Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.
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| Buried Treasure Books. |
When I was looking for one of the Frank Hudson books for some reason the other day, I found some other "treasure" books that I had forgotten about. One is by Jack Beater, who lived in the Fort Myers area, and wrote a book entitled Pirates and Buried Treasure, which was published in 1959.
Jack was a veteran of WW I and moved to Florida in 1920. Stories of pirates and treasure fascinated him, so he started talking to every old timer or anyone who could tell him more about that. I was given a copy of his book many years ago by someone who knew him.
Jack was a veteran of WW I and moved to Florida in 1920. Stories of pirates and treasure fascinated him, so he started talking to every old timer or anyone who could tell him more about that. I was given a copy of his book many years ago by someone who knew him.
Pirates and Buried Treasure is an entertaining easy read that also provides good information. It focuses primarily on the West Coast of Florida and the Keys. It talks about Gasparilla, Juan Gomez, Captiva, Charles Gibbs, Anne Bonny, Captain Rackam, Henri Caesar, Key Largo, Tarpon Springs, Useppa, Charlotte Harbor, Carla Pelau, and Estero Bay, Fort Myers Beach and others. Of course, some of those places you can no longer metal detect.
Concerning Hudson's books, Bill P. detected one of the sites mentioned, and found the book to be accurate.
Here is what Bill said.
Concerning Hudson's books, Bill P. detected one of the sites mentioned, and found the book to be accurate.
Here is what Bill said.
An old detecting friend and I hunted a location that Hudson mentioned in that book (I believe) on the gulf coast many years ago. He gave many details about this area that were actually fairly accurate. We hunted the area several times over a couple years and turned up some pretty cool items. The area had been hunted by Hudson and there were uncovered holes everywhere. There were a lot of indian artifacts too. Among the items we found were a broken, rusty end of bar shot that was fired from a cannon with the hopes of taking out the rigging of another ship. I found a Spanish, milled half reale that was holed, and dated 1784. That was cool. We also found what we believed to be a human bone...creepy to say the least. The most interesting thing that happened was, in between trips there someone else was apparently hunting there too. We found a freshly dug hole approximately 2 feet deep and in the bottom of the you could see where roots had grown around something square shaped around 2 feet square!. Disappointing for us but still exciting that someone actual found a box of......who knows. The worst part was the little black salt-marsh mosquitoes. Who knows what is still there? Bill
Thanks Bill. Fun times.
That reminds me of one time in the eighties, I think it was, I was in Tampa on a business trip and remember a construction project on the beach that unearthed a bunch of gold coins. I remember taking my Aquanaut in its grey hard case with me on the plane.
If you go through Hudson's books, one thing you'll notice is several buried treasures around every inlet. There might be an exception, but I don't think so. It is important to remember that some of the inlets have moved.
If you combine the treasures in the Hudson and Beater books with those reported in various other sources, you'll notice that there are few coastal areas without sunken or buried treasure somewhere nearby. Just those that I'm familiar with are numerous, extending from Key West all the way up the coast.
This is the first I really looked at those books for many years. When I first read them, I saw them very differently. Each X marked a dream that could happen - if I hit it.
I look at things very differently now. Now it seems to me more like, treasure is all around, so I don't wonder so much where the treasure is - instead I wonder what treasure is in the area where I stand.
Think of it. You can start out in a place like Frederick Douglas, walk north to John Brooks, and a little more to the old picked over wreck near the Fort Pierce Jetty, then north to Pepper Park, and then past the Fort Capron payroll area, continue on to the Sandy Point Wreck and Rio Mar, and Turtle Trail, and Seagrape Trail, and Wabasso, Golden Sands and Treasure Shores and Ambersands, etc. etc. And I am sure there are treasures in between of one kind or another. There are wrecks along our coast that are less known and less hunted, yet very interesting. And there are artifacts of various ages on the beach, and fossils and sea glass, not to mention the native American artifacts and the shiny things that are being lost daily.
I can look out my front window and see the spot where I picked up an inscribed Native American pot shard laying on the surface after a storm, and where I go walking to pick up old bottles and other things. And not far from my back door is an area where workers in the early 20th century drank after work and discarded their bottles. There is treasure all over the place. That is how it seems to me now.
My goals changed over the years and decades too. I've told before about how when I started metal detecting I tried to find as many coins as I could. After I progressed some, I targeted gold and quit counting the coins. That wasn't the end of the changes, but I'll skip over the rest.
Not too long ago I used the term alchemy in one of my post titles. Poorly defined, alchemy attempts to turn base metals in to gold. For me today it is more about mining or transforming the moment.
Through aging and a variety of other circumstances, I now see time and life as the most precious commodity. Digging up gold is really nice, but the important thing is extracting the treasure from the moment in which I stand. That can be done by digging up something good, but it can also be done without digging up anything. The treasure is not so much in the gold, but what you bring to it.
For example, treasure hunting with the wrong attitude can leave you worse off, whether you find anything or not. There was a time when I'd go out hunting with a very specific goal, and if I didn't find anything good I'd come back in a very bad mood. I let it ruin the moment. Likewise, making a good find can be poorly handled in a variety of ways. You've probably heard of lotto winners who destroyed themselves and their families.
Life is precious. Every moment is precious. You can make of it what you will.
The moment, like gold, is there to be mined. Mine it.
---
If you combine the treasures in the Hudson and Beater books with those reported in various other sources, you'll notice that there are few coastal areas without sunken or buried treasure somewhere nearby. Just those that I'm familiar with are numerous, extending from Key West all the way up the coast.
This is the first I really looked at those books for many years. When I first read them, I saw them very differently. Each X marked a dream that could happen - if I hit it.
I look at things very differently now. Now it seems to me more like, treasure is all around, so I don't wonder so much where the treasure is - instead I wonder what treasure is in the area where I stand.
Think of it. You can start out in a place like Frederick Douglas, walk north to John Brooks, and a little more to the old picked over wreck near the Fort Pierce Jetty, then north to Pepper Park, and then past the Fort Capron payroll area, continue on to the Sandy Point Wreck and Rio Mar, and Turtle Trail, and Seagrape Trail, and Wabasso, Golden Sands and Treasure Shores and Ambersands, etc. etc. And I am sure there are treasures in between of one kind or another. There are wrecks along our coast that are less known and less hunted, yet very interesting. And there are artifacts of various ages on the beach, and fossils and sea glass, not to mention the native American artifacts and the shiny things that are being lost daily.
I can look out my front window and see the spot where I picked up an inscribed Native American pot shard laying on the surface after a storm, and where I go walking to pick up old bottles and other things. And not far from my back door is an area where workers in the early 20th century drank after work and discarded their bottles. There is treasure all over the place. That is how it seems to me now.
My goals changed over the years and decades too. I've told before about how when I started metal detecting I tried to find as many coins as I could. After I progressed some, I targeted gold and quit counting the coins. That wasn't the end of the changes, but I'll skip over the rest.
Not too long ago I used the term alchemy in one of my post titles. Poorly defined, alchemy attempts to turn base metals in to gold. For me today it is more about mining or transforming the moment.
Through aging and a variety of other circumstances, I now see time and life as the most precious commodity. Digging up gold is really nice, but the important thing is extracting the treasure from the moment in which I stand. That can be done by digging up something good, but it can also be done without digging up anything. The treasure is not so much in the gold, but what you bring to it.
For example, treasure hunting with the wrong attitude can leave you worse off, whether you find anything or not. There was a time when I'd go out hunting with a very specific goal, and if I didn't find anything good I'd come back in a very bad mood. I let it ruin the moment. Likewise, making a good find can be poorly handled in a variety of ways. You've probably heard of lotto winners who destroyed themselves and their families.
Life is precious. Every moment is precious. You can make of it what you will.
The moment, like gold, is there to be mined. Mine it.
---
Some of the salvage boats have been taking advantage of the small surf, but later today the surf will increase and we will have a couple days of bigger surf.
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| Source: MagicSeaWeed.com |
Make your moments count,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net
