reyes was wrecked  at the entrance to Cartagena harbor on Aug. 4.  Local boats were recruited to do the salvage.   The work was done mostly by black slaves, and even though they were clearly designated as slaves, they were paid three reales a day for their work.

That seems to be a pretty good amount.  Just for comparison, a first class seaman at the time would be paid about 44 reales per month - a little over one reale per day.  And a cabin boy or page on a galleon would be paid about 22 reales per month.  Wages went up rapidly from the 1500s into the 1700s, so the amount would be much higher in the 1700s.  Most wages nearly doubled from 1514 to the early 1600s.

Pages were the lowest paid of mariners.  They were often orphans with no better choices in life, or wanting to learn and develop a career as a seaman.  Above the page was the apprentice seaman and common seaman.

The highest paid of a fleet was the captain-general of the galleons, who around the year 1630 would make about 5000 reales a month.  In descending order from there was the admiral of galleons, captain-general of merchant fleet, admiral of merchant fleet, joint captain sea and land, sea captain, master, master or rations, pilot, contramaestre, diver, guardian, master gunner, water bailiff, dispenser or provisions, notary, chaplain, carpenter, caulker, cooper, gunner, drummer, barber/surgeon, and then the common seaman.

That information is taken from original source documents in the Spanish archives and published in Carla Rahn Phillips' book, Six Galleons for the King of Spain.  That book follows the building and life cycle of six galleons built in the early 1600s, including costs, logistics, events, etc. 

I think we often forget that people of the treasure fleets.  This book puts the treasure fleets into a more complete and realistic context.

I have some personal observations from the 1715 Fleet beaches that I've wondered about over the years.  One is the high percentage of half reales found on some of the wreck beaches relative to the small number of small denomination cobs salvaged from the nearby wrecks.  One thing I've wondered is if the half reales  (and some trade goods such as silver rings, which have not been found on the wrecks) were used as payment for the salvage workers.  I have no evidence to support that idea.

The lack of silver rings found on submerged wreck sites by treasure salvage crews  is a bit puzzling because silver rings have been found on Spanish colonial archaeological sites.

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Google, who has cooperated with China to develop a repressive government-controlled internet for China while suppressing conservative expression in the US, says China is well on its way to developing a dominant internet to rival that of the US.  US tech companies have been willing to give up their intellectual capital to have a piece of the Chinese market.  China is making a serious move to be THE world leader, and a big part of that is control of the information super highway.  The interenet, as you probably know, was originally developed by the US Department of Defense.

Here is a link about that.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/20/eric-schmidt-ex-google-ceo-predicts-internet-split-china.html

The internet is a indispensable tool for detectorists and treasure hunters.  As someone who was into detecting before the internet was common, it has changed things dramatically.

Before the internet, research was much more difficult and there was very little sharing of information.  A lot of the detectorists back in the eighties, especially those detecting for modern jewelry, were very secretive.  Some of the best detectorists hunted mostly before sunrise and, were seldom seen and never told what they found.  Some of that is still in me, although I've certainly opened up a lot.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

There are four areas of weather to watch in the Atlantic now.  I'd watch the one down by South America with most interest.

The  Treasure Coast surf won't change much in the next week or two if the predictions are correct.  I'd like the weather to cool down.  We often get a nice fall storm when the weather changes.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net