3/17/17 Report - New Margarita Finds. Industry Shipwreck and St. Augustine. SS Central America Search Strategy.

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

Beach Renourishment Begins At Jupiter Beach South.
Submitted by CladKing.

Thanks CladKing.

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The sea is usually rough in the keys in March, however the Mel Fisher organization reports some very nice finds were made recently during a calm spell by the Sea Reaper on the Margarita site.  Exploring a less explored area to the east, a variety of artifacts were found including a large encrusted iron pot.  A iron key and a sword handle was found the next day a little distance away.  These new finds added new possibilities to what is known about the distribution of wreckage.

A second iron pot was found the next day nearly a half mile away, but in a direct line with the first.  It appears that a second scatter lies parallel to that previously plotted.

Here is a three-legged 18th century iron cooking pot from the Industry shipwreck off St. Augustine.

Source: TAMU Dissertation.  See link below.

The pot shown above is not one of those found on the Margarita site. The photo is from a 2005 dissertation by Marianne Franklin entitled BLOOD AND WATER; THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXCAVATION AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS OF THE WRECK OF THE INDUSTRY, A NORTH-AMERICAN TRANSPORT SLOOP CHARTERED BY THE BRITISH ARMY AT THE END OF THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR: BRITISH COLONIAL NAVIGATION AND TRADE TO SUPPLY SPANISH FLORIDA IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. (More on recent Margarita finds below.)

Franklin's dissertation is something that anyone interested in 18th Century Florida will want to read. It gives a good history of St. Augustine (one of the best I've read) and especially how they were provisioned, both legally and illegally. The Lawrence family of New York was one big player.

The dissertation provides a lot of information on Spanish St. Augustine and how they were supplied by British ships, the Industry being one that sunk outside of the inlet to St. Augustine. Also covered are the artifacts. A good bibliography can be found at the end.

Here is the link.

http://nautarch.tamu.edu/pdf-files/Franklin-PhD2005.pdf

Picture of a Similar Iron Pot In a Ship's Hearth.
Source: TAMU  link immediately above.

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Here is another good read.  It discusses the search for the SS Central America.  It is not about what happened when the wreck was found - just search strategies prior to the location of the wreck.

Here is that link.

http://www.columbia.edu/~dj114/SS_Central_America.pdf

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Well the surf is still small along the Treasure Coast.  The tides have also decreased.  Not much hope for much improvement over the next few days.  It is however an chance to check the low tide area.

I expect a lot of beach renourishment this summer.  It has started, but there is more to come.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net