10/24/17 Report - More Post-Irma Finds. The Meaning and Derivation of Names Such as Nuestra Senora de las Nieves. Preserving Iron Artifacts.

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

Lead Shot and Half Reale
Finds and photo by DB

I've shown a number of Irma finds, including a lot of musket balls and a piece of gold.  Here is another post-Irma find.

With the photo I received the following email from DB.

Hello,

I started reading your blog not too long ago. I've learned a lot from them and always like to see cool finds from the area. I found my first Spanish coin and wanted to share with you. A half reale and little musket ball from a beach in IR County...

Thanks and keep up the good work!

Congratulations on your first Spanish cob DB!  Thanks for sharing.

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The shipwreck off of John Brooks is commonly thought to be the Nuestra Senora de las Nieves

Nieves is a Spanish surname and a female given name from the title of the Virgin Mary Nuestra Señora de las Nieves meaning "Our Lady of the Snows."

Many of the names of Spanish ships refer in Mother Mary in one say or another.  Here is an article about various names and references to Mary.

It begins, Mary has many names, or shall we call them titles? The Litany of Loreto refers to many different titles of Mary, but not all of them. Some of her titles refer to a city name corresponding to an apparition location, for example, Our Lady of Lourdes or Our Lady of Fatima. There are also devotional titles of Our Lady such as Our Lady, Undoer (or Untier) of Knots. And then there are many variations of titles which all have a unique history. One such devotion is to Mary under the title of Our Lady of Good Help...

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

http://catholicexchange.com/our-lady-of-good-what

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In my previous post I showed an an old anchor find.  Here is another smaller one.  It isn't as old.

Anchor Find Before Conservation and Coating.

I showed this anchor before, but what I wanted to say about it today is how I finally coated it.  I used clear Rustoleum after getting it stabilized.  Since coating it with Rustoleum, which I did five or more years ago now, it has shown absolutely no signs of deterioration.  It is very important to get it stabilized first before putting on any coating.

I like the clear glossy finish for some items, but you can chose any finish you like.

Here is what it looks like after it was cleaned and coated.

Anchor Coated With Clear Glossy Rustoleum.

It can take a good while to stabilize iron, especially if it has been in salt water.  I've talked about that before, but will refer you to the TAMU web site for tips on how to conserve iron items.

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The Treasure Coast surf is calmer now.  It is only a couple of feet, which will give you a chance to get a little farther out at low tide.

We're supposed to get some nice cool air, which I like a lot better than the 90 degree summer stuff.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/25/16 Report - Recent Land Finds, Wood Hulled Ship Construction and Components. Little UFO Fun.

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

Matthew uncovered some interesting things from south of the Treasure Coast up to North Florida.

Dan B., who treasure dives during the season, has been making fine finds on land in recent days.

Finds From One Site Dan hunted.

Finds by Dan B. From Another Site.

People sometimes say there is no place to hunt and nothing left to be found.  It takes work, but it is our there.  Research helps a lot.

Thanks for sharing Dan.

I've posted some iron artifacts in recent days.  There is more of that than I've posted too.  Some things are not ready for posting yet.

It is always good to have an idea of what a find might be and what it might mean.  Below is a sample illustration from great web site that talks about how wood-hulled ships are constructed.

And here is the link.

http://njscuba.net/artifacts/obj_hull_wood.php

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A day or two ago I posted an article about what was speculated to be an impossibly old aluminum part from a UFO.  Believe it or not, I once posted a UFO picture that I took by accident.  Of course I don't don't know what it is, but it looks like classic UFO photos.  You can see it better in the original photo.

I was taking a photo of the bottle and was surprised to see the item just above the top of the bottle.

And here is a closer view of the item.

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That is all for today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/23/16 Report - Iron Finds. Poll Results. Parks and Beach Accesses Open and Closed.

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

Post-Matthew Iron Find

Iron finds are often very corroded and difficult to identify with precision.  Proper conservation is absolutely necessary if you want to keep them.  I've talked about that in the past and if you search through the blog you'll find excellent instructions on what must be done.

Another Matthew Iron Find.

Some iron finds just won't clean up.  Sometimes the iron will be completely gone and nothing will remain except an empty mold in the shape of the object.  Sometimes other items will be in the clump, so it is good to check.

When I first dug this one I thought it might be a grapeshot, but don't think so now.

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The most recent blog poll has closed and the results are in (below).

If you detected since hurricane Matthew, what did you find?

Treasure coin(s) on the Treasure Coast	5 (9%)
Treasure coin(s) elsewhere	1 (1%)
Old shipwreck artifact(s) on the Treasure Coast	4 (7%)
Old shipwreck artifact(s) elsewhere	1 (1%)
Modern coins and items	27 (49%)
Nothing but junk	17 (30%)

As you can see, nearly ten percent of those that responded to the poll and had detected after Hurricane Matthew, found a treasure coin on the Treasure Coast.  That is an important number for me.  It is just right for what I rated as  level 2 detecting conditions for the Treasure Coast.  It is neither to high nor two low.  If it had been much higher I would hope that my rating would have been a three or more.  Of course that was undoubtedly helped along by the high number of people that were out detecting after the storm.

During a "1" rating I would expect almost nobody finding treasure coins, only an extremely rare exception.

You can also see that almost as many people found some type of shipwreck artifact on the Treasure Coast.  That could be almost anything from a spike to a cross or jewelry.

There were also some coins and artifacts reported from other places than the Treasure Coast, but not many.  The majority of those that read this blog are people that detect the Treasure Coast, so it is not surprising that that number is not higher.  

Nearly half of the respondents reported finding modern coins and items, and thirty percent reported finding nothing but junk.

The poll could have been constructed better, and I probably should have allowed multiple responses rather than a single response per person.  I don't take as much time as I should to construct these polls and always find something that I should have done differently.  Nonetheless, the results are still informative.  People did find treasure coins and shipwreck items, and I am very happy that my "2" beach detecting conditions rating seemed to be so accurate - neither too high nor too low.

Not only was it accurately predicted that cobs would be found, but the prediction of how many was also pretty good.

As I said before, Matthew was more like Sandy than Frances or Jeanne.  We got high water and some cobs, but not anything like the erosion and cuts of the other two storms.

Thanks much to all who responded and made this information available.

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Darrell S. submitted the following report.

According to my sources here is the following for upcoming week.

Sebastian Inlet State Park on the west side of A1A are reopened.

McLarty Museum reopened.

North Jetty Sebastian Inlet still closed.

Sebastian Bridge was closed, and no update, but assume the entrance to the campground, which is reopen, should be accessible.

ALL Indian River County Parks are under close supervision. Some open, others closed.

Turtle Trail will be closed due to loss of vegetation.

This report is from County Park site posted on October 20th.

Sea Grape is closed for repairs.

Ambersand, Treasure Shore, and Golden Sand were closed but may be open now.

Recreation Department No. 772-567-8000.

Great info Darrel. Thanks much!

I don't know why loss of vegetation results in a beach closing. Most if not all of it was planted recently in renourishment sand and was therefore nothing that you would expect to last more than a few years anyhow.


http://www.foxnews.com/science/2016/10/21/investigator-claims-ufo-wreckage-is-evidence-aliens-visited-earth-250000-years-ago.html

8/13/16 Report - Wedges and Chisels and Other Old Nautical Tools. Iron Artifacts of Port Royal. Conservation of Iron Artifacts.

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

Artifacts Found On Treasure Coast Beaches.

There are more than coins and gold and silver to be found on the 1715 Fleet wrecks.  Besides the cargo there were all the necessities of daily life, and the nautical tools that were needed to keep a sailing ship in good working order.  While those things might not be as glamorous or valuable as the queen's jewels they can be just as interesting and meaningful.

After finding information on the awl or fid that I showed yesterday, I decided to research a couple more iron beach finds a little more.  They fall into the category of tools.  They are shown above.

The larger one is not a chisel.  That is what I called it for a while, but then one helpful reader informed me that it is not a chisel.  It is a wedge.

A chisel removes material.  A wedge separates things, like boards on a ship when they are going to be caulked.

I'm not sure if the smaller one is a wedge or chisel.  I suspect it is a wedge too.  If it is a chisel, it would be for wood - maybe stone.

Years ago I found the bronze one shown immediately below.

While doing research on nautical tools, I found a great resource.  It is a master's thesis by Katie Custer, entitled Wrought Iron Hand Tools From The Underwater Archaeological Excavations of Colonial Port Royal, Jamaica, C. 1692.

The thesis is a very informative paper that you will probably want to browse.  As the title suggests, it describes iron tool artifacts having to do with various trades active in Port Royal in the late 17th Century.

Not only does the thesis look at the artifacts, it also considers historical records and inventories.  And of course there is a very useful reference list at the end.

Here is the link.

http://anthropology.tamu.edu/papers/Custer-MA2004.pdf

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If you learn to interpret and appreciate iron artifacts, you will also want to be able to properly clean and conserve them.

One good reference is a PDF file entitled, The Care and Preservation of Historical Iron.  This article was authored by Clara Deck, Senior Conservator of The Henry Ford Museum.

This one has a lot of good useful information too.

https://www.thehenryford.org/docs/default-source/default-document-library/the-henry-ford-iron-conservation.pdf?sfvrsn=2

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Horsing Iron.

Here is another web site you might want to look at.  It shows a lot of antique nautical tools, including this horsing iron, which would be used for caulking.

http://www.ageofsail.net/aosbt.asp


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I wanted to comment on the mystery item that I posted on 8/11.  I received an number of excellent thoughts from helpful readers of this blog.

My opinion is that the item is likely more modern.  A couple of knowledgeable and well-known shipwreck experts told Bob C. that the mystery item could be from a shipwreck.  The item was found near other items that I believe are probably 1715 Fleet. I don't presume to be more knowledgeable than the well-known experts, who also had the advantage of seeing the item in person, but my opinion after viewing the picture, is that it is most likely more modern.  My confidence level is 70 or 80 percent that it is modern.  Of course I could be wrong.

The item might be easier to identify after it is cleaned.

Thanks to all who offered opinions.

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There is no tropical activity of interest right now and the surf will remain calm for at least a few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/4/15 Report - Beach Emerald Found. Iron Artifacts. Don Diego De Vargas. 7 Foot Surf Predicted For Tuesday.

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

Emerald Found On A Treasure Coast Treasure Beach

You never know what you might see on a beach.  Here is an emerald found on one of the Treasure Coast beaches.
It was in a shell pile.

It is green, but the light reflecting in the photo doesn't show the color very well.  I tried to get the light to show the facets, which wasn't good for the color.   It is partly encased in matrix.

Others have found emeralds on the beach too.

That is another reminder to keep your eyes open when detecting.





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The most read post of September was the  9/7/15 Report - Great Numismatic Study of Dug Pistareens. Tropical Storm Grace Headed This Way. Ring Beach Find.

The most "google plused" posts of September were  the 9/6/15 Report - Bernard Romans And The 1715 Fleet. Tropical Storm Grace, and  the 9/23/15 Report - One Way To Add Value And Interest To Your Treasures. North Carolina Beaches Producing. Sea Glass Web Sites.  They were tied.

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You'll find a lot of iron on the treasure beaches.  Most of it is modern, but once in a while you can find an old iron item.  Shipwreck spikes are not real rare.  They are often found heavily encrusted.

If you find a nice old iron item, it has to be treated properly or it could eventually crumble into nothing.  It is a shame to see a nice old piece rust and fall apart.

The first step is to get it into a water bath so the salt will leach out.

I won't get into conservation methods today.  I've done that before, but you can't just leave them sit around.

Here are some nice old iron pieces that have undergone treatment at the conservation lab.

Various Iron Shipwreck Items At The Conservation Lab.

Notice that ax head at the bottom right corner.  Also the bar shot.

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Here is an interesting read.

To the Royal Crown Restored: The Journals of Don Diego de Vargas, New Mexico, 1692 - 1694.

Click here to read.

It is about the restoration of the government after a revolt by the natives.

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They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  I think it is just as true to say that treasure is where you see it.  It seems that some can see treasure where others can't.  I wonder if there aren't some people who can't see treasure at all.

As I grow older my idea of treasure changes.  Last night I was reminded of one treasure that I hadn't appreciated enough.

My dad wasn't the warm fuzzy type.  He didn't give out praise and encouragement.  I don't think he knew how because he never got it himself, not having a father around and being on his own from the time he was very young.

Every Saturday evening he drove me several miles to where the newspapers were dropped off at a gas station on old U.S. 40.  We'd assemble them in the truck, then he'd drive me back to our neighborhood where I'd deliver the papers door to door.

It was a rural area where there were farms with homes scattered between the old farms, so the paper route spread out over I don't know how many miles.

I remember the old farm houses. At the first old farm house on top of a hill where my grandfather was raised in the early 1900s, the dogs were always sleeping on the front porch steps, and I'd step over them to get to the screen door.  The chickens were pecking around in the yard.  It looked just like the house on The Waltons except it was on top of a big hill on a winding unpaved road.

At the next farm there was often a bull right next to the road in front of the house.  I was afraid of that big old bull, and wondered how a little stake in the ground and a chain attached to a ring in his nose was to hold supposed to hold him.  I never trusted it, but I guess it worked.

Then on through the route.  I think I made $2.50 a week.  I don't know how many houses there were.  I'd guess maybe fifty.  And that about works out since I got a nickle a paper.

I had appreciated it before to some extent, but it really hit me today, about how dad spent his time and gas money every Saturday evening to give me the lessons that I learned on my paper route.  Maybe it was as much about spending time together.  Now he is gone.  And now, sixty some years later, I'm old enough to see how much of a treasure it was.  Thanks dad.  It means more than anything I could ever dig up.

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The surf web sites haven't changed much.  The prediction for Tuesday is now for a surf of around 7 feet.  I think it will come down to the wind, and I don't think it is going to do the trick.  We will get some winds from the north on Tuesday, but it doesn't look very strong.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net