Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Figure From 1998 NRL Project Report. See link below for link to the report. |
There have been many rumors recently about the helicopter with a strange contraption attached. Some said it could be a government agency doing a study of the sand. They can actually measure the amount of sand deposits in the water from the air. Others thought it could be a magnetometer survey or photographic mapping.
One resident who spoke to the helicopter crew thinks they got the answer. They say the helicopter is conducing a magnetometer survey for WWII items.
As you probably know a magnetometer by detecting differences in the magnetic fields can detect iron objects.
It has been determined that a Canadian company is performing the survey to locate the WWII items for a future reality TV program.
That reminded me of a large project to remove WWII items from the Treasure Coast beaches back in the 1990s.
I've talked about that a little in the past but you might be surprised by the extent and type of artifacts that were removed.
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| Figure From Same NRL Report. |
Beginning in 1993, the project conducted by the Naval Research Laboratory removed everything from sculleys, to live bombs, "tiny tom" missiles, to railroad rails. The 1990s project employed a magnetometer survey with a magnetometer array pulled by the vehicle shown here.
The strangest contraption though was a large barge-like amphibious vehicle on tracks like those used on tanks or other heavy equipment and equipped with a large crane that was used to remove large sculleys from the water. That thing was huge. I wish I got a photo of it at the time. I hoped they would show it in the report, but they didn't.
The fellows working the project were dressed like those shown below in black shorts and white Ts.
If you want to learn more about the project, what was detected, how the project was conducted, and what went on at our Treasure Coast beaches during WWII, below is a link to a report on the project.
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| Not a Cannon But a Rocket Being Removed From a Treasure Coast Beach. |
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| Anti-Tank Mines Removed From Beach. |
Here is the link for the Navy report. It is a PDF file.
https://www.google.com/search?q=navy+research+laboratory+ordnance+removal+fort+pierce+1998&rlz=1C1CHFX_enUS536US536&oq=navy+research+laboratory+ordnance+removal+fort+pierce+1998&aqs=chrome..69i57.18867j0j4&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8
You'll find a lot of information in the report and some useful hints.
Most of the items removed were larger - at least a half meter or more. And as you'll read, there was a lot of "live" ordnance.
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| Many obstacles thought to be a danger to swimmers and boaters like this Hedgehog were removed from the water along the Treasure Coast. |
Did you know, that Normandy Beach on South Hutchinson Island was named that because it was used to conduct training exercises for the invasion of Normandy? The report says that area was used for bombing raid exercises.
I've been receiving a lot of email from readers from other states lately. I'll post some of those and some ideas on the mystery item I posted yesterday.
I got one report of good erosion on the Alabama Coast lately.
On the Treasure Coast a lot of surfers were enjoying the Christmas break yesterday. The surf was up to about four feet.
On Christmas the predictions are for a six foot surf.
Happy Hunting,
TreaureGuide@comcast.net
