11/2/18 Report - Hurricane David. Knights' Gold. Chest Plate From Emanuel Point I Wreck.

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

Snipping submitted by Alberto S.

Interesting picture Alberto.  Thanks!

Hurricane David was back in 1959.  I came to Florida during that time.

If you look behind the people walking, you'll see a metal detector coil and scoop.  You can't see the detectorist.

Notice the erosion control bags and cement blocks and the car or truck frame.

There are a lot of places where old cars ended up rusting away on the beach.  There is one spot in Vero where cars fell onto the beach when a hurricane caused the collapse of a beach-side parking lot.  The car frames were visible some years ago.

There are also car and truck frames in the lagoon.  I've picked up parts off of model A and mode T Fords.

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Jack Myers, author of Knights' Gold, sent me a copy of that book.  I don't usually comment on a book until I have read it through, but this time I can tell enough already to recommend it.  It is meaty book of 498 pages with lots of references and notes.

Here is a brief excerpt from the preface.

This is the story of an immense, tantalizing golden hoard - today worth many millions of dollars, and of the daring, ambitious, yet reckless and often ruthless people who buried those 5000 + highly valued gold coins in the years 1856.

The fantastic, mysterious "Baltimore gold hoard" was not discovered until almost 80n years after its pre-Civil War burial.  Now, some 80 years after the gleaming pot of gold was unearthed it is time for the full, sho0cking trutht about the coins to finally be revealed.

The hoard was found by two fatherless poor teenage urban boys digging in their basement in the depression era.  The book tells what happened to the gold, including the inevitable court cases, as well as the various theories on where the gold came from.

https://www.amazon.com/Knights-Gold-Baltimore-Confederate-organization/dp/1539896560

Jack is currently investigating another interesting treasure and contacting me concerning that project and was kind enough to send me a copy of his book.

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During a 1996 excavation, UWF archaeologists discovered an ancient armored Spanish breast plate — worn by conquistador Tristan de Luna's army in 1559 — at the site of the first Emanuel Point I ship wreck near Pensacola. The breast plate was found in the stern of the ship during one of several excavations conducted since initial discovery was made in 1992.

Centuries underwater left the breast plate completely covered in marine growth. All the original metal was gone as the iron had been converted into iron sulfide. But concretion preserved the shape of the breast plate and allowed archaeologists to identify it...

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/local/2018/10/31/uwf-archaeologists-make-new-emanuel-point-artifact-discoveries/1818306002/

The iron was completely dissolved, but the armor is being reconstructed.

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It looks like there will be no change in the surf or beach conditions for a few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

10/22/16 Report - Post-Matthew Finds. Musket Balls, Cross and Reales. Florida's Cyber Treasure Hunt. New Luna Wreck Found.

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

10-Year-Old Kaylee M.
Showing Her Hurricane Matthew Finds

10-year old Kaylee M. dug five musket balls and an old silver cross after Hurricane Matthew.  Great finds!

Not only does Kaylee like using detectors and finding treasure, but she also got dive certified already! Congratulations Kaylee!!

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The Spaniard Luna and about 1,500 soldiers, colonists, slaves and Aztec Indians traveled in 11 ships from Veracruz, Mexico to Pensacola. A hurricane struck Pensacola about a month later, sinking six ships into the bay and wiping out a significant portion of their supplies.

This might be the third Luna expedition shipwreck that has been found.  It is being referred to as Emanuel Point III.  Nearby is a land site that could be associated.

Here is the link.

http://www.pnj.com/story/news/local/pensacola/2016/10/21/third-shipwreck-luna-fleet-uncovered/92487848/

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The blog poll will soon be coming to an end.  I hope you responded.

If you've been watching the poll, you've seen that there were treasure finds made after Hurricane Matthew both on the Treasure Coast and elsewhere.

Here are some cobs and a couple indistinguishable pieces of silver that were found towards the northern end of the Treasure Coast after Hurricane Matthew.

Cobs and Silver Found On The Treasure Coast
After Hurricane Matthew By One Reader.

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As wealth becomes digital, future treasure hunters will be scouring networks to find lost or abandoned wealth like we scour the beaches today.  In fact that is already being done.  Maybe you've received an email from someone that found unclaimed funds that are due you.  That is in some cases legitimate.  See for example the State of Florida's https://www.fltreasurehunt.org/

It actually works.  I and others have claimed funds through that web site.

Were you affected by the DDos attacks yesterday?  Our country is skating on very very thin ice. The government seems to have their head stuck in the sand.  One report said, The massive outage drew the attention of the FBI which said Friday that it was "investigating all potential causes" of the attack.  From recent events, I would have thought it would be near impossible to get their attention.

Amazing that the politicians didn't seem to care about computer security until they got the idea that it might affect them getting elected.  They are trying to blame the leakers instead of admitting that they've been leaving the door wide open to the entire world by being so careless about computer security.  When one server is vulnerable, every computer that communicates with it is more at risk. Therefore you see a wide range of related users being affected.  The leakers did us a big favor if it wakes up some people.
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I'm dropping my Treasure Coast Beach Detecting Conditions Rating back down to a 1.  It could very well increase again in a few days if the predictions are correct.

We'll have a few days of smaller surf and then towards the end of next week some pretty big surf again.  Looks promising.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/16/16 Report - Three Tropical Storms Plus Now. Padre Island and Emanuel Point Shipwreck Study. Fossils.

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

Julia has become a tropical storm again.  It is lingering off of South Carlina and it looks like it is bringing some northeast winds to parts of North Carolina, South Carolina an North Florida.

That is the kind of thing I'd like to see happen off the Treasure Coast - a storm that sits off shore and churns for a while.

We now have three tropical storms, two depressions, but no partridge in a pear tree.

Karl is expected to become a hurricane, but is expected at this point to move to the north before long.  I've made the observation before that when they get strong that far away they tend to move north into the Atlantic.

Another depression is about to come off of Africa.  

It is pretty busy out there.

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You might enjoy this fossil slideshow.  Just some very neat fossils.

http://animalmozo.com/2016/09/03/24-insane-fossil-discoveries

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I found a paper on the Padre Island and Emanuel Point shipwrecks.  Simplified, the hypothesis is that the pattern of ceramics on a wreck site can help you determine something about the type of ship was involved.  There were however some other details that you might find interesting, for example the following illustrations on early salvage techniques.

I suspect that there will be differences between deep and shallow water wrecks and some other factors.

Dragging for a Wreck.
Source: Arnold, 1979.

Salvage Divers Following Chain Down To Wreck.
Source: Arnold, 1979

The source of those illustrations is the following.

Arnold III, J. Barto, 1979.  Documentary Sources for the Wreck of the New Spain Fleet of 1554, David McDonald, translator. Texas Antiquities Committee Publication, No. 8, Austin.

You might find the study of the wreck sites, ceramics, etc. interesting.

Here is the link.

http://etd.fcla.edu/WF/WFE0000406/Sorset_Scott_Ryan_201306_MA.pdf

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The World Health Organization found that the United States ranks third (behind India and China) in most depression, anxiety and drug and alcohol abuse.

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Promoting interest in Florida archaeology.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net