10/29/19 Report - Seagrape Trail Beach Today. Conquistadors Explore Catawba Territory. More on Chisels, Spikes and Screws.

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

Seagrape Trail Beach Tuesday Afternoon.

Literally just in.  I received these photos from Seagrape Trail from DJ as I was in the process of posting.

Thanks DJ.

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About 450 years ago, Spanish soldiers on an expedition from Florida took over the native Catawba town of Joara, about 60 miles East of Asheville. 

Fort San Juan is the earliest known European settlement in the Southeastern US, established about 40 years before the English arrived in Jamestown.  That made Spanish the first European language spoken in Appalachia...  

https://www.bpr.org/post/exploring-southern-appalachia-conquistadors-and-catawba#stream/0


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I hoped to find a way to easily tell if an item might be a chisel or not.  I failed.

From what I've determined, chisels are typically flat on one side of the point and angled on the other, like the wood-working chisels shown below.

But there are chisels for working materials other than wood, such as hot metals and stone.  Among the chisels meant for working stone, there are bull-point chisels, for example, which are angled on both the top and bottom.

While I'd expect wood-wood working chisels to be most common on centuries old sailing ships, there could be other types for black-smithing or mining.

Who was it that said "The more I learn, the more I don't  know?"

I'd also expect wood-working chisels to have handles, which, like spikes, could also be broken off.

I planned on getting close-up views of several spikes and chisels, but couldn't find the ones I wanted to photograph when I went looking for them.

John C. sent this photo of a broken spike with the email message I posted from him yesterday.

Broken Spike Find.

Find and photo by John C.

At this point, I'm still thinking that Troy's find is more than likely a spike rather than a chisel.

Let me know if you agree or disagree.

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Jerry P. sent me the following email and photos.

What a great post on screws! There's no coincidence that I find a lot of screws on the beach adjacent old shipwrecks. So much so I had to purchase Witold’s book yeas ago and it definitely solidified it for me. If you don’t know don’t throw, these old screws are shipwreck history and excellent artifacts!! 

Old Screws Found by Jerry P. Along With A Copy of  Witold's Book on Screws and Screwdrivers.

Thank Jerry.  Of course they can also be good clues for the detectorist.

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Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

5/12/18 Report - Cocoa Beach. Jewish Conquistadors. First Americans. First Depression of New Hurricane Season. 80-Foot Wave.

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

Cocoa Beach Thursday
Photo by James F.

James F. sent me the following email along with the photos of Cocoa Beach.

Well, Cocoa Beach is an absolute mess after "re-nourishment" for metal detecting. Along with the tons and tons of sand come thousands and thousands of fragments of iron fragments from the dredging pipes. These are anywhere from a 1/8th-inch to 1/4 inch deeply rusted and highly conductive bits of Fe strewn, as my grandfather used to say, from Hell to breakfast, up the beach for literally miles.

What was once a very nice semi-productive beach is now a disaster for the next few years. The beach is nice from a tourists standpoint, but all but sterile from mine.

I've attached a couple of pictures I took yesterday, including a few iron fragments that now plague the beach here.

Rusty Iron Chip Like Those That Litter The Newly Renourished Beach.
Photo by James F.

Thanks James!

A few days ago I commented on the shiny pieces of metal that look like aluminum or titanium that I often get questions about.  One thing that I get just as many questiions about are small cob-sized iron flakes or chips like the one shown above.  You'll find iron flakes like this on many beaches, and the thing is that sometimes they turn black and can look very much like cobs.

Many metal detectors will pass them over and many will easily identify them as being iron, but if you have any question, as many people do, a quick way to tell is with a magnet.   If a chip like this sticks to a magnet, it is not a reale.

As James suggested, they are common after beach renourishment projects.  They come off of the large rusty pipes and other equipment.  Other beaches have similar iron flakes that come from older sources such as old erosion control structures, and some even come from various other rusting items.  On one treasure beach it was thought that a lot of these came from an old barge that was once used as a salvage vessel.

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Conference presentations were dotted with colorful stories. Consider that of the covert Jewish Conquistador Alonso de Avila. He first enlists in the army of Hernando Cortes -- as a bookkeeper. In appreciation for accounting services rendered, he is then made the first mayor of the newly created city of Veracruz. But the glory is fleeting. He is arrested as a relapsed Jew by the Mexican Inquisition, accused of keeping a crucifix under his writing table and stepping on it -- a common but spurious charge, said Dr. Eva Alexandra Uchmany of the Universidad Nacional in Mexico, who told the story...

Below is a link for an article about the little known history of Jewish explorers in the New World.

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/29/science/jewish-voyagers-to-the-new-world-emerging-from-history-s-mists.html

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The Americas are a big place, but the Native American group that first settled it was small — just about 250 people, according to a new genetic study.

These people, known as a founding group because they "founded" the first population, migrated from Siberia to the Americas by about 15,000 years ago, said study co-lead researcher Nelson Fagundes, a professor in the Department of Genetics at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, in Brazil...
By some theories the native or indigenous Americans may have been immigrants too.  Here is a link to the rest of the article about some of the first peoples of the New World.

https://www.livescience.com/62531-native-american-founder-population.html

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An 80-foot wave recently set a record as the most massive wave of the southern hemisphere.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2018/05/11/massive-wave-sets-southern-hemisphere-record-scientists-say.html

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The first tropical depression of the 2018 season could be developing right now as Invest 90E.

https://www.aol.com/article/weather/2018/05/11/tropical-depression-could-be-first-of-2018-hurricane-season/23431627/


But locally we can't expect any more than a two or three foot surf for several days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

1/19/18 Report - Handy Ancillary Equipment. Incas Book. Meteorite Earthquake. Big Surf Predicted.

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

Inexpensive Light.

I decided to talk about some products that I've found very useful for metal detecting.  I've found all of them useful as well as durable and reliable.

I got the light shown above at Harbor Freight when I picked up some other things before Hurricane Irma.  I probably wouldn't have bought it otherwise, but it has proven to be very useful.  It has a directional torch that  you can see on the front as well as the lamp, but it also has magnet on the back and  a hook on the top so you can mount it in various ways.  The hook folds into the  back if you don't need it..   It has come in handy a variety of times.  It fits in a pocket and can be hung with the hook or attached to a metal surface. Stick it to your car trunk or garage door and you'll find it useful when you are holding your equipment and trying to find your keys.  Would also work well in a boat.

Headlight.

If you detect at night or search abandoned buildings, a headlight like the one shown above can be very handy.  Much better than a flashlight.

I've mentioned this one before, but I have an inexpensive battery tester that .I've used for about forty years and still works fine.  Very handy for checking detector batteries.

I recently got excellent Nikon binoculars.  Very good image at great distances.  I can easily look a mile or so up the beach and see any cuts or whatever.

I've also found rechargeable batteries very helpful.

Also waterproof containers that hold a wallet and cell phone or whatever.  I use those when water hunting or beach hunting.  Better than leaving things in the car.

One other thing I sometimes like to use is a hoodie with a hood big enough that I can wear it over headphones.  Not only does it help keep me warm, but it also cuts down on wind noise.

Reel Legends Performance Clothing makes both pants and shirts that have lots of pockets and useful features.  They make sunblock clothing too, which is a good idea, especially if you don't like suntan lotion.

My Reel Legends pants have maybe close to twenty pockets of different types  and sizes.  They are ideal for carrying accessories such as a pinpointer or whatever, and the pockets can be secured in various ways.  Some pockets have Velcro or buttons and some are on the inside and hidden.  Excellent for securing finds.

For over twenty years I've used motion-activated security cameras around my house.  If the UPS person or anyone shows up when I'm not home, I have good video of them and their vehicle.  For example, since I sometimes ship my detector when I travel, I wasn't home one time when the detector was delivered, and I didn't find it even though I had a notice that it had been delivered.  I checked the video and saw the mailman place the package behind some porch furniture where I didn't see it.

The motion-activated cameras are not inexpensive, but I really like having them.  They are excellent and work well for a number of years in the weather.

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Earthquake-causing meteor leaves southeast Michigan residents awestruck was the ABC News headline, despite the fact that researchers said the meteor, which was seen over five states, did not cause the earthquake.

Click here for to read that article.

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You can preview the book, The Last Days Incas by Kim MacQuarrie free online.  If you like reading about conquistadors and treasure, click here.

I read part of it and found it interesting.

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The big news today is a prediction I noticed in MagicSeaWeed.  They are predicted a big surf for the 27th.

Here is the prediction for the Fort Pierce area.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

We've had some cold this year.  Some people say that Florida doesn't have seasons.  I think we definitely do.  The leaves might not change color but the license plates do.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net