Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
 |
| Shipwreck Plank With Square Bronze Spikes. Photo submitted by Jason T.
Jason found this piece of shipwreck plank complete with spikes while scuba diving. It was wedged up under a reef. It has two complete bronze spikes still intact with
a nice green patina as well as some broken spikes.
Conserving wood artifacts is more complicated than you might think. It is further complicated when the wood has items of other materials, such as the metal spikes in this case.
Here is one of the better general descriptions of how to treat salt-water wood shipwreck artifacts.
For greater detail on artifacts of wood, including those with spike or other materials, here is a more academic set of articles from the Texas A and M conservation lab.
|
You can see in the photo how these spikes bent. They often broke. Lot of force involved as a shipwreck comes apart.
You can also see some of the shells from Toredo worms.
I'm told that Brevard County is considering making it illegal to dig holes in the beach. You know what that means. A lot of kids will be fined. No digging in the sand, kids! That will kill the children's plastic shovel and bucket toy sales.
I wonder if that would include scooping up sand fleas?
You need to learn what they plan to do, and let them know what you think. If one county does it, don't expect it to stop there.
It takes constant vigilance to maintain freedom.
I guess it could also mean if you lost your engagement ring, you better leave it lost rather than dig it up.
I'll have more on this subject tomorrow. It seems there is indeed breaking news on this. [Added Mon. evening].
It looks like the equipment is in place to start dumping tons of new sand on the beach at the Fort Pierce Inlet again. Reminds me of a heroine addiction the way they keep pumping sand on our beaches. There is money in it.
Don't make any holes, but rung heavy equipment and dump untold amounts of sand and junk on the beach. Huh?
I spelled "cuprous" incorrectly the other day. I know I leave a lot of mistakes of various sorts in my posts - more of language than fact. I just don't take the time to proof them as much as I should. Anyhow thanks for tolerating it. I guess you can generally figure out what I mean to say.
The following quick video clip shows what the beach looked like around low tide at noon today on the Treasure Coast.
Beach detecting conditions looked poor.
The surf on the Treasure Coast today is supposed to be around 3 - 4 feet. That will be the case through the week. An increase in the surf is predicted for next Sunday, up to 5 - 7 feet. We haven't seen a surf that high for quite a while. Of course that is still five or six days out so the prediction might change. Hopefully it will get higher instead of lower. We'll see.
The wind is mostly out of the east/southeast until then.
Low tide is around 12 today.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
