Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
I've posted information before about what caused some of the best-ever Treasure Coast beach detecting that occurred during the Thanksgiving Storm of 1984. You've probably heard some of the stories about the treasure found on the beach after that storm. I've posted some of that in this blog. People said the information I posted about the storm really helped them, so today I have more of that. Dale J. sent me a link to The Florida East Coast Thanksgiving Holiday Storm of 1984 by Raymond Biedinger, Clifford Brock, Federico Gonzales, and Burt Sylvern. Betweent that report and the one I previously posted, I think you'll understand what it takes to really uncover a lot of old beach treasure.
Here are a couple paragraphs from that report.
The meteorological conditions just described produced one of the most damaging storms to affect the eastern coastal sections of Florida during the past several decades. Much of the damage from Fernandina Beach southward to North Miami Beach, nearly 400 miles, was caused by the easterly winds of gale force with gusts as high as 60 miles an hour blowing for nearly four days. This action of the wind over the ocean produced shoreward moving swells of around 20 feet which pounded the Florida east coast and produced the most severe beach erosion in recent years in many areas. An example of the destruction was the reduction of the newly completed l100 foot pier at St. Augustine to 300 feet. Sand dunes were obliterated leaving barrier islands void of any natural protection against the next onslaught of a coastal storm in the future.
To add to the destructiveness, the highest monthly astronomical tide period coincided with the highest period of storm tides which occurred on the morning of Thursday and Friday, the 22nd and 23rd. All of this produced tides 4 to 6 feet above mean yea level (MSL} at times of high tide. In some places, this was the highest tide in the last 30 years. Alt Mayport, Florida, just north of Jacksonville, the tide of 5.2 feet above MSL was the third highest tide of record. Much of state road A1A, the famous coastal highway, was closed in Indian River County between Vero Beach and Sebastian Inlet because of high water. In this area several beach front buildings collapsed, and 600 to 1,000 people were ordered to evacuate their homes. In Palm Beach County, five blocks of A1A were seriously damaged by the high tides and heavy surf. Bridges were closed because of flooded approaches which caused some barrier islands including the large Hutchinson Island to become isolated for periods of time around the time of high tide. In the storm's aftermath, severe coastal beach erosion stretched from Jacksonville to Palm Beach. Several counties were declared emergency areas by the Governor of Florida. The storm tides and high surf alone combined to produce property damage at first estimate of over 8 million dollars along the coast. Figures 18 and 19 show this damage assessment to both public and private property in the individual counties along the coast. (Later poststorm reports from the Florida Department Natural Resources...
If you want to learn more about that, here is the link.
https:/www.weather.gov/media/mlb/marine/Nov_1984_storm.pdf
Thanks Dale!
I added the underlining to the above.
And if you want to see my previous post on the Thanksgiving Storm along with excerpts from another report, here is that link.
https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/2015/06/61715-report-can-storm-uncover-as-much.html
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I woke up this morning from a dream in which I was hunting through some good shell piles and finding some old things. I guess my little walk yesterday and my planned walk today was on my mind.
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Yesterday I saw most of episode six of season six of the Oak Island TV show. It provides so many positive and negative treasure hunting lessons and illustrations that I have to comment on it. They have really picked up the pace this season.
My first impression is that the word "theory" has suddenly become very popular on that show. It is used frequently now. A simple word count of the transcripts could quickly confirm or deny my impression if somebody wants to do it. If true, it indicates a new positive direction for them, in my opinion.
The advantage of "targeted" drilling based upon the seismic data was clearly demonstrated. The hypothesis of a void of the type expected, or hoped for, was not supported in this case, but a clear answer was provided with a relatively high degree of confidence. You won't get that with random searching. If you have a clear hypothesis to test, you have a much better chance of coming up with a clear answer so you can move on with the additional information. In this case, they did not find a void where one was expected, but they effectively conducted a test and learned something from it.
Well-defined questions lead to effective tests that result in answers.
I'm encouraged that they had some real expert analysis instead of the Dr. Lori kind of thing. It seems they are really pouring money into the project this year.
I would have liked to have a level of confidence expressed concerning the age and mining location for the lead cross. 90%, 80%, or something like that. Perhaps I missed it.
As I've said many times before, because something might have been produced at an early date does not mean that it was lost at such an early date. We often think in terms of today's standards in which we buy something, use it and throw it away in a very short time, but things can be used or kept for hundreds of years before they are lost or deposited. That is especially true of treasured antiques and artifacts.
I once bought a widow's mite from an antiquities dealer as a Christmas gift for my mother. If it was lost and somebody later found it, they would be wrong to conclude that the 30AD coin was brought to America and lost in 30AD. An old item could be lost or deposited almost any time up until the time it was found.
I'm curious why the cross was made of lead instead of gold or some other metal considering the possible context of a large treasure hoard. Why not something more precious? Does the lead have a symbolic significance or purpose, or was the cross simply fashioned by someone out of scrap lead - perhaps a type of soldier art. It seems to me that it might have been once nailed to something through the head.
There was a piece of scrap lead they found in an earlier episode, which looked quite recent to me. Neither seemed to show much evidence of salt water corrosion.
Another thing you can take from the lead cross is what I always say about discrimination. Lead and other items that are NOT coins or gold or silver can be very good finds. Anyone who got that item under their coil would definitely detect it unless they discriminated it out.
Location, location, location!
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Tomorrow the surf will be up to two or three feet, but the tides will start to get a little bigger.
I'm going to try to take a walk to look for more bottles and things if I get the chance.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
