Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Pile of Recently Dug Corroded Coins. |
Here is the link for more of that story.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/santa-maria-found-wreck-may-be-columbus-sunken-flagship-n103766
The bell of the Santa Maria, if that is indeed what it is, has been the subject of a battle between Portugal and Spain going back to 2003/2004. The bell was supposedly being returned to Spain from the New World when the ship carrying the bell sank in Portuguese waters.
Spain claimed that the bell was stolen from them when it was recovered by a diver, and the bell was returned to Spain in 2004. I haven't seen anything more recent on that.
It seems there are questions not only about who should own the bell but also if it is indeed the bell of the Santa Maria. That might be why there appears to have been no resolution to the issue, at least not that I can find.
Here is a link from 2004.
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5257041#.U3GQGSDD8VQ
The story of the bell is old news but I never found out what finally happened to it or if it was proven to be the bell from the Santa Maria.
Archaeologists are surveying the deteriorating structures of the early days of the Space Race at Cape Canaveral.
http://archaeology.org/news/2101-140512-cape-canaveral-space
Above is a pile of coins recently recovered from the water. It isn't hard to tell that they were exposed to salt water.
That is the kind of thing you'll often find between a sand bar and the beach when the dip still contains too much loose sand and shells. Most better targets will be deeper in a location like that.
You'll also notice some green encrusted coins in that pile, and a little junk flag pendant in the middle.
The pennies are not worth the effort, but they can provide important information. These pennies were not recent drops but had accumulated and been sifted and sorted. These pennies told me that there was a good bit of activity in that general area and as a result things were lost nearby in good numbers. That is good information. The question is then, how much deeper or in which direction would you need to go to get out of the pennies and into concentrations of better items.
Besides the information they provide about other possible targets, another reason to not ignore concentrations of finds like this, is that there can be better items in with the pennies.
Dips that contain loosely packed sand and shells and zinc pennies often also contain things like watches. This one did - two in fact.
Most importantly, this concentration of pennies told me that better targets were probably nearby and, most likely, in good concentrations. The better items would be deeper and perhaps off to one side or another. If I was able to use a blower in that area to remove the loose sand, I'm certain a good number of better items would have been found. As it was, I couldn't move the necessary amount of sand and am waiting for Mother Nature to do the job. It might happen or it might not. It depends upon which direction the sand moves. In any case, I know there is one very promising spot if and when the window finally opens.
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| Junk Flag Charm. |
I'll clean up the watches and get a photo of them. Both seem to be in good working order.
The pennies went through a quick tumbling to remove some of the crust and corrosion.
I'm actually more interested in what is under all of the remaining sand.
Anyone recognize the flag right off?
On the Treasure Coast today we are near a full moon and the tides are more significant again. The wind, however, is pretty directly out of the East, and the surf is up a little, to around three or four feet.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
