11/14/11 Report - Nautical Archaeology Theses & Dissertations

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


Fossil Bone Found on Treasure Coast Beach.

I don't know what kind of bone this is. It is just over a foot long. Unless one of you knows, I'll have to do some research on it.


If you have some stuff you want to sell, here is what Sedwick has to say.

Now we're preparing for another successful auction with our Treasure and World Coin Auction #11, scheduled for April 3-5, 2012. We have begun taking consignments already; only two months remain before the consignment deadline of January 15, 2012. Now is the time to contact us about your potential consignments and even long-term plans for selling your collection.

Bidders all over the world are anxious to buy now, and we are attracting many new buyers with every auction. For the upcoming auction we seek shipwreck coins, especially gold cobs (which have done very well lately); gold coins (particularly from Latin America); early and dated cobs from Mexico, Lima and Potosi; rare world silver crowns; and high-end shipwreck artifacts in good condition with proper certification. It almost goes without saying that gold and silver ingots are doing very well in the current market of record melt values, and since we have all the top customers for shipwreck bullion, our auction is by far the best place to sell treasure ingots.

As with any of our auctions, consigning early has significant advantages: more time for us to research and promote your pieces, better exposure at coin shows we attend, and preferential positioning in our catalog if we get more than one consignment of the same item and have to defer duplicates to later auctions.

The Sedwick Treasure and World Coin Auction #10 was a big success. The Brazilian gold monetary ingot sold for $218,500 (including buyer’s fee), which is a new world record. That auction brought in nearly $1.5 million total.


Sometimes I forget where I got things. I didn't always label everything well. Some things just didn't seem worth labeling, and I guess sometimes I thought I would remember. As a result I've made some regrettable mistakes and wish I could recall where some items were found. This is just a reminder for you to label items, providing all of the detail that might be relevant. You might end up wondering about an item that you found five, ten or twenty years ago. Time does pass, and so do memories sometimes.

On the other hand there are finds that are remembered for years like it was just yesterday. I found a ring with a really nice big diamond probably over twenty years ago that I remember how it sparkled in the scoop while it was still two feet under the water. I remember exactly where that was found and how it looked at the time.

There are many finds that really stick in memory. But some don't.

Pink Feather Found on Treasure Coast Beach.

I never saw one like this on the beach before. At first I thought it was from a flamingo, but I guess flamingos aren't found here. After a little reading, I think it might be from a Roseate Spoonbill.

Here is a good web site that provides links to the theses and dissertations produced for the Texas A&M nautical archaeology program. Lots of good information can be found here.

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/academic/alum.htm


One of the Treasure Coast treasure beach maps is now listed on ebay with two days to go. Item number: 110773504603


The wind is from the east and the seas around two or three feet, remaining that height for a few days.

Conditions are now level 1, and I expect that to continue for a few days too.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/13/11 Report - Conditions Downgrade

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

Remote Cut From Friday.

There were still some high tide cuts occurring Friday, but I think that is over now.

I'm downgrading my beach conditions rating to a 1 again. I think the erosion is pretty much over for a few days.

The seas have decreased down to about four feet or less and will remain that way for a few days.

You might consider moving from hunting the high-tide zone to hunting the low-tide zone. With the reduced swells you will be able to get farther out into the low tide zone.

It looks like the seas might increase again around Friday.

There was enough action last week that a lot of modern items were found along with just a few shipwreck artifacts.


Here are some highlights from the most recent Sedwick auction.



Well, like I said, we're back to poor conditions again. Hopefully we'll have a good northeaster before long. We've had some good rough seas. They just didn't hit us from a real good angle.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/12/11 Report - Treasure Hunt at DuBois Stopped & Sheathing

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

Unusual Jade and Gold Ring Find.

I like this one, partly because it seems so unique.

I good bit of lead and copper sheathing has recently been found at different locations on Treasure Coast beaches. I was having a discussion with someone that found some copper sheathing and mentioned that copper sheathing replaced lead sheathing in the mid 1800s. That was not very accurate. Although there were trends at different times, both lead and copper sheathing have been used for a very long time. Its hard to make any generalizations about that without a lot of ifs, ands and buts.

Here is a link to an article that discusses the history of the use of lead and copper hull sheathing.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/copper-sheathing.htm


The treasure hunt at DuBois Park is off. It seemed like some of the officials were actually excited about the possibilities, and then in came those who believe that history should remain buried unless they are the ones to discover and uncover it. And it seems that anything and everything in the ground these days is considered historical or archaeologically significant. If they really wanted to uncover history, I'm sure they could have easily recruited a lot of volunteers and made arrangements to do this hunt properly.

Thanks to Joan T. for providing the link to this story.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-beach/fl-treasure-dig-palm-20111110,0,7136565.story


The wind is now from the northeast but the seas have calmed down to around four or five feet. Yesterday there were still a few spot where the waves were cutting a little out of the back dunes. At other location the water wasn't getting near the dunes. You have to look around.

The surf web sites predict calmer seas through the weekend and much of next week, eventually increasing again around Friday.

Sean is now well away from us and nothing much is showing up in the Atlantic.

Due to the few recently eroded dune areas and the decreasing seas, there will be some good spots to check this weekend. I'm keeping my beach conditions rating at a 2.

You might be able to get into some of the low tide areas that haven't been accessible for a while as the seas decrease.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/10/11 Report - Nails, Screws & Cut 4 Reale

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

Half of 4-Real.

This one appears to have been cut in half. From the 1600s.

Concerning the St. Lucie Metal Detecting club activities, Bernie C. says,

It's that time of the month again, our monthly club meeting will be this Saturday the 12th at 6:00 pm to 8:00pm at Duffy's Sports Grill on US 1 in Jensen Beach. Hope everyone can make it out. If you have any new or interesting finds bring them along. If you will be attending the meeting let me know so I can give Brandon at Duffys a head count.

Hope everyone got to go hunting this week with all the erosion going on. I will be hitting the beaches tomorrow morning, if anyone would like to join in let me know.

November 19th will be our monthly hunt. The location is Bonsteel Park in Sebastian.

For more information contact Bernie at twiprod001@att.net



As I mentioned yesterday, a lot of old nails have been found lately - from the Cocoa/Melborne area down to the south end of the Treasure Coast. While not being valuable, old nails can be interesting and provide valuable information about a site. Along with ceramics they are often one of the first tips that an area might hold more old items.

Of course hand wrought nails have been made and used for thousands of years. Knowing something about how to judge the age of a nail might help you to judge the age of other items found at a detecting site.

Here is one nice web site on the history of nail making.

http://search.aol.com/aol/search?query=age+of+copper+nails&s_it=keyword_rollover

You might want to look back through my posts for additional items and links about old nails. Use the blog search box.


Did you know that screws and nuts have been used since the fifteenth century?

I used to immediately discard any screw that I dug figuring that it wasn't very old, but mass production of screws began as early as 1770 when English instrument maker, Jesse Ramsden (1735-1800), invented the first practical screw-cutting lathe.

The Phillips head screw wasn't invented until around 1930. That is useful information that might help you date a site.

Below is a photo of a screw that appears to me to be pretty old. It doesn't look machine made to me. At least not how they are made today. The spiraled ridges, whatever they are called, look almost like they are made of applied wire. I don't think you can see how irregular it looks from the photo though.

Older Screw.

I think I mentioned yesterday that a lot of modern coins and jewelry are being found lately. Very few cobs though.


Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.

Tropical storm Sean is now well north of us and the wind has shifted some, now coming in from the north/northwest.

The seas will start to decrease to day and decrease a little daily for a few days. I don't expect much change in beach conditions the next few days and am sticking with a 2 rating.

I suspect the Outer Banks of North Carolina will get some good wave action from Sean.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/9/11 Report - North of Jupiter & South of Fort Pierce Inlets

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


Beach North of Jupiter Inlet.

I've heard of some good finds from here lately.

Thanks to Bill C. for the photo.

I heard on the radio that they dumped some sand on Bathtub Beach and declared it "stabilized." I thought that was funny. It was only a week or two ago that they finished a huge project and all of that sand disappeared.


The beach just south of Fort Pierce inlet lost a lot of sand the in the past few days. One day I went there and there was still a few yards of that white renourishment sand left. Today all you can see is the brown sand.

Beach By Fort Pierce Inlet This Morning.

You can see a photo of the same spot if you go back a couple of posts.

There was some of the white sand under the brown sand.

Last night the tides reached farther back into the dunes on some beaches. Not much erosion though.

In some places the water washed up and into the parking lots but still didn't cause many cuts.

Most of the beaches did not improve last night. I would be looking for the places where the water hit the back dunes and may have washed some things out.

Crumpled Lead Sheet Dug Monday.

As you probably know lead sheathing was used to protect the hulls on old ships such as the Santa Margarita.

Of course lead was used for many purposes, including the making of musket balls and general patching.

Lead sheathing used as hull sheathing will have a lot of nail holes and an imprint of course cloth on one side.

The piece shown in the following photo has neither of those, so I assume it was used for another purpose. It is unusually thick for hull sheathing anyhow.

Here is a link if you want to learn more about lead hull sheathing on Spanish treasure ships.

http://www.melfisher.org/pdf/Lead_Sheathing_from_Santa_Margarita.pdf


A lot of old square and copper nails and iron artifacts are being found but very few cobs. The cobs that I know of were found back a few days ago.

Also a lot of modern coins and jewelry is being found.

Most beaches are mushy and have been over-washed. There are a few spot that display nice cuts.

The wind is from the north now, but the swells seem to still be coming directly at the beaches. That is why there is so little erosion on many beaches.

The seas will be decreasing a little tomorrow and for the next few days.

I'm sticking with my Treasure Coast Treasure Beach "2" rating for now.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/8/11 Report - Beach Conditions Not Great But Some Older Miscellaneous Targets Still Being Found

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

1 Real Found By Ian A.

Ian is not sure this is real yet and will be having it checked. I can see ample reason for suspicion but won't pass judgement on the basis of a photo alone.

I've received a number of reports from people around and just outside of the Treasure Coast proper. As you undoubtedly realize, I can't be everywhere or see everything,and I appreciate the reports that I do receive.

From the reports that I've received, it seems that north of the Treasure Coast might be the best bet - people seem to be digging plenty of stuff, much of it old, up in the Cocoa/Melborne area.

I also had one good report about the Jupiter and the Stuart areas. The reports I got on those areas are unverified though, and I don't have the highest confidence in the sources of those reports. Maybe some others wil send in reports from down there.

On the Treasure Coast proper, I've not heard anything real promising for a couple of days, and my personal observations indicated that things deteriorated a bit yesterday and the previous night.

The cobs that were found on the Treasure Coast, including Ian's possible cob, were found back around Friday/Saturday. Despite the big seas Sunday, Sunday didn't seem to do us much good. From what I've seen, Monday wasn't much good for cob finds either.

People have been finding some older stuff on the Treasure Coast, including things like old square and copper nails. I've been seeing a lot of those kind of finds lately.

One beach that heavily eroded is Bathtub beach and Sailfish Point. The recent renourishment project on Bathtub Beach is gone. It lasted little more than a week and the beach is closed again while they dump more sand even during the rough surf!?

Here is a link to an article about that sent in by Joan T.

http://www.wpbf.com/news/29703118/detail.html

More tax-payer dollars dumped into the water. That beach is shut off from the normal flow of sand by the rocks and sea wall to the north. It just won't hold the sand.


On some beaches on the Treasure Coast that were previously cut, like Blind Creek, the cuts have disappeared. Some cuts like that were over-washed on Sunday, and now all that is left of those over-washed beaches is mush.

Higher cuts, like those at Seagrape Trail are still in place because they were not washed over, but the eroded renourishment sand there is piled on the beach front.

As I've mentioned before, some beaches, such as Seagrape, have a big sand bar out in front of the beach.

James F., a highly reliable source, reports that there are some good spot where interesting things, possibly old shipwreck items, are being found up in the Cocoa area.

One Pound Coin Found.

This is one find made by Ken A. up to the north of the Treasure Coast.

I've had multiple reports that Bon Steel is poor, and I would say that is true just from the fact that the entire Sebastian inlet area and down to Wabasso looked pretty poor to me the other day, and I have reports of very few finds from Wabasso.

Frederick Douglas is very mushy and looks poor too.

As I said, some older items have been found, and I'll have some more photos of finds in the near future.

I am analyzing a heavy piece of a thick lead sheet or patch. It doesn't seem to be hull sheathing, which usually shows square nail holes or the imprint of coarse cloth on one side.

I'm thinking it is simply patching material or meant to be melted for miscellaneous uses.

From the surf predictions, it looks like we have a couple more days of high seas before the swells start to decrease. Hope remains. If we could just get more of a north/northeast wind, which I'm starting to doubt is going to happen. Nonetheless, conditions remain slightly better than poor. right now I would rate detecting conditions as a minimal 2 on my five point scale.

When the seas decrease, it would be worth checking out the low tide area for items that you couldn't get to during the high seas.

We'll see what tomorrow brings.


Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

11/7/11 Report - Level 2 Conditions. A Few Cobs Found.

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

Turtle Trail Sunday Evening.

The high seas didn't create as much erosion as you might expect considering how high they've been. There were a lot of big waves out there. And they were hitting the dunes or very near the dunes on most beaches, but the angles weren't good, and the sand generally wasn't being sliced away.

The above photo was taken just a bit before high tide looking south from Turtle Trail. Notice the sea weed. The cuts here are only a foot or so.

I looked at a number of beaches yesterday afternoon and many were not any good at all despite the high seas. From Bon Steel down to Wabasso, the beaches were generally mushy with very little erosion. I think the area around Sebastian was actually better early in the week.

The best looking beach that I saw yesterday was Seagrape Trail (See photo below.) At the beach access the cut was over six feet high just before high tide.

Seagrape Trail Sunday Evening.

The erosion there, as was the case at Wabasso, was in the beach renourishment sand that was trucked in. The beach renourishment sand, although much of it had washed into the surf, was still protecting the dunes and the older layers of treasure bearing sand at the back of the beach.

You could also see much of the eroded renourishment sand on the front of the beach. That will protect the beach and minimize erosion.

Frederick Douglas Park was not cut at all yesterday morning, even though the water was reaching far back and into the dunes.

In the evening Pepper Park was very poor. It was very mushy and not cut at all.

Overall, I'm dropping my beach conditions rating back to a 2. From the size of the waves, you could easily expect much better beach conditions.

There is still plenty of chance for conditions to improve. Near eight foot seas and possibly higher are predicted for the next few days. If the wind and waves hit at the right angle for any length of time, beach conditions could get much better quickly, however right now I'm not expecting that. It looks like the waves will continue to hit the beaches directly from the east, or nearly so.

I said that cobs would be found, and there have been a few found the past couple of days on the Treasure Coast.

As I said, seas will remain high for a few days, so things could improve any day now. It can happen quickly and disappear just as quickly.

Stay safe.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net