10/3/2015 Report - One Reason I Dig So Much Junk. CSS Pee Dee. Dare Back South. Remembering Dave. Better Beach Conditions Possible Next Week.

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

Here is one reason I dig junk.  This morning I was digging a big signal. The first thing that came up was a rusty big bolt or something.  It was nearly a foot long and completely covered by rust.  That object had a fishing line tangled around it, which was tied to a one ounce sinker. There was still a signal.  The next thing that came up was an encrusted nail.  There was still a signal.  It wasn't easy digging at this point.   I was trying to dig into shells and rock.  Finally out came this .75 troy oz. 14K ring.

The spot where I was working had a dip and some rocks.  As I said yesterday, it is one of the very few spots that I've been able to find lately where the sand has washed down to some older sand.

The eroded area moved farther south since yesterday.  I could tell that from the rocks and a couple of partly uncovered limbs or stumps.  Those things provide important markers.

While the north end of the dip that was there yesterday filled again, the south end extended farther to the south today.

Coins were found higher up on the beach near the foot of the cut.  Lower on the beach and down around the exposed rocks were a lot of corroded iron and junk.  I thought I might find a shipwreck spike, but failed at that.  A broken bronze spike was found right around there a year or two ago.

There was a lot of junk, it would have been an OK strategy to use discrimination if you just wanted to dig coins.  You would have got some coins and missed a lot of junk, but you probably would have missed the ring.

Strategic decisions always involve an associated risk.  If you want to discriminate, that can be a good strategy, but there is a definite risk.  You should be aware of the risks as well as the benefits when you make those kinds of decisions.

You never know what you missed unless you go back and check, but one thing you can do is keep good records and see if there is something missing.

My best example, and one that I've mentioned before, is from my early days of detecting, I was finding a lot of big men's rings but few small women's rings.  At first I thought women didn't lose as many rings as men.  Later, after I turned my discrimination down, I learned that there were a lot of small rings to be found, and I was missing them before.   Your records can give some indication about what you might be missing.

I have found lots and lots of watches.  I tend to think that a lot of people are discriminating them out.

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Before the weather turned bad the Dare surveyed an area 27 nautical miles along the coast and 6.5 miles wide with side scan sonar and magnetometer.  Although a couple of areas were found for further inspection the site of Lost Merchant was not positively identified.  With the weather turning bad the Dare returned to work the Atocha and Margarita sites.

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A team of underwater archaeologists from the University of South Carolina raised three Civil War cannons – each weighing upwards of 15,000 pounds – from the silty sediment of South Carolina’s Great Pee Dee River near Florence, S.C., on Tuesday (Sept. 29).

The two Confederate Brooke rifle cannons (11.8 and 12.25 feet each) and one captured Union Dahlgren cannon (8.9 feet) were artillery of the CSS Pee Dee, a 150-foot Confederate gunboat, a Macon-class gunboat built to patrol waterways and protect the coast...

To read more of that story here is the link.

http://www.newswise.com/articles/uofsc-archaeologists-raise-trio-of-civil-war-cannons-from-scuttled-css-pee-dee

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Concerning the memorial brick that I posted yesterday, Al C. sent me this email.

It jumped right out to me but I could be wrong. Dave Rust passed away from cancer several years ago. He was a long time treasure diver spending most of his time in that area. He had a few partners and worked with many of the old timers including Harold Holden. He and Chris Tisak, who is currently diving that area I think, were good friends and worked together for at least a few seasons. They were both good, generous guys and let me work with them when my schedule allowed.

Anyway, that came to my mind immediately.

Thanks for the blog and info and all of your effort. I read most everyday.

Al Coffey

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The waves are still hitting the beach straight on.  We have something close to a four or five foot surf.

The surf will be increasing, reaching up to possibly eight feet by Tuesday.  Now that is getting up there where you might expect some improvement in beach conditions.  The wind is also supposed to switch so that it is coming from the North beginning later Tuesday.  If we actually get the higher surf coupled with North winds, there is a very good chance that we'll finally get improved beach conditions.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net