5/9/20 Report - 1733 Wrecks. All About Privateering. Mystery Maker's Mark.

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

Unidentified Maker's Mark.

I've found a lot of silverware in the past, but recently found some new silverware that I researched.  I recently got one big ornate spoon from very deep on the back beach.  I'll get that one photographed before long, but it got me interested in going back and looking at some other finds that I hadn't yet taken the time to research. Some came from near the same area.

One that I cleaned a little and just looked at is an ornate spoon bearing the above maker's mark which I haven't yet found.  I photographed it both ways because I don't know which way it is supposed to go and it appears to have numbers both above and below the mark.  Between the globe and the Pat. is what appears to maybe be 1851.  On the other side of the crossed silverware appears to be 4800 or A.8.00 and maybe a 9 or 6.

I'm hoping someone can help me out with this.

Here is the spoon.

Dug Spoon.

I cleaned it a bit and took a photo of the handle.

Spoon Motif.

And here is what appears to be the patent date.  I cleaned it to show better.

Spoon Patent Mark.

It has enough good information on it.  I hope someone can identify the maker's mark.

I noticed I have some other interesting ones.  I'll be going through some of those, but am most interested in the big one recently dug from about two feet in old sand at the back of the beach.

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As published in: Creating a shipwreck trail: documenting the 1733 Spanish Plate Fleet wrecks, by Jennifer McKinnon.

Here is the link.

https://www.academia.edu/1611770/Creating_a_shipwreck_trail_documenting_the_1733_Spanish_Plate_Fleet_wrecks?email_work_card=view-paper

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You might enjoy this academic article by Sean Kingsley, The Art and Archaeology of Privateering: British Fortunes and Failures in 1744.  Here is the abstract.

Two shipwrecks discovered by Odyssey Marine Exploration in the English Channel in 2008 are embedded in the history of the War of the Austrian Succession (1739-48) and specifically the year 1744. The First Rate Royal Navy warship HMS Victory was lost in the western English Channel on 5 October that year, while returning from escorting to sea one outgoing commercial convoy and liberating another blockaded down the River Tagus in Lisbon.  The date of 1744 inscribed on the bell recovered from Site 33c in the same part of the Channel, alongside the name La Marquise de Tourny, revealed that Odyssey had also discovered the wreck of a Bordeaux corsair launched in the year when France joined the war. Both ships actively participated in the protection of trade and the art of privateering. This article contextualizes both wrecks by examining the objectives, character, structure and scales of privateering and securing prizes during the War of the Austrian Succession before discussing the few comparable wrecks to assess whether it is realistic to refer to an archaeology of privateering.
© Odyssey Marine Exploration, 2010

Here is the link.

https://www.academia.edu/3597716/Sean_Kingsley_The_Art_and_Archaeology_of_Privateering_British_Fortunes_and_Failures_in_1744?email_work_card=view-paper

And if you didn't look at the article on near-shore shipwrecks, I posted a link for that yesterday.  I think you'll find it interesting. 

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I saw a few minutes of the Palm Beach County Commission meeting yesterday and I'd bet they are about to open the beaches.  Their medical person seemed to be in favor of it.

I get word that Sebastian Inlet State park is open with limitations.  You can go on the beach.  I think most of the Indian River County beaches are now open 7AM to 7PM except for Seagrape Trail.  The stairs at the Seagrape access are broken.

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The surf will be smooth today with some pretty big tides.  At low tide you should be able to get pretty far out on the beach today.

Tomorrow the surf will begin to increase again, reaching four to six feet in a few days.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/30/17 Report - $130 Million In Sunken Nazi Gold. Pirates And The 1715 Fleet. Tropical Activity In The Gulf.

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

Source: See FoxNews link below.

SS Minden, a German cargo ship scuttled in waters near Iceland during the early days of World War II, may contain a huge trove of Nazi gold.

The merchant vessel, which is 120 nautical miles south of Iceland, is in the international spotlight following the reported discovery of a chest containing up to four tons of Nazi gold on the wreck. The horde is valued at 100 million British pounds (approximately $130 million), according to news reports.

U.K. salvage company Advanced Marine Services (AMS) has reportedly requested permission from Icelandic authorities to cut a hole in the ship’s hull and remove the chest.

Here is the link.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2017/07/27/sunken-wwii-ship-may-contain-130-million-nazi-gold.html

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I found a very good web site about pirates.  I'll give you a few short excerpts that relate to our area just to give you some idea of the kind of information you'll find on that site.

The pirate population of New Providence was swollen in 1715 by a shipwreck off the Florida coast. This wasn’t just an everyday shipwreck. The dozen or so ships that were driven aground by a hurricane made up the Spanish plate fleet. In the hold of just one of the flag ships were three million silver pieces-of-eight, gold bars and coins, pearls and jewellery. The second ship of the fleet was almost as heavily loaded, with another three million pieces-of-eight, and there were nine more ships with smaller quantities of treasure....

Pirates close in

Soon, of course, English officials sat up and paid attention. The first was the governor of Virginia, who wrote to his bosses in London that

The Spanish plate fleet, richly laden, consisting of eleven ships, are, except one, lately cast away in the Gulf of Florida to the southward of St. Augustine …I think it my duty to inform his Majesty of this accident which may be improved to the advantage of his Majesty's subjects by encouraging them to attempt the recovery of some of that immense wealth.

Archibald Hamilton, the governor of Jamaica, also took an interest in the wreck. In fact, he took a very close interest indeed. Towards the end of November, not long after divers had stopped work for the winter, he sent two ships to sea. According to Hamilton, the Eagle and the Bathsheba were on a pirate-hunting mission that would last six months. Since Jamaica was itself a den of pirates, and had grown rich on the buccaneering trade, this perhaps seems rather surprising. So too was Hamilton’s choice of captain: he picked one Henry Jennings to command the Bathsheeba.

Jennings was no stranger to piracy – or at least, to its more upright brother, privateering. Jennings had successfully attacked Spanish ships in the war that had recently ended. Possibly Hamilton believed that Jennings’ experience as a privateer would make him a very effective pirate hunter, just as poachers make the best gamekeepers. But it’s much more likely that the governor and the captain had something altogether different in mind. Certainly Jennings wasted no time. The Eagle, the Bathsheba and three sloops sailed straight to the salvage site with 300 men.

Mooring their ships off-shore, the pirates waited until nightfall, cleaning their pistols, and sharpening their cutlasses ready for the attack. Then, armed to the teeth, they rowed to the sandbank. The raiders pulled their boats up the beach, well beyond the reach of the pounding surf that hid the sound of their approach. Then they lay low until dawn. The following morning, the company regrouped and drew their weapons before marching across the sand to the Spanish camp. Finding himself surrounded and outnumbered five-to-one, the Spanish commanding officer stared down the barrel of Henry Jennings flintlock pistol, then quizzically asked “Is it war?”.

“No” said Jennings “We have come to fish for the wrecks.”

“There is nothing of yours here…” replied the officer “…the vessels belong to his Catholic Majesty the King of Spain, and I and my people are looking for the treasure.” ...

That is actually a fairly long excerpt, but a very small portion of what you'll find on the site.

Here is the link.

http://www.piratechart.com/pages_ages/golden_age.php

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On the Treasure Coast we still have a small surf.

There are now two disturbances: one in the Atlantic and one in the Gulf.

The one in the Atlantic is not expected to strengthen real soon.  The other, however, is close to the Florida Panhandle and has a twenty percent chance of becoming a cyclone in the next 48 hours.

Source: nhc.noaa.org

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net