12/27/18 Report - Some Treasure Coast Beaches Lightly Cut And Higher Surf Coming. Curse of Oak Island TV Show Comments By Viewers.

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

John Brooks Beach Thursday Morning.

I checked some beaches this morning.  John Brooks showed some small cuts, which evidently happened last night.

John Brooks Beach Thursday Morning.

Blind Creek had been nicely eroded some time in the not too distant past.  Unfortunately I missed that.  Today was too late.  

Blind Creek Beach Thursday Morning.

Fort Pierce South Jetty was mostly poor with the exception of a short area to the north that looked better.

Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Thursday Morning.

I'm not expecting much more improvement in beach conditions despite the larger surf that is predicted.  The wind will be shifting more to the south.

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I stumbled on some fun and interesting comments concerning the Oak Island TV show on reddit.  Here is one that echoes much of what I've said.

Curse of Oak Island has shown us a definite pattern.

Allow 'Metal Detection Expert' Gary Drayton find an interesting item or two. Last year, for example, the items included the brooch and the Tanit cross. This year it is another brooch and the Roman pilum.

The pattern:

-- Have Metal Detection Expert Gary Drayton immediately announce his assumption as to what the item is, what it consists of, and its age.

-- Call Rick.

-- Salivate over it in the War Room.

-- Hire an "expert" to say exactly what they want them to say.

-- Squeeze two or three episodes (or maybe more) out of it.

-- Include a photo of it in the show's intro as if it is some great discovery.

But the biggest thing... is it gets us arguing back and forth about the actual nature of the item and takes our focus off what we should really be looking at... the hunt for treasure!

As Dan Blankenship said in last Season's finale', as the Team sat around the Table of Pathetic, "These are just surface finds! They're leading you no closer to finding out if there's treasure on Oak Island!"

(Of course, this quote was bastardized, taken completely out of context, and used in promos for the finale', as producers clipped it to show Dan exclaiming: "... There's treasure on Oak Island!") (but I digress)

Example: They say it's Roman, they hire an "expert" to say it's Roman, and it forever becomes "Roman". Meanwhile, we do more research than the "Oak Island Team" or any UFO writer has done, and we can just about prove it isn't what the "expert" says it is.

Another classic example of this is a couple of Seasons ago when a rather obvious railroad spike was confidently pronounced by "Dr" Lori, to be a "decking nail from the Spanish Galleon". (Which just coincidentally (wink, wink) matched up with the outlandish theory of a Spanish Galleon being purposely sunk between the "two" Oak Islands, followed by the "two" islands being merged into one.)

Regardless, whether this new item is actually a pilum, a crossbow bolt, a frog gig, a property marker, etc, etc.... IT DOESN'T REALLY MATTER!

Even if we assume it is a Roman pilum... BIG DEAL! It was found near the shore at Lot 26. Is that leading them to buried treasure in the Money Pit area (or anywhere else, for that matter)?

Will excavation at Smith's Cove lead them closer to buried treasure?

Will searching through spoils lead them closer to buried treasure?

Don't get caught up in all the bull. Don't get hooked by a fishing hook which "looks like it was used to haul large chests on ships".

Here is the link.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OakIsland/comments/a41qo2/roman_pilum_or_not_dont_get_hooked/

There are some other humorous ones.

Could it be that the possible Crossbow Bolt found at Smiths Cove is a weapon of Ancient Roman origin? Or, perhaps even more intriguing, could it be that it is, in reality, the rusted shank of a 19th Century Hand Drill Bit like those below? Could the Antiquities Expert be a total hack? STAY TUNED! (i.redd.it)

submitted 22 days ago by Bill0Rights

Here is that link.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OakIsland/comments/a39j2h/could_it_be_that_the_possible_crossbow_bolt_found/

I had some readers that crossbow bolt was actually something else.  It sure didn't look like the examples I saw.

Seems like the "experts" don't have a lot of credibility with the viewers and for many the show is becoming a not too entertaining comedy.  There are many posts and comments about the show out there.  It does get viewers, but many are unimpressed by their misspent viewing time.

Here are a couple more to read.

https://www.reddit.com/r/OakIsland/comments/a1cep6/what_exactly_did_jack_and_gary_unearth/

https://www.andywhiteanthropology.com/blog/category/oak-island

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

It looks like the surf will not be quite as high as expected earlier, but worse yet, the winds won't be favorable.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

11/28/18 Report - Crossbow Use and Tips Found in Florida. Closing In On Oak Island Treasure. More Detected World Coins for The List.

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

World Coins Dug in Florida That Were Not On My Original List (Except Russia).

Finds and photo by Alberto S.

Yesterday I posted a list of coins from various countries that I found on Florida beaches and asked others to add to that list with other world coins that they have found.  Alberto S. submitted the above, along with the following message.

... the attached image shows some that were not on your list except Russia which I included by mistake. What is interesting is the number of coins from the Ukraine compared to other coins like the euro coins which were frequent in Miami Beach.  I took these with my iPhone so the ones which are damaged by sea water do not show well.  

Thanks Alberto!  I'll add those to my list.

You'll certainly get a lot of world coins on Miami beach.  

Where you are will determine to a large extent what you will find.

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OK.  I'm almost ashamed to admit it but I just watched Oak Island season six, episode two.  Most of it anyhow. I had a phone call and missed part of it.

I feel a little dirty and abused. They found a gold brooch.  That's like saying you found a gold bar when you found a lead bar that is gold plated.  They seemed to forget the other metals used in the brooch.  I've seen more gold than that in the bottom of a bottle of liquor.

One person said it was the first gold found on Oak Island.  A few minutes earlier they showed a lady put a gold cross on the table that was said to have been part of the contents of  a treasure chest recovered from Oak Island.  Wasn't it found before this gold - or should I say copper - brooch?

But that isn't the worst of it.  This is season six, and let's say they did just find their first gold!  Where can you go in this world and not find gold.  There is gold almost everywhere - yards, beaches, fields hills, etc.  I learned that very early in my metal detecting experience.  But this isn't anywhere.  It is Oak Island!  One of the biggest treasure stories ever, and it takes six seasons to find your first?  What is surprising is that it took six seasons!

Episode three was better.  They got the seismic survey data and followed up with some core drilling.  That makes sense.  Finally!  Thank you!  That should help them get closer to some real answers on the big questions.

There was a little something in episode six that confused me.  They were carting around the deep-seeker ( I think they said it was an EM-6 ) and finding signals, which were then re-detected or pinpointed by the Minelab.  Some of the targets were huge, such as the nearly two foot spike, but not deep at all.  They were easily detected by the Minelab.   So again, what took so long?  Large targets which didn't really require the deep seeking detector were laying near the surface just inches deep and found by the deep seeker!  Just seemed to me to be a redundant effort.  I have to remember that they have get video to fill a season of episodes.  That area seemed attractive enough that near-surface targets could have been cleared early on with the Minelab.  It seems they tend to be pretty random with search patterns.

I hope we get some good analysis on the recent finds.  And more targeted core drilling.  That will make up for a lot of the craziness.

The crossbow bolt find, which hasn't been analyzed yet, was pronounced to be from the time of the Templars.  It was said, "That is when they (crossbows) were used."

Crossbows were used then, but they were used since times B.C., and are still used today.  Something that I often repeat is the difficulty of quickly pinpointing a date for an item.  It can be very tricky.

Many countries use crossbows today for military purposes.  It is silent.  There can be psychological effects on the enemy.  I've also read that the crossbow can be used to stop a person carrying explosives with less risk of causing detonation.

People still use the crossbow for hunting too.  I remember seeing some at a gun shop.

Politics gets into almost everything. Did you know that the Roman Catholic Church at one time banned the use of the crossbow in warfare?  Can you guess the reason?  It had to do with maintaining social stratification.  The crossbow made it possible for an  unskilled peasant from the underclasses to  knock off a knight.  That was a threat to the elite, so they lobbied Pope Urban II to ban the crossbow.  You know how it goes - ban it for the regular folks and use it yourself.  The same old two-tiered justice system.

You can't separate politics from treasure or much of anything.

If you do a little research, you'll notice that most crossbow bolts are different from the one found on Oak Island.  Most, including some found in Florida, have a smaller tip that is made to fit on the end of a rod.

Here is a link that will take you to a site that talks about the evolution of the crossbow, including a little about how it is used by military units today.

http://www.bestcrossbowsource.com/history-of-the-crossbow-origins-and-evolution/

And here are some tips found in Florida.

Crossbow Bolt Tips Found At the Luna Site Near Pensacola Bay.

Source: See link immediately below.

That photo comes from a blog on the Luna Settlement site.  Here is the link.

http://lunasettlement.blogspot.com/2017/07/excavations-conducted-by-university-of.html

Interesting site.

Similar crossbow points have been found at other Florida sites, including St. Augustine.

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On the Treasure Coast the tides are still big, but the surf is low.

We're having some north winds that will shift tomorrow.

It was down in the forties last night along the coast.  Cooler inland.  Pretty cool.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net