Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
There are times in life when ordinary things are transformed by something special such as the Magic of Christmas. One example I'm thinking of is an old orange buoy that I once found that was laying around with a lot of other junk but was recently transformed by a coat of reflective silver paint and black tape into a shiny Christmas bell highlighted with a red ribbon bow and is now a bright focal point between colored lights and blinking snow flakes. So it is in the lives of men who on rare occasions are momentarily transformed - or so it would seem.I always remember the time many years ago when I was in Pensacola on business and after work I went out to a remote beach to do some detecting. It was an isolated beach. The small parking lot was nothing more than a packed surface big enough to hold maybe six or eight cars at max. There was only one other car there when I arrived.
I just got out of the car and started towards the walkover when I noticed an elderly couple and a child leaving the beach. They had their hands full with beach blankets, a cooler, toys and I don't know what all.
I saw them struggling and took one of the items ( I think it was a cooler), and took it to their car. As I returned to my own business, I remember the man commenting to his wife something about how surprised he was at my actions. In retrospect, I find it a little surprising myself - not that it was any kind of big deal or something that should be surprising.
Having helped them to their car, I headed towards the beach but soon became aware that they had a problem. They couldn't find the car keys.
I don't know what all transpired, but I ended up following their tracks back to where I could tell they were on the beach and started detecting for the keys. It didn't take long until I found them.
It would have been a problem if the keys were not found. It was a remote beach away from businesses, homes and traffic, and since this was in the days before cell phones, they couldn't just call for help.
If I put myself in their place I night think about how unlikely it was, and how fortunate it was that a fellow came along at just the right time with a metal detector to find the keys. I would have wondered if it was just coincidence or something more. And being the type of person I am, I'd wonder if it might be something spiritual in one way or another. It was definitely out of line with my normal or natural behavior. Was it more than coincidence?
I didn't tell you what I did so you would think that I'm a good person. Quite the contrary. The good deep was not the norm. It was the exception. That is too bad. It need not be so.
There are many opportunities in daily life to transform unexceptional moments into memorable mements. One way you can do that is by responding to some of the many opportunities to lend a helping hand. The Christmas season is an especially good time to try it.
---
There is only so much I can do in a blog post. Posts are short and I write one almost every day. That means that I can not say everything that needs to be said or even everything I might want to say about many topics. I can't even take the time I would like to take to refine my posts like I wish I could. That is just the nature of a blog, especially one done on a daily basis by a single person with a lot of other more pressing responsibilities. That is just one important reason that I usually post my sources as references.
The sources that I post provide many details that I don't include in my text. A perfect example was my recent post about encrusted object. At the top of the post I provided an illustration showing the stages of development of an EO taken from a thesis for a Master's degree. A thesis like that is much more lengthy and detailed than any post that I might provide and will usually answer any questions you might have about the topic to the est have been answered in academic circles. A thesis like that normally takes close to two years to complete, will include a comprehensive overview of the existing academic literature on the topic and is completed with the assistance of an academic team of professors in the field of study. Therefore you might expect the thesis to provided the best scholarship on the subject that exists anywhere. That is why I provide the sources and references. If you have any questions, you can consult the original sources, not only the one source, but also those listed in that source. An academic thesis must contain a review of the relevant literature, which you will find near the end of the thesis.
The illustration I provided at the top of the post from the thesis on EOs was good, as far as it goes, however the thesis also acknowledged that things are actually more complex. Here is a paragraph from the same thesis as the illustration commenting on that.
As you can see, there is more. You can use the following to link to continue reading.
When you have questions about something I post that is from another source, I usually give you a link so you can check the source for more information. You will often find tons of additional good information.
Here is the link to the thesis on EOs that I talked about in my post a couple days ago.
http://nautarch.tamu.edu/pdf-files/Rash-MA2012.pdf
You should note that the thesis was based upon a survey of 2000-year-old items - not 300-year-old items.
I often get questions about cleaning objects. I know it can be too detailed or difficult to understand at times, but the best over all resource that I know about for information about cleaning and conserving objects is the Texas A and M Nautical Archaeology Conservation Laboratory web site. I think I've mentioned that web site several times. There you will find extensive discussion about cleaning and conserving almost every type of material. The main problem with that web site is that it has too much information and would take a long time to master. I will therefore continue to provide brief instructions, but you should realize that there is always more that could be said. When you need to know all the ifs, ands and buts, you might want to consult the best academic resources.
---
If I judged my posts on the number of emails received, I would have to say that the recent EO posts were popular. They are certainly interesting objects that inspire a lot of questions. I will be doing more posts on EOs in the future.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
