10/24/18 Report - Dog Island Shipwrecks Surface After Hurricane as Expected. Bronze Age Dagger Found. Martyrs of North America.

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

Dog Island Shipwreck Uncovered by Hurricane Michael.

On 10/11/18 I posted the following.

As you know by now, the portions of the Florida Panhandle got hit hard by Hurricane Michael.  I have not doubt that some old things will be uncovered up around Alligator Point and Dog Island, where nice old Spanish coins have been found before.

If you want to become a little more familiar with the shipwrecks of the area, here is a link to a lengthy and  detailed archaeological report.

You will find a lot of interesting information in that report.

Some of the uncovered wrecks, such as the one or two shown above are now in the news.

It looks like that photo was taken by a drone.

An article in TampaBay.com published the photo at the top of the post and said, But among the destruction is also a reemergence of history.  The storm's surge unearthed a shipwreck from the 19th century, one or possibly two sunken ships that were washed up on Dog Island by a 1899 hurricane.  According to Sarah Revell, spokeswoman for the Department of State, the wrecks "have been mapped and investigated scientifically multiple times," and parts of them have been exposed in the past.

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

http://www.tampabay.com/florida-politics/buzz/2018/10/23/hurricane-michael-unearthed-a-19th-century-shipwreck-on-dog-island/

I also recommend reading the extensive archaeological report, if you haven't already done that.

Other sources also talked about Dog Island shipwrecks exposed by hurricane Michael.  The following appeared in MyFox8.com.

Here is the link for more about that.

https://myfox8.com/2018/10/20/hurricane-michael-exposes-120-year-old-shipwrecks-off-florida-coast/

Thanks to TekLord Doug for the lead on these articles.

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Bronze Age Dagger.

Source: Spectator.sme.sk

Here is an excerpt from an article about another interesting find.

A local man has found a unique Bronze Age dagger on the banks of the Slanec stream in Hriňová. The dagger is probably between 3200 and 3600 years old. More specific data will be available after more detailed research by preservation offices.

“It is the oldest finding from the area around our town and may reveal significant new historical connections to the region,” said the Hriňová project manager, Michal Machava, as quoted by the TASR newswire...

Here is the link for more about that.


https://spectator.sme.sk/c/20940695/bronze-age-dagger-unearthed.html

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Here is an excerpt from an interesting article about martyrs of North America.

In the summer of 1642, Jogues and the surgeon-turned-Jesuit brother, St. René Goupil, were accompanying a large group of Huron warriors homeward when they were ambushed by Mohawks (part of the Iroquois Confederacy) at Lake Champlain. Many died, but the rest were taken prisoner, with Jogues and Goupil among them. Both were victims of torture and Jogues had most of his fingers cut off. Goupil was martyred shortly after professing his religious vows in the presence of Jogues for teaching a small boy the Sign of the Cross. Commenting on this, Jogues wrote, “this angel of innocence and martyr of Jesus Christ gave his life for him who had given him his.”

And here is that link.

https://www.osv.com/Article/TabId/493/ArtMID/13569/ArticleID/20406/North-American-Martyrs.aspx

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Friend, physician and detectorist Russ P. confirms that the Red Tide that has been plaguing our beaches does cause coughing.  I understand that if you have asthma, it could be dangerous.

There are no storms in the Atlantic.

A cool front came through last night with some northeast winds.  I haven't seen the beaches yet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/27/15 Report - A Mexican Four Reales. Wreck of the Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion. Survivor Camp Dagger.

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

Same Four Reale

Coin To Be Auctioned By
Public Lands For The People.
Photos by Jerry S.

A few days ago I mentioned that Public Lands for the People, an organization that works to preserve outdoor recreational activities such as prospecting and mining on public lands, was going to auction a treasure coin.

The coin had been donated to the organization.

Here are two photos of that coin, which is nicely mounted in a gold bezel.

It is a 4 reale from the Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion.

Its always nice to see a good treasure coin.

I like having them displayed in this manner rather than being stored away unseen somewhere.

It also comes with the certificate of authenticity shown below signed by Burt Webber.































You might know the story of the Concepcion and Burt Webber.  Here is a little of that story as printed in the Ocala Star-Banner in 1979.

Click here if you want to read the entire newspaper article.

Here is a short history on the wreck of the Concepcion as presented on the Sedwickcoins.com web site.

Concepcion sunk in 1641 off the northeast coast of Hispaniola

The Concepcion was one of the most significant Spanish wrecks of all time, serving the Spanish with a loss of over 100 tons of silver and gold treasure. The almirata of a 21-ship fleet, the Concepcion was already in poor repair when the Europe-bound fleet encountered a storm in September, leaving her disabled and navigating under makeshift sails amid disagreement among its pilots about their location. Weeks later, she grounded on a reef in an area now named the Silver Shoals, just to the east of another shoal known as the Abrojos, which the pilots were trying to avoid. After another storm hit the wrecked ship and the admiral and officers left in the ship’s only longboat, the remaining crew resorted to building rafts from the ship’s timbers. Survivors’ accounts pointed to drowning, starvation and even sharks for the loss of around 300 casualties. In the fallout that ensued, none of the survivors could report the wreck’s location with accuracy, so it sat undisturbed until New England’s William Phipps found it in 1687 and brought home tons of silver and some gold, to the delight of his English backers.

The Concepcion was found again in 1978 by Burt Webber, Jr., whose divers recovered some 60,000 silver cobs, mostly Mexican 8 and 4 reales but also some Potosi and rare Colombian cobs (including more from the Cartagena mint than had been found on any other shipwreck). Unlike the Maravillas of just 15 years later, however,  the Concepcion did not give up any gold cobs in our time, and any significant artifacts found were retained by the government of the Dominican Republic, who oversaw the salvage. The bulk of the silver cobs found on the Concepcion were heavily promoted, even in department stores! The site is still being worked from time to time with limited success.

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Here is an interesting item shown online shown at http://www.nelsonshipwreckpirate.com/NauticalAntiquities.html

It says it was found in a Spanish salvor's camp in southern Brevard County.

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The next day or two on the Treasure Coast we'll have something like a two to four foot surf.  Just a touch higher later in the week.

Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

6/18/12 Reort - More on Found Dagger & Restoring Rusted Objects

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



Wood Handle of Bill's Dagger

Hollow Grommet

Yesterday I showed a dagger found by Bill M.   When I looked at the photo of the guard, it looked to me like there were some stamped numbers or letters on the guard.  I wanted to see if we could make those out before I posted more of the photos. 

The dagger was taken apart for cleaning and restoration.

To the left is the wood handle, and to the right, the hollow grommet for storing additional blades or other tools.

I tried some photo processing software to see if I could make whatever might be stamped on the guard a little more clear.  Sometimes you can manipulate images to show more detail than you would otherwise see.

Guard and Remaining Portion of Blade

In the photo to the right, you might be able to see where it appears there are markings on the guard.  Bill thinks it might possibly say either  5d24 or 5d27, but it is very unclear and we can't say that is what it is with any degree of confidence.

Using another very similar photo, but with a different orientation, I increased the contrast and sharpened the image a bit.  You can see the result in the enhanced photo shown below.

In the image below, left and above center I think you can see what appears to be a clear 2.  I am not sure, though, if the 2 is stamped or a superficial marking.  I think most likely, superficial.

If you blow up that image, it appears that the lighting is coming from about the 4:30 position, and you can see some of the edges of stamped depressions as reflecting the light and appearing very bright.

Although I had minimal success in this case, you can sometimes use image processing software to bring out additional details.  Sometimes you can see something you would otherwise miss by converting the image to greyscale or negative.   There are a lot of things you can try, depending upon the software you have.  I just downloaded some free software from the net.

The angle of any lighting is important when trying to photograph objects to expose the most possible detail.  I think if this object was rotated 90 degrees three times and photos taken after each rotation, the stampings could reveal a lot more information.

Anyhow, that is the best I could do up to this point. 

If any of you can give us a time period or any other thoughts or information on this dagger, it would be very much appreciated.

About four depressions to the right of the 2 on the guard, could that possibly be a Broad Arrow?


Manipulated Image



I found a product called  Metal Rescue that looks like it might be great for removing rust from antiques.  I haven't tried it yet myself, so I am judging by the video.  If it works as good as the video shows, it could be a BIG help.

Here is the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHKbAngTOl8

I wouldn't use it on very rusted objects.  You ight not have anything left.


If you haven't noticed, I posted a new poll and would appreciate your responses.   Thanks!


Happy hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net

6/17/12 Report - Dagger Found

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


Happy Father's Day.  And here is new find that would make a lot of fathers very happy.

Bill M., who found the olive jar rim and lead seal that I posted in the past, found this nifty dagger at the same St. Lucie County site.

There appeared to be some numbers of letters on it that could not really be read from the photos.   I asked Bill to do a little work and see if he could provide an image of whatever it appears to say on the guard.

I'll post more photos of the item after Bill lets me know if he can provide additional clues as to what, if anything, is stamped on the item.

Like I said the other day, research can pay off.  I know Bill did some good research to find the site that is yielding these interesting finds.

If you go to the we site on clay pipes that I posted yesterday, the web site tells how clay pipes changed over the years.  That will help you narrow down the age of any clay pipe.

Clay pipes were first used in England after the early colonists observed the Native Americans smoking.  It became such a fad that King James wanted to ban smoking but didn't get it done.


The Mel Fisher organization reported via email that part of a water jar and some other pottery, a silver shoe buckle, spikes, some encrusted objects and one silver coin was recently found by the crew of the Dare on the site of the Margarita.

The Dare is going north to work the Lost Merchant.

The crew of the Magruder will continue working the Atocha where they recently found spikes, a cannon ball, encrusted scissors one silver coin and some other encrusted objects.

Even the big guys don't make amazing finds all of the time.  Be patient.


Low tide is a little after one.   The swells are still coming in at near four feet.

No significant change in conditions.

Despite poor beach detecting conditions a few good finds are being made on the beach..   Some really good off-beach finds have been made by people who did their research.


Happy hunting,
Tmailto:Treasureguide@comcast.net

7/25/11 Report - Pirate and Treasure Lore & Found Sword

Treasure Coast Beach Near Low Tide This Morning.

This morning I'll point you to one of the best online resources for Florida history. It is the Tequesta, a scholarly journal published by the Historical Association of Southern Florida since 1941.

You can view the archives of the journal at the following link.

http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/index.htm

The articles also sometimes include information on other parts of Florida.

One classic articlle of particular interest to the readers of this blog, is the article Pirates and Treasure Trove of South Florida by David O. True.

This particular article, while focusing on South Florida mentions other parts of the state as well, including the Treasure Coast.

I think you'll wnat to read that article if you haven't already.

Here is the link.

http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/tequesta/files/1946/46_1_01.pdf

That should get the creative juices going.

The article was written a number of years ago and so you'll find some inaccuracies according to what was known or beieved at the time.

Still it is a great article that can provide many interesting leads.

I think I'll follow up on some of them in future posts.


Dagger or Sword?

This item is now for sale on eBay. According to the item decription it was found in the Brickell area by a detectorist in South Florida.

This is the type of relic that you can sometimes find on land sites and that can really get your mind going. It opens a lot of very interesting questions.

I encourage beach hunters to consider land sites, because there are treasures to be found on land too.

You might want to take a look at the item description.

The eBay item number is 280706413175.


Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.

The wind is from the south/southwest and the seas are running about 1.5 feet.

As you can see from the photo at the top of the blog, some dips are forming between the bar and the beach as the beach rebuilds.

If you stand on the beach and look north and south, you'll probably be able to spot the dips fairly easily. Generally speaking, the deeper they are the better they are.

This morning on the flatter beaches, I would be hunting the beach fronts, which seem to have a lot of targets. Most are junk, but there are a few more interesting things in between.

The seas will be increasing to about three feet later in the week.