12/8/16 Report - October 1715 Salvage. Listed Jewelry Finds From Rio Mar. GPS Coordinates For Wrecks, Obstacles and Dive Sites.

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

Here is an excerpt from a document referred to online as Exhibit 99.  The excerpt is a translation of a report written by Don Miguel de Lima y Melo on the 15th of October, 1715.

All of the cargos of the other ships were all lost, less a few leather bags off my ship, but this was little because by the day following the disaster the hold of my ship was completely full of water with over a codo and a half (27 inches) over the main hatchway. This was caused because we were unable to cut the rigging on the leeward side of the ship to dislodge the foremast. By the movements of the sea, caused by the mast still being erect, the bottom part of the ship opened and if this hadn’t happened I would have been able to recover all of the cargo on my ship.

However, for the first eleven hours following the ship wrecking, the ship was strong as it had been before the disaster which is the ultimate proof of its great strength.. I have been fortunate in bringing much of what was salvaged to the Havana, but the remainder is buried underground in my Real [camp] and I am hoping it could be picked up by the next schooners that arrive there. But sir, most of the cargo is badly damaged and wet due to the water entering my ship and in carrying the things from my wreck to the shore in a small boat… Only my small boat and another of the Capitana were the only launches which were left after the disaster...

There is some interesting and useful information.  What was salvaged was buried for safe keeping until it could be dispatched.  That would undoubtedly be back in the dunes.  And I'm sure that at least some small amount would be dropped or missed.

Here is the link for more about that.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/85684/000102826906000019/ex99-2ahc8k.htm

Here is another excerpt that you might find interesting.

The Carmen carried a number of wealthy passengers on their way back to Spain. It is likely that these passengers carried items in their luggage not declared on the manifest (contraband). This is supported by the fact that several recovered items from the site are not listed on the manifest. For example items recovered include:

1) an emerald teardrop
2) a three-carat ruby stone
3) a gold finger ring with amethyst

4) 8 gold rings
5) 5 gold earrings
6) 2 gold brooches
7) 2 gold flower ornament holders
8) a gold hat pin
9) a gold hair piece
10) 2 gold crucifixes
11) 3 pairs of gold cuff-links
12) 3 gold pendants
13) 3 gold wire pieces
14) a gold grooming spoon
15) a silver candelabra

And a partridge in a pear tree.

As you probably know, the Carmen is thought to be the wreck at Rio Mar.

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You might also find this web site useful.  It gives GPS coordinates for shipwrecks and all kinds of submerged junk along St. Lucie County.   It is useful for diving or fishin but you might find it useful for identifying things you come across.

Here is the link

http://www.floridagofishing.com/reefs/ce-reefs-st-lucie-county.html

Similar web sites give data for the other counties.

Here is the link or Indian River County.

http://www.floridagofishing.com/reefs/ce-reefs-indian-river-county.html

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Thursday and Friday the surf is supposed to be only one or two feet.   The surf is supposed to be two to four feet Saturday.  That could be interesting.  We'll have to see how it develops.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/26/15 Report - Erika Headed Towards Florida, Lima 8-escudo, Treasure Crates, Smuggling and Contraband, New Wreck Discovered

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

Predicted Path of Erika.
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Erika looks to be headed towards Palm Beach and is expected to arrive very early Monday as a level 1 hurricane.  There are still a few days for all of that to change, so keep watching.

The surfing web sites are not predicting a big increase in surf. They are only showing a maximum of four feet on Sunday evening, decreasing after that.

It is still too early to be certain.  That could change as well.

I'd really like to see some sand get removed.  I'd so like to see a ripped beach.  It has been so long.

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1702 Lima 8-Escudo
Photo submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez.

Here is an interesting escudo.  Notice how the top of the pillars is off angle.

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The other day I was talking about how treasure was packaged on the treasure fleets.  I found the following in the Foster article on Talegas and Contraband.

Here is that link again.

 http://www.academia.edu/9270986/Talegas_and_Hoards_The_Archaeological_Signature_of_Contraband_on_a_1725_Spanish_Merchant_Vessel

The chests weren't always cedar, and they weren't always of exactly the same dimensions, but it seems they were usually pretty similar.   Since gold is nearly twice as dense as silver, I'd assume that crates carrying gold weighed closer to 450 pounds.

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There is a lot of really good information on the internet these days. Here are a couple of books that I found.

One is Smuggling: Contraband and Corruption in World History by Alan Karras.

Click here to link to that book.    Click on View Sample when you get there to read the sample.

Looks like a very interesting book.

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 Here is another book you might like to take a look at.  It is  Treasures of the Spanish Main: Shipwrecked Galleons in the New World by John Chistopher Fine.

You can read a sample of that one online too.  The sample had some nice information on the 1715 Fleet.

Click here to link to that.

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(August 24, 2015) - During the repair of the US 50 Bridge over the Nanticoke River, the Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration (SHA) discovered an 18th century shipwreck in the water. SHA was removing debris from under the bridge when workers realized some of the wood may be ship timbers...

Here is that link.

http://www.roads.maryland.gov/Pages/release.aspx?newsId=2332

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Keep watching Erika.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/24/15 Report - Contraband Treasure and Signs To Look For. Shipping Containers for Treasure. Danny Disappeared.

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

Active Atlantic
Source: National Hurricane Center

As you can see Danny fell apart.  That is the end of him.  However, there are two more systems coming off of Africa.

The one behind Danny has an eighty percent chance of becoming a cyclone in the next 48 hours.  It seems to be on a similar path.

Here are some more fresh escudos that were on display Thursday.

Three More Of The Escudos Displayed At Thursday Press Release.

I'm not absolutely sure, but from what I can see of the two shields, it looks like they might be from Bogota, Columbia.

Correct me if I'm wrong about that.  As you know, I'm not any kind of expert on numismatics.

We are fortunate to see so many fine examples.  It gives you an idea about what was on these wrecks and what could possibly be found.

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Yesterday I started talking about the recent finds and how they might have ended up where they were found.   In my opinion there would be very little chance of the cobs that descended to deep cracks or tight crevices would ever be washed up on the beach.

I think I mentioned yesterday that I didn't know of any evidence of any bags or boxes associated with those cobs.  The   treasure chests that held the cobs on the Atocha were simply plain boxes nailed shut.  They weren't ornate at all, and didn't have a lid that flips up.  While the dimensions varied, the tops and bottoms were around 57 by 22 cm., and the sides were 57 by 16 cm.  There were no hinges or hardware.  Below is a picture of one such unexcavated box as found on the site of the Atocha.

Source:  http://www.melfisher.org/pdf/The_Treasure_Chest_Defined_Atocha.pdf

One chest of silver reales held 2,225 cobs of various denominations, and weighed just over 130 pounds.

As you probably know, a lot of the treasure on these galleons was contraband.  I found a very good article about contraband treasure.  The title is Talegas and Hoards: The Archaeological Signature of Contraband on a 1725 Spanish Merchant Vessel, by John Foster, Matthew Maus and Anna Rogers. The authors attempted to identify common characteristics of contraband treasure.  The paper is base upon observations of contraband treasure found on the site of the Nuestra Senora de Begona.  I think you'll find the article interesting.

"Talegas" are bags.  While they did not discover intact bags, that article did show pictures of the clumped contents of such bags (Shown immediately below.)

The primary purpose of the Foster paper was to help identify contraband.  Here are their conclusions.

Contraband treasure tends to consist of coins of highly diverse origin.  They would be stored in containers of different sizes and shapes, mostly smaller, rather than being shipped in standard size containers such as the shipping boxes and bags like those I mentioned.  They tend to consist more of small denomination coins.  Contraband coins tend include a wide variety of dates and show a good amount of wear from circulation.  They also may include clipped coins.  Of course they are unregistered and may be unstamped.  They also may show evidence of having been concealed in barrel bottoms or other methods of concealment.

If you compare the finds recently made by the Capitana guys, you won't find much to make you think those escudos were contraband.  In fact the unusual group of 1711 Mexican royals were about the opposite of what you would expect of contraband.

Is it possible they were wedding gifts meant for the Isabel Farnese, the new wife of Philip V.  They were married in 1714.  I guess it is possible.

At one time the newly found escudos were probably in a shipping chest like those described above. What happened to the chest is unknown.  It could have been broken at any point.  If it remained in the sea, it probably disintegrated long ago.

I think you'll find the Foster paper to be very interesting reading.  Here is the link.

http://www.academia.edu/9270986/Talegas_and_Hoards_The_Archaeological_Signature_of_Contraband_on_a_1725_Spanish_Merchant_Vessel

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I heard the other day that a device that repels sharks is being sold for surf boards.  It emits some sort of signal.

Here is a link about that.

http://surfsafe.net.au/

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I'm not expecting any change in beach detecting conditions now that Danny has disappeared.  We'll get a storm some day for the Treasure Coast.  It is long over due.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net