11/22/11 Report - Beach Dangers

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

Explosive Device Found on a Treasure Coast Beach.


Daniel B. had an exciting day at the beach. He arrived at the beach near Treasure Shores when they were hauling away the remains of a boat that DEA shot up. Debris from the shattered boat was all over the beach.

Daniel said he found an exploded device encased in plastic with a battery like object marked " danger, explosive, detonateur." DEA took that .

The explosive is shown the in above photo. Always be careful. You never know when you might dig into something like that.

And also be careful that you don't arrive at the beach in the middle of a drug drop or something. It can happen - especially if you arrive very early or late in the day.



I might have to restart the poll. There were about three times the current number of votes. Must have been a problem of some sort with google. Rats!


As you know, Spanish coins were commonly used for transactions in the colonies. Along with copper British coins, archaelogoists found some while looking for a foundation at the site of Dill's Taavern in Pennsylvania.

Here is the link to that story.

http://www.pennlive.com/west-shore/index.ssf/2011/11/dills_tavern_dig_turns_up_21_copper_coins.html


Back sometime in the eighties I received a little map from Roy Volker giving directions to five shipwreck treasure sites on the Treeasure Coast. I found it very helpful. There wasn't much to it, but it gave me confidence that when I first traveled to the Treasure Coast, I was in the right areas. That was a tremendous help to me. I've published hundreds of times more information in this blog than was on that map. But at the time it was what I needed, and it helped me a lot. Otherwise everything I learned was on my own. I read and researched and experimented and explored. I liked observing and learning and still do. And there are still a lot of things I'm trying to figure out. That is a lot of the fun of detecting.

Roy's Signature.

Roy passed in 2008.


Treaure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.

The wind is from the south today and the seas running three to four feet. Detecting conditions are poor again.

The seas will be even calmer tomorrow, and then pick up again just a little around Thanksgiving.

I'd be checking beach fronts with the calm seas and low tide.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/21/11 Report - Beach Conditions Rating Downgrade

Written by the TreasureGuide exclusively for treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

One Treasure Coast Beach This Morning

Well, it looks like what little erosion we had last weekend is over. It wasn't too much to begin with.

I didn't really get around too much. I was out of the area for part of the weekend.

I did see that the wind was coming from the southeast later yesterday, and also today. That usually means building seas, and that seems to be the case today.

I didn't see many beaches today, but the few that I did see looked poor, very much like the one shown in the top photo.

I didn't get around too much this weekend and could have easily missed some good spots, but I think I've seen enough to downgrade my beach conditions rating to a 1 again.


Rainbow From Frederick Douglas Park This Morning.

There was a little rain this morning.

I was going to use the blog poll to validate my Beach Conditions Rating Scale. The results of the poll so far seem to show what I would expect from the conditions that we've had.

I expected a few cobs to be found a couple weeks ago when i issued a 3 rating, and that happened. Since it was possible that some were found Sunday or Saturday somewhere, that makes my conclusions a little less certain. For testing my conditions rating scale, I'd would have preferred if we didn't get the high seas Saturday. Of course, I'm glad we did get the high seas, it just came at a time that
made it a little harder to draw firm conclusions from my poll.

At low tide this morning the ocean looked calmer than I expected. The surf web sites are predicting four foot seas through today, then decreasing a few days, and then back up to over five feet again.

I'm not expecting many good finds right now, but I can tell you there are a number of targets on the front beach in the low tide zone. Mostly iron and mixed materials, but something interesting might show up there.

It didn't look to me like the tidy hit any of the back dunes this weekend. Maybe some place, but not much.

Well, that's it for this morning. I have some more, but it'll have to wait.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/19/11 Report - Treasure Coast Beach Conditions Upgrade

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

One Treasure Coast Beach This Morning.

What I want to show with this photo is the two distinct zones. Towards the front of the beach is about twenty yards of recently accumulated sand. It is a lighter color than the sand behind.

There are a lot of shells in this sand, and some aluminum and some heavier metal items.

Behind that sand is a darker sand and a zone that has not been as recently accumulated.

Some of the beach fronts are very junky with a lot of sea weed and trashed piled up.

The beach immediately south of Fort Pierce inlet shows multiple layers and remnants of multiple cuts. About eight different layers or zones are visible. It is really a mess. You can't see the white replenishment sand anymore there.


A Few Small Cuts That Started Friday.

This is the same beach shown above, but from a different angle. You can see the light color sand and the shells back near where the last high tide ended, along with a sea weed line.

The wind blew pretty good most of Friday and the sea was rough. The problem is that the waves here seem to be hitting straight on instead of a good angle.

There are however a few beaches that have continually lost sand, and some that regained that sand and more, only to lose it again.

You might find some mixed finds as some of the layers are thin.

There are things being found, although cobs still seem to be scarce at this point. The finds seem to mirror the current poll results. Clad, jewelry, fossils, etc. Lots of good shell hunting at some locations, if you know anyone who is into that.

As I've mentioned you can often find other things in shell piles.

There are some beaches that are doing better. I'm raising my Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Scale Rating to a 2.

If the past few days didn't result in so much beach filling, we would be in much better shape today, but that new sand has to be moved again.

It looks like the seas will remain pretty rough all through the week even though decreasing some. There is another bump predicted for around the end of next week.

There will be enough action to create a few good beaches. You might have to look around to find the good ones though. I'd first check those that were looking good a few days ago.

Take a look at some of the better looking beaches that I've posted recently.

I'm still getting reports a good bit of clad, jewelry and artifacts such as spikes.


Nice Plank With Spikes.

Found by Bill C.

Photo submitted with club update by Bernie C.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/18/11 Report - Medallion, Belaying Pins, and Condition Watch

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

Medallion Excavated at Jamestown.

Looks like something you might immediately discard as child's play.

The excavation at Jamestown has yielded over a million artifacts including this medallion, which some think represents the father of Pocahantas.

The article reports that they have discovered the church and the spot where Pocahantas was baptized and where she married John Rolfe. Interesting story. Seems fanciful to me.


Here is the link.

http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2011/11/14/us/CHURCH-3.html


This Saturday, the 19th, is the November St. Lucie metal detecting club hunt at Bonsteel park which will begin at 7:30 am.

Contact Bernie at twiprod001@att.net for information.


You might very well have wondered how the clump shown in my blog photo yesterday was identified as a pair of scissors. Well equipped conservation labs have access to S-ray, MRI and other technologies.


Belaying pins have been used on sailing vessels for hundreds if not thousands of years. I was wondering why I've never heard of any being found on any of the treasure wrecks around the Treasure Coast. A single galleon might have employed over a hundred belaying pins.

Although some ships used brass or bronze belaying pins, some were made of wood. The answer to my question must be that those on the Spanish shipwrecks of the 17th and 18the centuries must have been mostly wood. Otherwise I would think that they would be more often found.

If you don't know what a belaying pin is, they were used to secure lines from the riggings. You might be more familiar with those used by pirates as clubs.

Here are a bunch of pictures of belaying pins.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1243&bih=904&gbv=2&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=belaying+pin&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=#q=belaying+pin&hl=en&safe=active&gbv=2&tbm=isch&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=ac2da4d7a20b2719&biw=1027&bih=565

If you can tell me about a belaying pin being found on any of the treasure ships of the Treasure Coast, I'd like to hear about it.


The wind picked up Thursday night and seemed to come from a direction favorable for erosion. It was coming almost directly from the north for a little while, and is predicted to come from the northeast for a while. We'll see.

I checked a few spots this morning. There are a few little scallops and cuts. Small though, and didn't look like they would be productive. Not much has happened yet.

The past couple of days there was a lot of filling on the front beaches and what little erosion that did occur, so far is only eating a little into that recently accumulated sand.

You'll see a lot of recently accumlated sea weed, shells, sand and junk on some of the front beaches at this point.

The swells are coming too much from the east right now.

You might be able to find a few spots where there wasn't too much recent accumulation. That is what I would look for right now.

I can't upgrade my beach conditions rating yet.

There is some aluminum and other junk to be found along with layers of shells on some front beaches.

It shouldn't take long to know if this is going to improve conditions or be a big disappointment. The wind is continuing at 25 or thirty knots.

Tomorrow morning should tell the story.


Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

11/17/11 Report - Shipwreck Count Estimation

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

Encrusted Scissors.


Photo received by email from the Mel Fisher organization.

The trail of the Atocha has been producing a lot of artifacts in recent weeks. A number of encrusted objects, including these scissors, were found recently.


I've shown some found Florida bottles in the past. As you might know, nice old bottles can bring good prices.

One prototype 1915 Coca Cola bottle, of which there are two known to exist, is going up for auction. Pre auction estimates are in the range of $10,000 - $20,000.


If you want to learn more about that bottle, here is the link.

http://www.kovels.com/201106088543/News-News-News/rare-heirloom-price-unknown.html?utm_source=Listrak&utm_medium=Email&utm_term=http%3a%2f%2fwww.kovels.com%2f201106088543%2fNews-News-News%2frare-heirloom-price-unknown.html&utm_campaign=Kovels+Komments+%5bNovember+16%2c+2011%5d%3a+Coca-Cola+Bottle+Worth+Thousands+of+Dollars

I mentioned people finding shipwreck artifacts a week or two ago on one of the beaches that eroded better than most.

Below is one example - a nice brass or copper nail.

Photo submitted by Jorge Y.


I think I recently mentioned that Odyssey Marine Explorations publishes some very good articles on shipwrecks.


Below are a couple of interesting paragraphs from one of those articles, written by Greg Stemm.

Research indicates that during five years in the mid 19th century, ten thousand sailing ships insured in England alone were lost in various parts of the world, nearly a thousand of them without a trace . While this is certainly not a representative sample that can be extrapolated in order to determine the total number of shipwrecks, it can be used as a rough starting point. In this case, just one country (albeit one with a highly developed maritime industry) lost 2,000 ships per year. If one were to assume that during the last three thousand years, 1,000 shipwrecks per year throughout the entire world have been lost and preserved in a state that would constitute a cultural resource, that would indicate a total resource in excess of 3,000,000 shipwrecks. This estimate is probably conservative, but it is certainly a starting point.

That is certainly an astounding number of shipwrecks. But while any shipwreck might be interesting to someone interested in maritime history, not all shipwrecks hold what the general population thinks of as treasure.

Here is another paragraph from the same article.

Based on extensive research within our own firm, we estimate the total number of previously unsalvaged shipwrecks lost with cargoes of high intrinsic value, with data that gives some indication of their location to be less than 200 worldwide. The number of economically viable projects is probably much less than that, perhaps as few as 20 or 30. Not surprisingly, the press often gives a different picture, suggesting that there are thousands of potentially valuable shipwrecks. In truth the vast majority have no commercial value. Many "treasure hunting" expeditions are actually seeking shipwrecks with little or no commercial value, and rely on hyperbole and misinformation to lure investors to participate in their project.


The firm referred to, of course, is Odyssey Marine.


Many shipwrecks are in deep water where salvage is very difficult and very expensive, putting many of those wrecks out of range of any but the most well equipped and funded companies.

Don't forget to respond to the new blog poll. Your answers will provide good information that we all can use.


The wind is from the west today and the seas are around three or four feet.

A cold front is coming through and tomorrow the prediction is for 7 foot seas. Hopefully the swells will hit the beaches at a good angle.

After Friday the first thing I would do is check out the beaches that cut last week. Additional erosion on those beaches could produce some good finds.

Happy hunting.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/16/11 Report - Kang H'si and Predicted Rough Seas

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

Piece of Kang H'si porcelain from the 1715 Fleet.

This piece is for sale on eBay. It has been mounted in a gold bezel and makes a nice piece of jewelry.

I showed a piece of Kanh H'si porcelain found on a Treasure Coast shipwreck beach in my 10/6/10 post.

It was brought from China, across Mexico and placed on ships of the 1715 Fleet.

This particular piece was found by a salvor, presumably in the ocean, but other pieces, such as the one I showed back in 2010, have been found on the beach.

Many older pieces of ceramics are blue on white, but much of what you see will not be find porcelain like Kang H'si.

If you look at common old broken plates, the edges will be thicker, made of a coarser material, and often yellowed. Porcelain will be relatively thin not be as porous looking.

Anyhow, Kang H'si is worth looking for.

I told the story about one time quite a few years ago when a detectorists found a stack of plates being uncovered in the side of a cut. The detectorist didn't know anything about Kang H'si and paid no attention to the plates. After learning that they might have been Kang H'si her returned to try to find them again but couldn't.

If the plates were Kang H'si and in good condition they would have been worth a pretty penny.

The eBay seller tells more of the story of the piece shown above and how they reached the Treasure Coast. You might want to look it up.

There are a number of alternate spellings. One other common spelling is Kangxi.


Notice that I posted a new poll asking about recent finds on the front page of this blog. We'll find out what most people have been finding.


A few days ago I posted a photo of a fossil find, and as a result I heard from Fred D. who really knows his fossils. That is something I really like. This blog has readers with a lot of knowledge. I often get answers to my questions. There are a lot of questions that can come up. I think that is one thing that I really like about detecting and beach combing in general - all of the puzzles. Anyhow, I really enjoy learning and often learn something from the many informed readers of this blog.

I often talk about non-metallic items because they can be valuable, and they can provide important information. I think detectorists can improve their detecting by paying attention to the non-metallic items that they might see. That is a very broad topic though, and I don't want to try to get into that any more today.

Oh, in case you were wondering Fred said that the fossil bone was probably either a Dugong rib, or whale or dolphin rib,and going back to Miocene or Pliocene.


Here is the good news for today. the seas will remain around three feet today and tomorrow, but Friday it will increase up to seven feet or more.

As you know, it takes more than high seas. We didn't get much erosion the last time we had high seas, although we did get some at certain beaches.

Looking at the predicted wind direction, my guess is that the best erosion is likely to occur Thursday night.

We're certainly getting some rough seas this year. Hopefully we'll start to see a good cumulative effect if this keeps up.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

11/15/11 Report - Erosion at One Beach & Odyssey Marine Reports

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


Photo of Erosion North of Jupiter Inlet.

This area is one of the better looking areas of the last couple of weeks. A lot of detectorists have been hitting this area, and there is word of a few cobs being found here.

Tom Guidus of Wreckovery Salvage sent this photo and reported a lot of modern trash.

You can see the sea weed which indicates that light materials were probably washing in just before the photo was taken.

See Tom's web site by going to this blog's link list.


Another Photo of Eroded Dunes in Area North of Jupiter Inlet.

You can see how the back dunes are eroded. That is the kind of thing that I like to see.

What you would want to determine is if the dunes there are composed of undisturbed naturally accumulated sand or not.

It is always helpful to know something of the history of any exposed layers of sand. Try to identify any layers, where they came from and when they were deposited. All of the information can be helpful.

Look at the composition of the sand, coarseness, color, and contents. When you find objects associated with a layer, remember what kind of things were found in it.

Some layers will be mixed. That often indicates that the layer has been disturbed. You might find modern plastic mixed in with fossils that are thousands of years old. That can be an indication of a disturbed layer, but sometimes it will be the result of newer top layers falling down the face of an eroded dune and mixing with older layers. Try to figure out just what is going on.


Ballast Rock.

Note the rounded rock in the middle of the photo. That looks like it could be a ballast rock.

You'll occasionally find ballast rocks on a beach. That can be a good indicator.

Thanks for the report and photos Tom.


Odyssey Marine Explorations provides a nice list of research papers on underwater archaeology. Here is a link to those.

http://shipwreck.net/featuresarchpapers.php

You might also enjoy reading their third quarter (2011) report. It talks about a lot of their projects and costs and revenues.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/odyssey-marine-exploration-reports-results-for-third-quarter-2011-2011-11-09

They didn't do as well this year compared to last. That, I guess, is one reason the price of their common stock has been decreasing lately.

Here is the link to that report.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/odyssey-marine-exploration-reports-results-for-third-quarter-2011-2011-11-09


The wind is out of the southeast now. That usually means that the beaches in most locations will be accumulating sand. It usually means also that there is a good chance of shell piles and other light materials being washed up.

Unfortunately southeast winds are usually not good for coin hunting.

I'm sticking with a beach conditions rating of 1 (poor) for now. I don't see any change coming for at least a few days.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net