1/8/18 Report - What Pirates Read. Story of a Medieval Norse Penny Found In Maine.

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

Scrap of Paper Recovered from Queen Annes Revenge

Source: Salisbury Post (See link below)

What did Blackbeard's pirates read?  You might be surprised if he read at all, but small scraps of paper including the one shown above was recovered from the Queen Anne's Revenge and identified as being from“A Voyage to the South Sea, and Round the World, Perform’d in the Years 1708, 1709, 1710 and 1711” by Captain Edward Cooke.  I imagine the book might have been a very useful resource for seamen of the day.  And maybe they just liked to read the same type of things we read today.


Here is a bit of the article.

...During conservation work on artifacts recovered from the wreckage of Queen Anne’s Revenge — the flagship of the pirate Blackbeard — 16 tiny fragments of paper were discovered in a mass of wet sludge removed from the chamber for a breech-loading cannon.

The largest fragment was only about the size of a quarter. Paper is an extremely rare material to find on shipwrecks, especially one 300 years old, because it usually disintegrates quickly under water...

And here is the link.

http://www.salisburypost.com/2018/01/04/scraps-of-paper-found-on-queen-annes-revenge/

Fascinating that something so fragile not only survived but could be identified as being from a specific book!

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Richard H. sent me the following link to an article about a medieval Norse penny found in Maine that may be evidence of a Norse settlement that would be much older than the Spanish New World.

Here is an excerpt.

...After Mellgren’s coin was identified as Norse, the Maine State Museum sent a team of professional archaeologists to the Goddard Site to better understand the context the coin had come from. While no other Norse artifact has ever been found there, the site did hold surprises—artifacts attesting to an explosion of trade contact between Native American groups, stretching from the eastern Great Lakes up to Labrador. At the same time the coin shows up, for instance, archery first appears in the region.

“The site has an unspeakably dense concentration of archers,” says Bourque. Excavations have turned up thousands of arrowheads, along with mounds of pottery sherds and stones that come from hundreds of miles away. “It’s off the charts,” he says. “The real mystery is—what the hell is going on at the site at the time?”

To Bourque, the coin is a clue in this other mystery. All sorts of objects that seem out of place in 12th-century Maine show up in this one spot, as if it were site of a pre-Columbian World’s Fair for northeastern coastal America, from Lake Erie to Newfoundland. Unlike the sagas—all story, little evidence—this site is full of interesting evidence in search of a story.

And here is the link.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/maine-norse-penny-archaeology-vikings-north-america

Richard H. included the following interesting postscript with his email. Samuel Harding, 1683-1733 is my 6th Great Grandfather and first to pillage the pirate ship WHYDAH ashore on Cape Cod's Nauset Beach, 

Thanks Richard.  That's an interesting bit of ancestry.

I encourage everybody to research their ancestry.  It really makes history come alive.

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The Treeasure Coast surf is predicted to be around four to six feet today.  The wind is from the east.  It was foggy again this morning.  The tides are not as big as they were a few days ago.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/6/17 Report - Valuable Reales With History and Provenance. Ribault Fleet Link.

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

Here is a four-reale that had an auction estimate of $1250 - 2000, but sold in the recent Sedwick auction receiving a bid of $14,000.

I highlight and discuss things that sold for a variety of reasons.  Usually they are exceptionally interesting.  You can also learn something about how things are valued by looking at those that did extremely well and those that did not do so well.

This example sold for way above the auction estimate.  As you can see, it was displayed extremely well.  It also had an interesting history and provenance.

Here is the Sedwick listing.

Mexico City, Mexico, cob 4 reales, Philip V, assayer not visible, extremely rare and popular provenance. 21-3/4" x 13-3/4". A typical 4R cob (toned, no corrosion) with off-center shield visible (mounted upside down) centered in its own niche below a drawing of a ship model and above its original certificate signed by Barry Clifford and other company officers, one of very, very few coins to have been released by Clifford (and not intended to be re-sold), and only the fourth we have seen, perhaps even more popular this year (2017) as it is the 300th anniversary of the sinking of the Whydah! Mounted in a matted picture frame with original Barry Clifford certificate #57501 and color picture of a ship. Recovered from: Whydah, sunk in 1717 off Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

For a little background on the Whydah, Here is a paragraph from a good National Geographic article.  I think you might like reading the entire article.

The Whydah's story begins in London in 1715 when the hundred-foot [31-meter] three-master was launched as a slave ship under the command of Lawrence Prince. Named for the West African port of Ouidah (pronounced WIH-dah) in what is today Benin, the 300-ton [272-metric-ton] vessel was destined for the infamous "triangular trade" connecting England, Africa, and the West Indies. Carrying cloth, liquor, hand tools, and small arms from England, the Whydah's crew would buy and barter for up to 700 slaves in West Africa, then set out with them on three to four weeks of hellish transport to the Caribbean. Once there, the slaves were traded for gold, silver, sugar, indigo, and cinchona, the last being a source of quinine, all of which went back to England.

Here is the link.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/whydah/story.html

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Darrel S. is selling some things.  I'm not going to turn this blog into Craigslist or anything, but you might like looking at these 1715 Fleet cobs, each of which has a noteworthy history.

Photos submitted by Darrel S.

Here is what Darrel said about these reals.

4 Reale belonged to Kip Wagner and was displayed in museum that burned before relocating to McLarty.

Purchased a few from Steve Hodge who purchased a collection from a friend of Reale 8, and investor.

Asking at least $400 due to photos and paperwork showing these coins on display and from Kip's personal collection. Will be included with coin.

8 Reale not for sale. Was in National Geographic.

If you are interested in these coins or any of the iron items that Darrel has for sale (see 8/23/16 post) , you'll have to contact him yourself and deal with him directly.  He says he'll be down this way before long.

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After doing some more thinking about the mystery item that looked something like a belaying pin, I'm thinking it might be something else.  I had a few emails.  Some people thought it looked like maybe a break handle or something.  I'm sure there were a variety of types of handles that it could be. If it came from a ship, one type of handle would be a bilge pump handle.  I'm sure there were others.

Let me know if you have any other thoughts on it.

Thanks to all who have sent ideas.

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I know a few of you are very interested in Ribault's French fleet.  I think I've mentioned this before, but it might be helpful to some of you now.

Here is the link.

http://www.staugustinelighthouse.org/LAMP/Research/FrenchFleet/frenchfleet

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A front came through and the wind is from the west today.  No change in beach conditions.  The surf remains small.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/11/13 Whydah, HMS Victory, Nugget Jewelry and Beach Conditions.

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

Treasure Coast Beach Showing A Little Erosion.

This photo is from yesterday.  Notice the small erosion creating a second step.

This erosion was really not significant in terms of improving detecting conditions. It probably occurred during one of the high tides the day before.

Also notice the sea weed.

The erosion was confined to a small area.  The sand in front was mushy, as you would expect from seeing the sea weed.

Two other beaches I looked at were about the same.  One beach was just a touch better looking, having a wider flat area in front.  

Overall this is pretty much what I'd expect to find almost anywhere along the Treasure Coast right now.  Nothing very exciting.

Here is a video showing one Treasure Coast beach and the surf yesterday morning.  Pretty typical.

The Whydah, which the following linked article calls the only documented pirate ship wreck, is producing a lot of artifacts and coins.

Salvage efforts on the Whydah may have recently struck a hot spot.  It looks like bags of coins have just been found.   It looks like there may still be something like 400,000 pieces of eight still unaccounted for.

Here is the link to the recent article Times News article.

http://www.timesnews.net/article/9067132/dive-signals-more-treasure-at-site-of-pirate-ship-wreck


Here is another good web site showing a reconstruction of the Whydah and some of the artifacts and treasure found on the site.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2415873/Treasure-hunter-finds-gold-coins-stacked-like-poker-chips-18th-century-pirate-ship-Cape-Cod.html

Whydah links submitted by rinkrat.  Thanks fellow!


And here is a great web site on the HMS Victory.  Great pictures.  This one was submitted by Christopher P.  Thanks!

http://www.victory1744.org/


A week or so ago I showed a nugget ring beach find.  Robert K. wrote in about that.  Here is what Robert said.

As a prospector, I have several pieces of jewelry that were made from actual natural gold nuggets.
The ring you found may be marked 14K, but if you were to test the nuggets in the setting it is possible they would test out at 20 - 23K. It would depend on where the nuggets were found. Most AK. and CA.
nuggets are 20-22K, all though I have found many in Maine that test out at 22K as well.

Gold in it's natural form (nugget) is more valuable than gold that has been refined and poured into a mold or made into jewelry because nuggets are hard to find in their natural form and the bigger the better. Large nuggets are sold as "jewelry quality" and are generally made into pendants, rings, bracelets and the smaller ones can be lightly melted together and used as decoration on watch bands and belt buckles or ear rings.

Robert sent links to a number of items made from and decorated by natural nuggets.  Very nice stuff.


We're have 2 - 3 foot surf with very little variation the next few days.  Thursday a little less and Friday a little more, but nothing significant.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net