1/12/16 Report - Great Resource for Shipwreck Research. Not 1715 Fleet Treasure Coast Shipwrecks.

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

Recovered Artifact Shown in Borgens Thesis
See link below.

If you know anything about the Treasure Coast, you probably know something about the 1715 Fleet. Most of our treasure wrecks came from that fleet, but there are other important wrecks along the Treasure Coast that you should know about.   Some are older than the 1715 Fleet and some are more recent.

Among the more recent is the Spring of Whitby, which probably sank near Wabasso in 1824.  The Spring of Whitby is not as well known as the 1715 Fleet, partly because it has not been as thoroughly researched.  It was identified in 1965 when a bronze bell bearing the date 1801 and the name Spring of Whitby was recovered.  The Spring of Whitby maintains a shroud of mystery.  The evidence and research concerning her does not fit neatly together.

One of the older Treasure Coast wrecks is the Power Plant wreck, which is believed to have sunk in the late 1500s.  Relatively little is known about that wreck.

Another older wreck is the wreck of the San Miguel Archangel, which sank in 1660 near the Jupiter Inlet.  Spanish cobs were routinely found by detectorists along the beach near the wreck site for years before the main pile was found by a lifeguard on his morning swim.  On that fateful morning he noticed a recently exposed cannon.

I often encountered a detectorist named Dave, who filled jars with cobs that seemed to wash out of the dunes near the Jupiter Inlet.  That was back in the eighties before the cannon was found and salvage efforts began on that wreck site.  I don't know what happened to Dave.

There are other wrecks than the 1715 Fleet along the Treasure Coast and some have not been identified.  Some are older and some more recent.  Of course not all of them are treasure ships, but they can still produce some interesting artifacts.

It can be difficult to tell how old an artifact might be and what type of wreck produced it.  There are times when artifacts from different wrecks intermingle, and that can make it more difficult.  There are sometimes subtle signs to help you tell one from the other, but you have to do your homework.

Below is a link to a very useful paper entitled, Analysis of the Pass Cavallo Shipwreck Assemblage, Matagorda Bay, Texas.  It is a master's thesis by Amy Borgens.

You will find a lot of good information and drawings of artifacts, including a lot on armaments. There is also a great bibliography at the end that will give you much more research material.

Here is the link.

http://anthropology.tamu.edu/papers/Borgens-MA2004.pdf

It is 294 pages.  Here are the first two paragraphs from the abstract tp give you the idea.

A survey conducted in February of 1998 located an anomaly originally believed to be the remains of L’Aimable. L’Aimable was one of four ships utilized by ReneRobert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, for his voyage to colonize the Gulf Coast in 1684. The anomaly, a wrecked vessel with a heavy iron signature, was located outside the entrance to the historic pass into Matagorda Bay, Texas. Artifacts were extracted from the wreck site to aid in the identification of the vessel, which was subsequently determined to be more recent in origin. 

A preliminary examination of the artifacts indicates that the shipwreck dates to the first half of the 19th century. The survey recovered over two hundred artifacts. The assemblage of artifacts includes over 80 lead shot, over 40 examples of brass firearm furniture, over 15 firearm fragments, several pieces of copper sheathing, and iron bar stock. Almost two-thirds of the material is associated with small arms. The majority of the identifiable firearms are military arms of three patterns: the British Short Land Pattern, the British India Pattern, and the Model 1757 Spanish musket. 

Good reading.

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Today we'll have a 4 - 6 foot surf on the Treasure Coast and north winds.  After today the surf is supposed to decrease for several days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/8/14 Report - Unusually Patinated Dug 1927 Quarter. Beach Coal. British Loyalist Wrecks. Genealogical Research Again.

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




1927 Quarter With Unusual Gold Color Patina.

In my opinion this is the most attractive natural dug patina that I have seen on a coin. 

The gold color patina has a shine to it.  It is much more attractive in person.

I have no idea how the patina was created, but it is the way it was dug.

It has a melt value of about $3.60, but is rare enough that in poor condition should sell for around $9.00.  In excellent condition, it would go for around $250.  If it had an S mint mark, in excellent condition it would be more like $6000.



This one is poor condition, but the beautiful toning might raise the price a little.  I should check that out.

Other Side Same Coin Showing Same Gold Patina.

We often talk about the famed 1715 Fleet, but there are plenty of other wrecks along the Treasure Coast.  The Roberts and Spring of Whitby are two that are well known. 

St. Augustine was a Spanish settlement first, but after that it was British.  Artifacts from a British fleet are now being studied by the St. Augustine LAMP Program.  Here are a few sentences from a recent article about that.

On New Year’s Eve, 1782, sixteen British Loyalist ships carrying evacuees from Charleston, S.C., ran aground while trying to enter the St. Augustine Inlet. More than 200 years later, archaeologists from the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum are carefully conserving artifacts recovered from one of those sixteen ships in hopes that they will reveal clues about these ill-fated vessels.
“Based on the artifacts we’ve recovered so far, we know this ship was part of a huge fleet that evacuated British Loyalists from the colonies near the end of the American Revolution,” said Chuck Meide, Director of the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program (LAMP). “Our ship sailed from Charleston and was probably carrying both civilians and soldiers who were seeking refuge in St. Augustine. At that time in history, Florida was the closest British-held colony where evacuees could take shelter and try to start their lives again.”

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

http://historiccity.com/2014/staugustine/news/florida/lighthouse-hope-1782-cannon-yields-new-clues-46571

In Florida it is easy to focus on the Spanish history and forget some of our other history.  Don't forget the other shipwrecks that are out there.  And don't forget about later eras.

I was reminded that some wrecks are from later times when I found a few lumps of coal on a beach. 

 ... in 1911 coal was still the primary source of power for naval vessels. The Royal Navy had adopted oil for submarines and destroyers, and in most ships it was sprayed on coal to increase its combustion. But coal remained the principal fuel, especially for larger vessels like battleships. It was widely available, especially in Britain, where Cardiff coal mined in Wales was preferred by navies worldwide.

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.epmag.com/archives/digitalOilField/5911.htm

But, of course, it wasn't necessarily from a coal powered ship.  The coal could have also been cargo.

Anyhow, there are wrecks besides the 1715 wrecks along our beaches, and reminders of those wrecks can pop up at different times.

The more you know, the more complicated things become.

I've mentioned before how much I've enjoyed and benefited from genealogical research.   I just read about some of my ancestors that departed Rotterdam for Philadelphia in August 1733.  That was the month after the Atocha sank.   It is interesting to make the connections.   While my ancestors were crossing the ocean, the Keys were a bee hive of salvage activity.

Those ancestors sailed on a ship named Elizabeth.  One died two days out.  After landing in Philadelphia, two boys were sold as indentured servants to pay for passage. 

From Wikipedia: Indentured Servitude in Pennsylvania.

As for indentured colonists, the reasons for entering into such an arrangement varied. Colonists might indenture themselves or their relations in response to economic circumstances. For example, parents unable to financially support their children might place them under indenture, since the terms of the agreement usually specified the provisioning of "meat, drink, lodging and washing."
Colonists also became indentured servants as punishment for some form of transgression or debt. In the case of the latter, individuals could present a "petition" to the courts, whereby they would "admit" to the debt and agree to fulfill their obligations by indenturing themselves. The indenture could be granted to the creditor or another party who paid the servant's debt.  Overall, however, only a small portion of the indentured servants in Pennsylvania derived from colony's residents.

Those of the "criminal" or "meaner" sort comprised another form of indentured servitude. For these individuals, indentured servitude provided a "conditional" alternative to judicially prescribed punishments. By serving a certain number of years under indenture, such persons would legally absolve themselves of their crimes. However, if these servants reneged on their contracts and returned to the home country, they would be subject to the penalty of death.

I was lucky to find a lot written about some of my ancestors.  It really makes history come alive, and it can provide many clues to good detecting sites.   I keep learning more and more.  You might enjoy researching your own family.



Occasionally we have some immigrants that come ashore on the Treasure Coast.  That happened recently.

http://www.wpbf.com/news/south-florida/treasure-coast-news/10-believed-to-be-illegal-immigrants-found-on-Hutchinson-Island/13478092#!bx8hMo

We have South winds and one foot seas for days to come.   I don't know a time when I've seen the water so smooth for so long.

I have some new modern jewelry finds to show.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@Comcast.net