3/15/19 Report - How A Beautiful Pre-Civil War Artifact Was Recovered From the Depths. Bone Find? Interesting Surf Prediction for T. C.

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

1852 Tea Pot Recovered From Steamer Wreck On Display.

Find and photo by Sebastian Steve

I just received the following in an email from Sebastian Steve.

IMMIGRANT KETTLE/TEA POT 1852  Recovered by Sebastian Steve.

I saw your 'TEAPOT' photo, so I thought I might share my recovery (from about 30 years ago) of a teapot or kettle and the story that it carries on...hopefully forever...however long that is.

I was salvaging a passenger steamer up in Lake Erie, lost in 1852.  I went down on my morning dive to 160 feet, and worked along the port gunnel.  Sure enough jammed in the passageway on the main deck was an "immigrant crate" as I had named them.  This one the top was missing, evidently blown off from the air pressure trapped inside.  They really were not like an immigrant trunk with a big lid that opens.  Instead these were often just heavily built hardwood boxes nailed shut for the period of the voyage.  

Theft was rampant back in these days, and the only way to keep your goods safe, was to guard them day and night.  Literally sleep with your head resting against your crate.  Nailing your "Crate" shut certainly deterred theft!  The wealthy in first class would consign their luggage and valuables to the ship's purser, who kept all their belongings locked up tight in the purser's cabin for safe keeping. 

And as I began to feel around inside this immigrant crate, I could feel many objects to my delight still remained. Certainly all the contents could have been blown out from the air pressure.  This of course was all by feel, as the second my hand touched the first artifact, the powder silt was up, up, and away!  Totally bringing the visibility of the dive down to near zero at this location.  

But I was used to working in low visibility, or even just by feel, so I continued to investigate the contents of this crate.  A beautiful oval cheese box came out.  Totally hand made and carved with decorations in the wood.  These were often given as wedding gifts to a new young couple.  The crate had preserved the thin wood perfectly, and all the inscriptions and patterns could be seen.  A beautiful piece indeed.

Then I felt something harder near the bottom of the crate.  Harder, yet round with a protrusion.  I pulled this artifact up and out into the clearer water.  And I saw for the first time, that I had a beautiful tea pot or kettle as they are often known by.  Not a bit of damage, no dents, amazing how it survived a collision and foundering into 160 feet of water with no damage!  But wait... the lid was missing.  I think I groaned so hard, I almost spit out my regulator.  My chances of finding that lid was next to zero.  It must have blown out the top of the crate when the lid blew off.  What a royal shame... Still a pretty piece, and I could see some kind of inscription on the handle.  

And so I surfaced after my 11 minutes of decompression.  My total dive was about 50 minutes, but only 20 minutes of that was actually on the wreck.  In the afternoon dive, (after sitting out for 4 hours for residual nitrogen to escape my blood stream) my next dive would have the same profile for decompression, but only 15 minutes of time on the wreck.  So yes...a total working day of only 35 minutes....and a full hour boat ride each way to the wreck.  There was no time for sightseeing, not with the business I was in of making my living from the deep.

It was a beautiful day...and after a nice rest in the warm sun, a sandwich and soft drink, it was time to suit up again.  Down I slid on the descent line, deeper and deeper, and right over I swam to my mystery chest I had just located that very morning.  And I against all odds, felt around in the bottom of the crate for the lid.  I knew exactly what it would feel like, and its size.  My minds eye would identify this lid quite easily "If" it were only still there in the crate.  Blown out...in reality it could be anywhere.  Depending on when the air pressure had her way with the crate.  The lid could be five feet from the crate, or 50 feet away under three feet of silt.  It had to be found in the crate or kiss it goodbye...forever.  

I feel like I almost "willed" this lid into my hand.  Because at about ten minutes into the dive I had her in my hand !!!  I knew it right away, but I still backed up and thrust my arm up and above the silt cloud into clear enough water to see what I had.  And OH-Boy...was I a happy diver.  Far too fine a piece of history to not be complete.  And now she was complete in all her glory.

What makes this kettle so special?  If you study the inscription on the handle... it is "MHD" 1852.  And there is also a maker's mark from when the kettle was made.  This is only speculation...but I would state my reputation on this...Some gifted man for beautiful scroll work, purchased this kettle in N.Y.City after crossing the ocean from the Fatherland.  To commemorate his arrival in the United States, he scribed into the handle his initials, and the date.  Making this a very important --immigrant artifact--- of 1852.  I believe he had the calm and time to do the carving as he went peacefully down the Erie Canal from the Hudson River to Buffalo, N.Y. on a horse drawn canal boat. 

Inscribed Tea Pot Handle.

Photo by Sebastian Steve (clipped by TG)

And so after 30 years it was time....time for a new home that could guarantee its continuity and safety.  I carefully selected a couple who run a maritime museum out of their home in Michigan.  It's first rate in all respects.  And just as important, this Ken has a deep and loving respect for the history of The Great Lakes.  I wish him well with this gorgeous piece of immigrant history.  A piece this fine might bring in the neighborhood of $5,000.

All the Best,

Sebastian Steve 

Very meaningful and beautiful find!  Thanks for sharing Steve.

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John L. sent me the following email and photos.

Hello again.

I was wondering if you and/or your readers could tell me anything about this find.

I know very little about fossils, but this sure seems to be one resembling a tooth.

Found it in a line of shells at a local, municipal, tourist beach.

Thank you again for keeping up your terrific blog! 

I don't think this is a tooth, but if you can provide more specific information on the item, please email me.

Find and photos by John L.

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Now this is starting to look like it could get interesting.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

Three days in a row of 4 - 6 foot surf is predicted for the Treasure Coast.  Of course, it could change for the worse yet.

Keep watching,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/8/17 Report - Erosion at One Renourished Beach. Ole Timer Talk: Crate of Dishes. Benefit of Reading Broadly.

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

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Erosion
Photo by Gaylen C.

You might remember Gaylen's find that looked something like a Marlinespike or maybe an engraving tool.  Galen sent a message and some photos from his hunt yesterday.  Here is what he had to say.

Went back to the same area as my relic find. Found another nail or spike, but it may prove to be fairly modern. Lots of signals. Picked up a few things. The dunes look like this from the south jetty for a long way and then gets a little more slope. High tide was within a foot or so of dune. Really undercut in some places, with lots of sand falling to the foot. Several different layers showing. The piece I got was among larger rocks at the base.

The following photo shows how high the cliff is and the various layers.  Note the rocks at the bottom of the cliff.

Thanks for the report and photos Gaylen.

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Brain M. sent the following Ole Timer Talk.

Here is a quick little treasure story that happened to an old friend of mine 20 + years ago on the treasure coast. He was out metal detecting after a storm . Big cut on the beach and if I remember correctly it was at night. He noticed something that stood out as strange. There partially exposed in the wall of the cut was a stack of dishes. He told me when he saw it he figured that someone had a pic-nick back in the 1930’s   and must have left them on the beach. He didn’t mess with them he was looking for coins and metal. Days later he was talking to another treasure hunter and was told of Chinese porcelain dishes were cargo. I don’t remember what dynasty he said it was from. He told me they looked like they were stacked and the crate must have rotted away and left the stack of dishes in the wall of the cut. From what he told me they were worth a fortune had he only known what he was looking at. When he went back the sand was in and the cut was gone. We wonder if they are still there waiting to be found intact or did the incoming sand and surf knock them out and smash them to bits.

We most likely will never know.

Thanks Brian.

A stack of well preserved Kang Hsi porcelain would indeed be worth a lot.

I've been very much surprised by how often I already know something about these accounts that go back twenty years or more or the people involved.

I knew the fellow who found the eight escudo in Clint's account, for example, and I also heard about these plates.  I don't remember now when or where I heard about the plates, but I think I might have even posted something about them in this blog years ago.

The lesson Brian's account provides is that you should get to know as much as you can about various types of treasure so you will recognize them and their possible significance when you see them in the field. There have been a lot of times when I failed to recognize something good.  I regret some of those failures to this day.

One example that came to mind yesterday was the time when I was on Pigeon Island at a battle site from right around 1800 when I dug a rusted twisted piece of metal that I later realized was the hammer from a flintlock.  Right beside that piece was a squared piece of flint.  I can see it in my mind's eye today.  I was hanging on the side of a steep cliff, with an old Tesoro detector, which I fitted out with a short board as a rod stem.  ( The short stem helped since the face of the cliff was right in front of my face.)  I was using a screw driver as a dig tool.

I didn't pay much attention to either the rusted metal item or the flint when I dug them.  I wish I had realized their significance and kept them.  If I found the same items today, I know I would have kept them, and better realizing their significance, I also would have hunted the immediate area more thoroughly to find other pieces of the musket or other items.

It is easy to get so focused on coins or some other particular kind of target that you miss other types of items that can actually be more valuable, not to mention being significant clues.

Those dishes, as Brian pointed out, could have been worth a lot, but they were ignored because of a lack of that realization.  They could have also been a clue that other good things might have been buried in the area.

I didn't know what my first fossil find was, but I kept it.  I just kept it out of curiosity.  I didn't find out what it was until probably at least ten years later.  I undoubtedly passed up other fossil finds before that one, not knowing what they were.

I also failed to recognize the first enameled ring I found from a 1715 Fleet wreck site.  I thought it was modern because I incorrectly thought that enameling was a modern process.  Even though it was gold and very attractive, I didn't pay very much attention to it when I dug it.  I just slipped it into my pocket not thinking much of it because I was targeting shipwreck items.  How wrong I was!

Enameling is actually a very old process.  In fact it is believed to go back to at least the 13th century BC. (See https://www.ganoksin.com/article/earliest-cloisonne-enamels/)

I used to hear people say that if something is plated, it is not hundreds of years old because plating is a fairly modern process.  That might be true of some types of plating, but gold and silver gilding is a very old process.

I think you get the point.  Knowing something about a wide variety of types of objects can be very helpful.  The failure to recognize items you see in the field can be a big mistake.

I'm sure I sometimes talk about items that a lot of people are not interested in.  You might not have any interest in iron artifacts, for example, but those rusted old items might provide important clues to a site and other types of treasure.  They might also hold more economic value than you think. 

You might not be interested in sea glass, but a piece of black glass washed up on a beach might be a good clue to the presence of other historic items nearby.  If you do a lot of reading, you might be better prepared to recognize various kinds of treasure when you see them and be better able to interpret what the item is telling you about the site.

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We're going to be getting a cold front.  The wind will be coming from the north for a couple of days, but the surf will be small.  The tides are pretty good yet.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net