Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
I often get questions about the laws concerning metal detecting. I don't like to try to answer those types of questions because there are so many contradictory and confusing issues and I'm far from an expert. An article I just found entitled LOST AT SEA: A treatise on the management and ownership of shipwrecks and shipwreck artifacts, by Michael C. Barnette as published in New Jersey Scuba Diving, will help anyone get a better understanding of some of the most important legal issues related to shipwrecks and artifacts. Here are just a few excerpts to get you started on this lengthy and very helpful article. |
| Half Reale 1989 Find Showing Charles II Monogram. |
This one shows no date but would be between 1668 and 1697.
The Florenza cross on the other side shows it to be from Mexico.
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| Other Side of Same Half Reale. |
Found during the same short hunt as the two shown yesterday.
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... The law of salvage and the law of finds are the two principal aspects of admiralty law that provide legal guidance for how the issue of shipwreck ownership is approached. When property, such as a vessel and its cargo, is lost at sea, salvage law generally applies. Under the law of salvage, salvors take possession of, but not title to, the distressed vessel and/or its cargo. Subsequent to the salvage of a vessel or cargo, a court awards the salvors a reward depending on various factors, such as the value of the salvaged property, the risk involved, and the overall success of the salvage effort...
...In the case of the C.S.S. Alabama, the French government proceeded to excavate the wreck and recover artifacts following her discovery in 1984. It was not until October 1991 and after extensive negotiations that the French government conceded ownership of the warship to the United States, and recovered artifacts were exported to the Naval Historical Center at the Washington Navy Yard. Similarly, the aforementioned H.M.S. Fowey was also subjected to potentially unauthorized excavation, in this case by the National Park Service.
In fact, when the H.M.S. Fowey was included in the National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 1990, it was erroneously stated in the Federal Register that the "wooden British merchant vessel" Fowey was "owned by the U.S. Government." While the National Park Service had the jurisdiction to act as custodian over the site, they definitely did not own it. Even with a custodial jurisdiction, it would appear that the National Park Service would still have been required to request permission from the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense to conduct the several excavations that have since been completed. Further, instead of returning the collected artifacts to the rightful owners of the warship, they are housed in at least three repositories in Florida and Texas.
Regardless of the official party line, the U.S. Navy sometimes offers hypocritical advice in regards to collection of artifacts from military shipwrecks. In the case of the U.S.S. Murphy, a destroyer that was involved in a 1943 collision at sea that resulted in her forward half being lost off New York, the United States Naval Historical Center recommended that artifacts could be collected from the then unknown wreck and used to identify the vessel. In fact, it was the recovery of a gauge with the destroyer's designation number that ultimately led to the wreck's identification and revelations into the vessel's tragic involvement in a largely unknown maritime accident. Subsequent events led to an official U.S. Navy investigation into diving activities on the wreck, whereupon they requested that all recovered artifacts be turned over to the U.S. Navy...
Here is the link. I hope you will read the article.
https://njscuba.net/artifacts/misc_salvage_law.php
It does not address some issues that are of interest to Florida detectorists. It does not, of course, address county or park rules or laws or Florida's waterways, including the Indian River Lagoon. There seems to be a lot of uninformed talk about the lagoon lately. Anything found in Florida's waterways belongs to the State of Florida, and they consider anything over a few decades old to be protected historic property.
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Here is another bottle find.
I was surprised to learn that Hire's still sells the extract and you can still make your own root beer at home.
It does not address some issues that are of interest to Florida detectorists. It does not, of course, address county or park rules or laws or Florida's waterways, including the Indian River Lagoon. There seems to be a lot of uninformed talk about the lagoon lately. Anything found in Florida's waterways belongs to the State of Florida, and they consider anything over a few decades old to be protected historic property.
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Here is another bottle find.
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| Hire's Household Extract. |
This vintage bottle, like all that I show on this site, was found on the Treasure Coast.
I posted a photo of another side of this bottle and instructions for making root beer from the extract on tgbottlebarn.blogspot.com.
Happy Father's Day,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
This one reads, "MANUFACTURED BY THE CHARLES E. HIRES Co.
Happy Father's Day,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
