7/19/15 Report - Do Crashing Waves Throw Coins As They Break? 130 Year Old Winchester Found In Desert.

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

Real Wave Photo.

Now this is really cool.  Believe it or not this is an actual photo.  Beside being a beautiful picture, it shows something very interesting.

I'm not positive but I think the photo is a Clarke Little photo.  He is a surfer turned photographer.

I lost track of the source, but here are more of Clarke Little's beautiful wave photos. 

http://clarklittlephotography.com/


Take a good look at that photo again.  Do you see what is happening?  Look at the brown sand or whatever being sucked up into the wave.  That is what I think is very interesting.  It wouldn't be that apparent if you were just watching it happen, but when it is frozen in time like that you can really see it.

In my 7/16 post I showed this illustration.  Notice how the waves move in circles.  I've told before about how if you are floating in the deeper water, you'll move in a circle as a wave goes by.

As the wave gets in more shallow water the circles get flattened and turn into  ovals.

What you are seeing in the top photo is the bottom of the circle where the sand is getting sucked back into the wave.  The circle isn't completed here because the water is too shallow and the wave is breaking.

Just think about what is happening there.  First the top sand is getting sucked out and then the wave comes crashing down with force just in front of that.  

When the sand gets sucked up into the wave, as you can see in the photo, it is lifted, and then when the crashing wave impacts the sand with considerable force.

That happens time and time again as the waves come in, and each time in just a little different place.

A report by the Naval Warfare Center (http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a495574.pdf) says, Overall, average impact pressures from the breaking waves are greater in magnitude than the impact pressures from the non-breaking waves and average impact pressures tend to increase with increased speed...

OK.  We knew that crashing waves have considerable force.  I recently posted about blocks weighing tons being moved.

Big waves, as is obvious, stirs up a lot of sand, but in addition to the effect of crashing, there is also the sucking that we see in the photo.   Add that to a near continuous flow running along with the long shore current on a steep beach and a lot of sand and stuff could be moved quickly.

Adding in any undertow or backwash, the net effect will depend upon a variety of factors, including the "trigger" and "drop" points for specific objects, as I've said before.  

I think my understanding of how coins and objects get covered and uncovered is fairly complete.   I've tracked and observed how objects move in many situations, but I have never been able track the movement of objects within big waves and during storms.  I think I'm getting pretty close to a complete understanding of that part of the process too, which will explain how coins and things wash up at times.

Looking at the picture at the top of the post and how the sand is getting sucked into the base of the wave, I wondered if coins or other objects could get sucked up into the wave and actually thrown ahead with the water in a breaking wave.  I don't know about that, but considering how easily coins flip (turn over) in relatively little current, I wouldn't be surprised if large breaking waves could throw some objects.  Certainly they are blasted, lifted and moved, but maybe not through the entire cycle of the breaking wave.

In the photo, you can see some of the sand moving ahead with the wave.

It would only happen when the waves and obects are in shallow water.  That is one condition.  When the water is deep relative to the size of the waves, the bottom and objects on the bottom are not affected.

When we have storms, some waves are breaking on a slope rather than a flat bottom like we see in the photo.  I

I didn't really want to introduce the complication of the different types of waves yet, but I unintentionally just stepped into it.

Besides breaking waves, there are other types, such as plunging waves and surging waves.

According to wikipedia

A plunging wave occurs when the ocean floor is steep or has sudden depth changes, such as from a reef or sandbar. The crest of the wave becomes much steeper than a spilling wave, becomes vertical, then curls over and drops onto the trough of the wave, releasing most of its energy at once in a relatively violent impact. A plunging wave breaks with more energy than a significantly larger spilling wave. The wave can trap and compress the air under the lip, which creates the "crashing" sound associated with waves. With large waves, this crash can be felt by beachgoers on land. Offshore wind conditions can make plungers more likely.

That is as much as I want to get into that for now.

I've known for a quite a few years that coins wash up onto the beach.  There is no doubt about that, but perhaps large crashing waves can move sand and objects in even more dramatic ways than I previously suspected.

For a relatively thorough explanation of waves, you might want to look at the following.

http://topex.ucsd.edu/ps/trujillo_waves.pdf

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132 year-old Winchester rifle was found propped up against a tree in the desert.  Nobody knows what happened to the owner or how it got there.

Interesting story.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/01/15/132-year-old-winchester-rifle-found-propped-under-desert-tree/

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It seem that the Treasure Coast is in for a couple more weeks of one-foot surf.  How long can this last?

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/18/15 Report - 18K Dug Gold Ring. The Dare and Magruder. Newly Discovered Shipwreck.

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

Two Treasure Coast Beach Pictures From Friday Morning.

As you can see, only the smallest surf.  Beach detecting conditions remain very poor.  Nothing much except for modern recent drops.

18K White Band.

There are few targets.  This band was the first target I dug yesterday.  After walking about fifty yards using no discrimination, it was the first signal I got and the first target I dug.  Very often I would have moved on shortly after finding that and doing a little more checking around unless something promising popped up.  There are times to move on.  I only detected a very short time that day anyhow.

I could tell that other water hunters had worked the area not too long ago, and as I was on my way to the car another water hunters arrived and started working the same area.

Sometimes there isn't anything to discriminate.  I want to know when that is the case.  Not only does that mean that there is no need for discrimination, but it tells me something important when there is no junk in the area.  It can tell you something about detecting conditions and it might tell you if there have been other detectorists in the area and what they were doing.

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The Dare has begun to search the Lost Merchant area, and the Marguder finished up with Emerald City and will be working the Quicksands.

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Newly Disovered Wreck Off North Carolina.
Source of photo: link below.

Yesterday I posted a photo of an piece of an olive jar with handle that was found by Au Dreamers on the Cabin Wreck site.

Notice the jar with handle at the top right of this photo

Marine scientists from Duke University, North Carolina State University and the University of Oregon discovered the wreck on July 12 during a research expedition aboard the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) research ship Atlantis...

Among the artifacts discovered amid the shipwreck’s broken remains are an iron chain, a pile of wooden ship timbers, red bricks (possibly from the ship cook’s hearth), glass bottles, an unglazed pottery jug, a metal compass, and another navigational instrument that might be an octant or sextant.

The wreck appears to date back to the late 18^th or early 19^th century, a time when a young United States was expanding its trade with the rest of the world by sea...

Here is the link for more of that story.

http://today.duke.edu/2015/07/shipwreck

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A couple days ago I posted some water hunting tips and tricks along with an illustration.  I wanted to follow up on that, but haven't done it yet.  When I get started on that, it might be pretty long.  Seems there is so much to talk about that I can't get it all in.  I'll pick up with that sometime soon.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/17/15 Report - Treasure Salvors Au Dreamers and Capitana Most Recent Treasure Coast Finds On The Cabin Wreck.

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

Treasure Coast Finds By The Crew Of The Capitana.
Photo submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez.

Yesterday I mentioned that the crew of the Capitana was still finding things.  Here are some, not nearly all, of the musket balls and a nice olive jar top that they found.

Captain Jonah sent this photo with the following message.

Thought this was interesting the other day our first hole Bill found 90 musket balls also more throughout the day. Our great weather is letting us dig most every day for the last 36 days. 

Thanks Captain!  I always say there is always some place to hunt and something to be found.  While this weather has been bad for beach hunting, it has been good for the salvage crews.



 It must have taken Bill a little while to pick up 90 musket balls.  Signals going off everywhere.  We're all waiting to see what you find next.

Treasure Coast Find By Au Dreamers
Photo Submitted by Captain Jonah.

There are four boats working the Cabin Wreck these days.

Au Dreamers is one.  They found this nice ceramic piece with handle.   You can see the horizontal depressions around it.  Very nice.

Another find made by the crew of Au Dreamers is shown below.

There are several good books and studies on olive jars and Spanish colonial ceramics.   Marken's book is one.  Also the Odyssey Marine study on the ceramics of the Tortugas wreck.

Here is one link if you want to read about olive jars. Lost of good pictures too.

 http://www.shipwreck.net/documents/OMEPapers38.pdf

Silver Fork Found  By Au Dreamers
Photo submitted by Captain Jonah.

The word “fork” comes from the Latin “furca” and the Old English “forca”. Small forks used for eating first appeared in Tuscany in the 11th century, but they were still a rarity in Italy by the 14th century...

...In late 17th Century France, larger forks with four curved tines were developed. The additional tines made diners less likely to drop food, and the curved tines served as a scoop so people did not have to constantly switch to a spoon while eating. By the early 19th Century, multi-tined forks had also been developed in Germany and England and slowly began to spread to America.

In 1630, Governor Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony had the first and only fork in colonial America.

In the early 18th century, the four-tined fork had become the rule in Germany. In England, however, forks still have two tines and are not so helpful for scooping up bites of food.

In Europe at the mid-18th century, the fork has achieved the form which is now most familiar, four curved tines..

The above excerpts came from the web site linked as follows.

http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/lifestyle/the-history-of-dining-utensils/

The above fork has four tines, but do not seem to be curved.

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The surf is almost unbelievable along the Treasure Coast.  Just very small swells. The beaches and surf are pretty clean though.  Nothing but a few remaining recent drops.  

No real change in the forecast yet.

Happy hunting.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/16/15 Report - Water Metal Detecting Hints and Tips. 207 Nazi Gold Coins Found by Detectorist. Capitana Making More Finds.

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

Nazi Gold Coins

A detectorist found 217 Nazi-era gold coins in Lüneburg, Germany.Bausch – a certified metal detectorist – was exploring old burial mounds in the town south of Hamburg when he stumbled across the first gold piece.

After a further search under the foliage uncovered nine more coins, Bautsch did a survey of the area and got in touch with local archaeologists.

A two-week long excavation followed, unearthing a further 207 gold coins – with a material worth estimated at around €45,000...

That would be just over $40,000 U. S.

Here is the link for the rest of the story.

http://www.thelocal.de/20150715/amateur-archaeologist-finds-nazi-gold-hoard

Thanks to Christopher P. for alerting me to that story.

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I wanted to talk today about the surf zone.  Many items are lost where the waves break.  People get slapped around by the breaking waves.  Many items come off there.

The last time I was detecting in the water, a strap holding a piece of my equipment broke when hit by a breaking wave.  There is a lot of force there, and people often aren't prepared for it.

People also play there.  They dive into breaking waves.

Items that break or come off in that area then get pushed in towards shore a few feet.

As a result that is a good area to hunt, but it is also rough.  It can test you and your equipment.  And when the waves are big, it can be downright impossible.  It will require some skill.

You can learn to hunt there, but it can be very annoying until you master it.

I remember one day long ago when I got a headache from getting slapped in the head from the breaking waves.  It also would knock earphones or other equipment off.

After you learn how, you can go with it instead of fighting it.  You will learn to feel what is coming without paying attention.  When you start getting sucked out, it is about to hit you, so pick up your feet and go with it.

Instead of fighting against it, which is near impossible, you an learn to float with it.  Learn to pick up your feet and float at the right time.  It will return you to the spot where it picked you up.   You can do that when the water is deep enough but it only takes a couple of feet of water in the trough.  If it is that shallow you will have to lift your legs and sit down so that you can float through the trough, then extend your legs again when the water returns.

Notice the circles in the illustration.  That is how you will move.  

Dig a hole to mark your signal.  Float away and back, then dig again, if necessary.  Repeat until you retrieve the target.

You will often find it easier to work in the slightly deeper water just before the breaking waves. Not only will it not slap you around as much, but the bottom currents are not as strong in the deeper water, making it easier to retrieve targets.

In the shallow water inside the breaking waves there will be strong currents near the bottom that will push your detector, making it difficult to run a tight grid, and it will also refill your holes.  It will also push sand and objects out of your scoop if you use the currents for your benefit.  That takes timing.

The open end of your scoop should be pointed so the currents are moving into the scoop, otherwise sand and objects can be washed out of the scoop as you lift the scoop.

The currents can alternate back and forth, so timing is important.  Wait for the right time to lift your scoop.

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Not metal detecting, but maybe you'll find it interesting.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/07/15/volunteer-watchdog-group-prepares-for-counter-jade-helm-campaign/

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I just received a great new set of find photos from Captain Jonah of the Capitana.  I'll probably have them ready to post tomorrow.

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Expect small surf on the Treasure Coast for days ahead.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/15/15 Report - The Big Three Factors Of Hunting In Dry Sand. How Waves Move Very Big and Small Objects. The Langeid Viking Sword Finally On Display.

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

Ornate Viking Sword.
Photo from http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/37504

A deadly weapon and symbol of power -- jewellery for a man, with magical properties. The sword gave power to the warrior, but the warrior's strength could also be transferred to the sword. That is how they were bound together: man and weapon, warrior and sword.

This sword was found in Langeid in Bygland in Setesdal in 2011. It is a truly unique sword from the late Viking Age, embellished with gold, inscriptions and other ornamentation. The discovery of the sword has not been published until now, when it is being displayed for the first time in the exhibition 'Take It Personally' at the Historical Museum in Oslo...

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150714093658.htm


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When talking about where to hunt for gold jewelry on a dry beach, I could sum up ninety percent of what needs to be said in a couple of paragraphs.  It isn't that complex.  It doesn't change as much as the wet sand or water does.

It comes down to looking where the most people of the right type do the right things.  The primary factors are (1) number of people, (2) type of people and (3) their behavior.  Number is obvious.  Go where many wealthy people who wear a lot of gold either participate in very active behaviors or are involved in taking off or adjusting jewelry.  Example: busy volleyball court at a resort that attracts a lot of active wealthy people.

Of course there is a lot more that could be said, but that tells you the vast majority of what needs to be said.  You can't sum up where to hunt wet sand and shallow water so easily. There are a lot more factors and things change a lot.

Number of people, type of people and type of activities would be a start for those areas too, but it would only be a start.  After those factors you would want to include how the water moves sand and objects, and that is quite complex.

I've been at this a long time. I'd say something over thirty years, sometimes not as actively as others due to different careers and things, but one of the most surprising things to me is how much I continue to learn.

I knew a lot about where to look before, but a lot of the time I didn't know why.  I didn't know how it all worked.  In the last few years, I've filled in some of the blanks. I now understand some things that puzzled or confused me.  Having a more complete understanding helps in a variety of ways.

A few days ago I talked about coins being flipped up and over the face of a cut.  I first told what I saw happen on one occasion maybe twenty years ago.  I then received and posted reports by others verifying what I'm now calling flip-ups.  In a case reported by Clint L., the object flipped was a gold ring.  In a case reported by Bill P., the object flipped was a reale.

You might have been skeptical.  You might have wondered how objects could flip up and over a two foot cut.

I think the illustration that I provided in my 7/13 post might have satisfied many of you.  However if you still are not sure, you might be satisfied after reading today's post.

I came across a book entitled, Wave Action In Relation To Engineering Structures, by D. D. Gaillard, Captain, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., 1904.  It is a free Google ebook.  It is a very technical and mathematical engineering book, and isn't easy to quickly browse.  You'll find the link below.

The book provides a lot of good information - much that has been widely published and easily available in recent years, but also details of a lot of experiments and additional specifics that you might not have read before.

Below are just a few examples many similar examples found in the book.  Whether you find these anecdotes convincing or not, I'm sure you'll find them interesting.

Just to give you the idea here are a few.

And a Florida example.

Like I said, that is to give you the idea.  You can find more examples like this as well as experimental data and mathematical calculations in the book.

Click here to go to that book.

After these remarkable examples, you might not find it hard to believe that something like a coin or ring could be flung up and over a cliff.

The power of the sea is amazing.  These events are almost beyond belief, yet this is a very credible source, and others have attested to similar things.

The book provides evidence of other things that I've talked about in the past.  The effect of density on how items are moved is one important one.  You can find the required force calculated for different examples. The density and surface area of the objects are factors, just as is the case for coins and jewelry. Precise mathematical formulae are provided.

While many of the principles I have presented are supported in this book, you will have to downscale many of them to apply to smaller objects.

You might wonder why you would want to know this.  If you do know this type of material, you can look at the waves and know a good bit about the bottom.  You can easily estimate the depth of the water where the waves are breaking, for example.  You will know where sand is building and where it is getting washed away.  That might tell you where to hunt when the water calms down.

If you know that the depth of the water is about one half the wave length ( distance between peak to peak) where the waves are breaking, you can look out and immediately have some idea about how deep or shallow the water is there.  If you keep a mental note of that, you will know when the near shore sand is coming or going and something about the shape of the bottom in the shallow water at that location.

On the deep side of the breaking waves, the bottom is not being affected much.

Most importantly, you'll be able to get an idea of where and when objects will be moving.  As a result you'll better know where to look to find things.

There is a great deal to it.  I have learned a lot from experience, and I have learned a lot in recent years, putting together my own observations and experiences with what I read.  I am enjoying the learning process and it is continuing at a rate that surprises me.

I got a lot more from that book that applies to metal detecting in very practical ways, but I can't put all of that into one post.

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The next two days the Treasure Coast surf is supposed to be very calm.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/14/15 Report - Where Gold & Silver Treasure Coins Were Found. Unexplained Beach Explosion. Shark Working Shallow Water.

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

Cocoa Beach Detectorist Makes The News
Photo source: See link.

A Cocoa Beach detectorist made the news, but not in the way he probably hoped.

Notice the fins to the left of the detectorist.  Very shallow water where you might feel safe, but sharks work the shallow water too.

Here is the link for the story.

http://news.brevardtimes.com/2015/07/video-sharks-close-beach-in-cocoa-beach.html

John M.  sent me the link.  Thanks John.

I've seen some pretty big sharks while detecting, but none of them ever paid me much attention.  That isn't to say they won't.

The ones I saw seemed to go the other way when they saw me.

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Beach Erosion After Hurricane of 2004
Photo submitted by Jonah Martinez.

Here is something you don't get very often - a good look at the exact area where gold treasure coins were found. 

It is also a good illustration of erosion.

Captain Jonah sent me this photo and said, ... here's a pic showing the water channeling behind the beach and between the dune. A lot of goodies were found along with some gold coins. Thanks for all your info you post up it keeps me motivated to keep on working and to try old and new techniques to keep finding treasure.

Thanks Captain!  Great over-head photo.

I'm glad the blog provides motivation and inspiration.

If you didn't see the finds Captain Jonah's crew made this year already, I have three or four posts on that not long ago.  You might want to go back a few weeks in this blog and take a look.

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This is a strange one.  A woman was injured by an unexplained beach explosion.  No evidence of explosives were found.  To me it seemed like it might have been something like a rogue lightning strike, but there was no thunder or flash or anything like that reported, so evidently not.  See if you can figure it out.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/womans-ribs-fractured-in-unexplained-r-i-beach-explosion/

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www.nhc.noaa.gov

Tropical Storm Claudette is out to sea off of the northeast U. S.  We won't see any effects from that storm.

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Friday we have a 0 - 1 foot surf predicted for some of the Treasure Coast.  You don't see that very often.  Really smooth for that one day.

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I have three wild topics percolating in my mind, but they aren't quite ready yet.  Will take a little more time for me to put them together in a post.

That is all for today.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/13/15 Report - Explanation Of Flip-Ups. Dating A Coca Cola Bottle. Palm Beach Island Detecting.

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

Straight Side Fort Pierce Coca Cola Bottle.

Yesterday I gave you a link to a web site that lists the start dates of various Coca Cola Bottling Companies.

Here is an old straight-side Fort Pierce Coca Cola bottle that I found over a year ago.  I just cleaned it up a bit.

Unfortunately the top is badly damaged.

A few years ago I found and sold a West Palm Beach straight-side Coca Cola bottle that was more damaged than this one, and it sold for over $100.

The reason I am showing this one today is to show you the relevance of the link I gave you yesterday.

That site says the Fort Pierce bottling company began in 1914.

KovelsKomments says, Straight-sided glass bottles were used by Coke bottlers from about 1903 to 1916-17, when the now-standard Coca-Cola bottle was introduced.

That narrows the date of this bottle down pretty well.

It would be 1914 - 1917.

That is pretty good for a bottle that doesn't have much else that would give you the date.








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I was thinking about what Clint L called flip-ups.  Those are coins or other objects that get flipped up and over a cut and settle just behind the cut.

There are times, when I think it appears that objects have flipped up but when there might be another explanation.  There are times when a layer of shells is deposited, and a few other things might be in with the shells.  The beach then cuts through that deposited layer leaving some of the layer behind the cut.  That happens with some frequency.

I know one detectorist who has found most of his cobs by hunting a thin layer of shells laying right behind a cut.  He thoroughly hunted one such area daily and found a good number of heavily worn half reales.  I found a few in the same location.  These were small half reales about the same size as some of the shell pieces.

Actual flip-ups do happen though.  Clint described one case, as did Bill P., and I've seen it myself.  In the case I recall best, a coin was resting on a slanted slab of sand that had just been separated from the face of a small cut.  It appeared to me that the coin had been in the sand that was being eroded.  That could have left the coin in a very peculiar vulnerable position on a slanting and very irregular surface.  It was definitely not settled into the sand.  I can't recall it in any more detail than that.

The illustration above shows what I think probably happens.  An object is laying on or in loose sand in front of the cut.  A wave crashes at the foot of the cut and splashes forcefully up, throwing any vulnerable objects.

When beaches are cutting a lot, water will be crashing right on the cut.  Waves can hit a cut very forcefully, splashing up.  I'm sure you've seen it.  The loose sand near the foot of the cut will direct the water and force up and back.

I've decided to make a distinction between flip-ups, like those I'm talking about today in which an object must jump up at least a short distance, and coins or objects that flip over but do not really jump - not much more than the length of the object itself.

Flipping coins are very common, but most of the time they do not flip very far at once  I remember watching a coin flip the last time I was on the beach.  In that case, I had just dropped the coin.  Before it had settled into the sand a rush of water came by and it flipped over.  Immediately after that rush of water went by, it settled.  The next couple of very small waves put a thin layer of sand over the coin, after which it did not move.

Anyhow, I wanted to distinguish between flip-ups, which flip good distances (I might start calling them jumps or something like that) from flips, which are much more common and less surprising.

I think flip-ups, or jumps, might happen

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Photos by Penzfan.

Tony (penzfan) got this nice photo while hunting on the Palm Beach island the other day.

He found, One .925 ring, One Copper Bracelet, One Snake Ring, One Russian Ruble and some clad.

Below is a photo of his finds.

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I need to update my treasure site link list.  If you find a link that no longer works, please let me know.

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No significant change in beach conditions on the Treasure Coast again.  Expect very smooth surf towards the end of this week.

We've been having some nice low tides.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.ent