2/12/19 Report - 1715 Fleet Site In Melborne. Shipwreck Dispersion and Scatter. Muckelroy Model.

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

Here is the Executive Summary and Conclusion of an article that you might enjoy reading.   It is by
Dr. Robert H. Baer, Professional Archaeologist, Seafarer Exploration Corp.

Executive Summary This paper provides evidence that the Melbourne Beach shipwreck scatter is derived from one of the missing Spanish 1715 Plate Fleet shipwrecks, the Santisima Trinidad y Nuestra Señora de la Concepción.

Conclusion From the evidence, it is concluded that the diagnostic artifacts – the Monteros Platter and the Ramirez Flintlock Pistol recovered at the Melbourne Beach site approxiamately 14 miles north of the 1715 shipwreck sites is undoubtedly cargo from a missing 1715 shipwreck. It is believed that the vessel scatter at the site is that of the Santisima Trinidad y Nuestra Señora de la Concepcieon, the vessel that transported the consigned box of presents including the Monteros Platter from Veracruz to Havana and from Havana to the Florida Treasure Coast where it was recovered almost 300 years later. 

Here is the link if you want to read the entire article.

http://seafarerexplorationcorp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Dr.-Robert-Baer-Melbourne-Beach.pdf

Among other things you will find photos of artifacts, including but not limited to the pistol and silver plate.

Thanks to Dale J. for sending me that link.

The above article refers to the Muckelroy model, which describes the dispersion or scatter of shipwreck artifacts and materials.  I thought I once posted a flow chart of the Muckelroy model in this blog, but for some reason I can not find it now.  You might enjoy looking it up if you can find it somewhere in this blog or elsewhere.

If you are interested in looking into shipwreck dispersion processes or the Muckelroy model, here is a link that will help you get started.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archaeology_of_shipwrecks#Muckelroy's_model

Here is a part of that article referring to a paper by Martin Gibbs (2006) that describes some of the human activities that affect a shipwreck site.

A paper by Martin Gibbs in 2006,^[11] expands Muckelroy's model to consider human behaviour at the time of the disaster and the long term relationship between people and shipwrecks. This model uses studies of humans involved in disasters to characterise the human activity into phases around the time of the wrecking. This model considers:

• Pre-impact threat phase, in which humans considering the risk may take avoiding action which results in there being no wreck, or may take unsuccessful action to mitigate the perceived threat, for example the wreck location may be the result of attempting to avoid some perceived greater threat. Stowage of cargo may also indicate consideration of threat.
• Pre-impact warning phase, in which humans may take drastic action to avoid catastrophe, for example, running a vessel ashore, jettisoning cargo or running out anchors.
• Impact, in which the decision is made to abandon ship or remain aboard, and, for example, attempt to refloat.
• Post impact, where survivors regroup and, for example, salvage their own goods or make repairs.
• Rescue and Post-disaster where the vessel is abandoned and in which third parties may be involved in salvage or in removing remains that present a hazard to navigation.

In addition to human activities there are the impacts of storms and other things that can affect the scatter hundreds of years later.  That is something I've talked about good bit.

I've wondered about some of these things, such as why there appears to be more smaller cobs found on the beach (especially some beaches) compared to the larger proportion of larger cobs found on the shipwreck site found by salvagers.  I've considered a number of possible reasons for that including both natural and human but won't get into that now.

Anyway, I think you'll find the above sources interesting reading.

You might also want to take a look at this one.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Evolution-of-a-shipwreck-Muckelroy-1978_fig3_264469355

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191 mph wind and 60-foot waves on Maui?  That is what it says.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2019/02/10/hawaii-storm-brings-60-foot-waves-power-outages/2832866002/

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MagicSeaWeed is predicting a two to four-foot surf for the next few days.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

6/15/14 Report - Capitana Crew Strikes Again, More Finds - Sword Hilt & Silver Plate & Important Tip For Storing Finds

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

Encrusted Sword Hilt Salvaged by Capitana Crew
Photo submitted by Captain Martinez

I showed a number of great finds made by the crew of the Capitana yesterday.  That wasn't the end of it though.  They are making finds day after day.  Captain Martinez send me another email yesterday.

Captain Martinez said, The Capitana boys are on fire!   Just sent in pics a day ago and yesterday hit again with a silver intact full plate. And an encrusted sword handle with hilt. FYI 3 days 3 different spots over a stretch of a mile. So for those who think these wrecks have been picked clean. Lol these wrecks will produce treasure for hundreds of years to come. Thanks for all the support and will keep the pics coming. 

It has been nearly 300 years since the 1715 Fleet sank along the shores of the Treasure Coast, and the residents of the Treasure Coast have been hunting and finding treasure coins on the Treasure Coast beaches for over fifty years now.  Of course there were also those who found shipwreck treasures on the Treasure Coast centuries ago, including Native Americans, Spanish salvors and even pirates and privateers.  There is a long unbroken tradition that continues on the Treasure Coast today.

Silver Plate Salvaged by Capitana Crew
Photo submitted by Captain Martinez

For any treasure hunter, there are those long dry spells.  Maybe they aren't as long as they seem, but they do happen.  With hard work and patience, eventually treasure emerges.   It might come in the form of a crusty lump or a pile of sparkling gold.

The salvage crews have their season.  They primarily work the Treasure Coast during the smooth waters of summer.  Beach hunters have another season.  Their season is Fall to Spring when the seas get rough and sand gets cut from the beach.  And occasionally when there is a big storm during the summer.

I often say there is always some place to hunt and something to find.  Sometimes it is in the water, sometimes it is on the beach, and sometimes it is inland.

The sand keeps moving.  It moves from one place to another.  That is what we watch.  The endless movement of the sands of time.

The salvage crews use their blowers to move the sand.  On the beach, hunters have to wait for Mother Nature to move the sand.

As the sand moves from one place to another, things are uncovered.  The trick is to watch for those windows of opportunity and to be at the right place at the right time.

It has been over five decades now that treasure hunters have been working the Treasure Coast, and treasure is still being found.  As Captain Jonah said, the Treasure Coast wrecks will produce treasure for hundreds of years to come.


One thing that I haven't talked much about that is worth discussing is storage of finds.  We all know that some finds have to be cleaned and some need to be conserved, but all finds need to be stored, either for hours or days or years.

One thing you should NOT do is throw various metals in a pile together.  Different metals will leach onto each other.  It doesn't take real long.  And it happens in dry storage.

If you let different metals touch in storage they will leach and discolor.  Silver seems to be especially vulnerable.

You don't have to worry much about gold or platinum, but be careful about storing less noble metals together.

Three Pieces of Silver Jewelry Discolored
By Touching Other Metals.

This picture shows there pieces of silver jewelry that were discolored by being stored touching other metals.

On the bottom ring you can see where two different metals were touching.  One left a white discoloration and the other a rust colored discoloration.

It is best to store finds individually wrapped.  Junk metal finds are the worst villain.

Coin holders are excellent for coins and other small finds.

Labeling can also be a big help, as well as organization for easily locating items when you want them.




On the Treasure Coast the tides are nice and high. The surf is going to be just a touch higher Monday and Tuesday but back down again after that.

No significant change in beach detecting conditions.

Happy Father's Day,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net