9/21/18 Report - The People of the Treasure Galleons and Those Who Salvaged a New World Wreck. Internet Domination.

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

In 1634, the galleon Los Tres Reyes was wrecked  at the entrance to Cartagena harbor on Aug. 4.  Local boats were recruited to do the salvage.   The work was done mostly by black slaves, and even though they were clearly designated as slaves, they were paid three reales a day for their work.

That seems to be a pretty good amount.  Just for comparison, a first class seaman at the time would be paid about 44 reales per month - a little over one reale per day.  And a cabin boy or page on a galleon would be paid about 22 reales per month.  Wages went up rapidly from the 1500s into the 1700s, so the amount would be much higher in the 1700s.  Most wages nearly doubled from 1514 to the early 1600s.

Pages were the lowest paid of mariners.  They were often orphans with no better choices in life, or wanting to learn and develop a career as a seaman.  Above the page was the apprentice seaman and common seaman.

The highest paid of a fleet was the captain-general of the galleons, who around the year 1630 would make about 5000 reales a month.  In descending order from there was the admiral of galleons, captain-general of merchant fleet, admiral of merchant fleet, joint captain sea and land, sea captain, master, master or rations, pilot, contramaestre, diver, guardian, master gunner, water bailiff, dispenser or provisions, notary, chaplain, carpenter, caulker, cooper, gunner, drummer, barber/surgeon, and then the common seaman.

That information is taken from original source documents in the Spanish archives and published in Carla Rahn Phillips' book, Six Galleons for the King of Spain.  That book follows the building and life cycle of six galleons built in the early 1600s, including costs, logistics, events, etc. 

I think we often forget that people of the treasure fleets.  This book puts the treasure fleets into a more complete and realistic context.

I have some personal observations from the 1715 Fleet beaches that I've wondered about over the years.  One is the high percentage of half reales found on some of the wreck beaches relative to the small number of small denomination cobs salvaged from the nearby wrecks.  One thing I've wondered is if the half reales  (and some trade goods such as silver rings, which have not been found on the wrecks) were used as payment for the salvage workers.  I have no evidence to support that idea.

The lack of silver rings found on submerged wreck sites by treasure salvage crews  is a bit puzzling because silver rings have been found on Spanish colonial archaeological sites.

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Google, who has cooperated with China to develop a repressive government-controlled internet for China while suppressing conservative expression in the US, says China is well on its way to developing a dominant internet to rival that of the US.  US tech companies have been willing to give up their intellectual capital to have a piece of the Chinese market.  China is making a serious move to be THE world leader, and a big part of that is control of the information super highway.  The interenet, as you probably know, was originally developed by the US Department of Defense.

Here is a link about that.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/20/eric-schmidt-ex-google-ceo-predicts-internet-split-china.html

The internet is a indispensable tool for detectorists and treasure hunters.  As someone who was into detecting before the internet was common, it has changed things dramatically.

Before the internet, research was much more difficult and there was very little sharing of information.  A lot of the detectorists back in the eighties, especially those detecting for modern jewelry, were very secretive.  Some of the best detectorists hunted mostly before sunrise and, were seldom seen and never told what they found.  Some of that is still in me, although I've certainly opened up a lot.

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Source: nhc.noaa.gov

There are four areas of weather to watch in the Atlantic now.  I'd watch the one down by South America with most interest.

The  Treasure Coast surf won't change much in the next week or two if the predictions are correct.  I'd like the weather to cool down.  We often get a nice fall storm when the weather changes.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/29/12 Report - Captain Henry Morgan's Fleet & More

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

Here is the same spot that I showed about two weeks ago ( See July 14 post.).  Anyhow, I visited the same spot Saturday morning and once again found it productive.  Once again, there were encrusted modern coins and a few other things down a few inches - not quite as deep as those that I found at the same place on my last visit.

I mentioned last time that coins and other things can get stuck under bushes.  Rocks, bushes, fallen trees and other things can create traps for small objects.   The photo below shows where one target was dug under a bush.

I once dug five mercury dimes in one scoop at the end of a fallen palm tree that was laying on the beach. 

I met a nice fellow on the beach this morning, who told me where I should go detecting.  That was nice of him.  He wasn't detecting, though.

In September 2010 six iron cannons believed to have belonged to one of the most famous privateers of all, Henry Morgan, were discovered off the coast of Panama near the Chagres River.  Last summer, a 17th century wooden shipwreck was found that could be one of the five ships Morgan lost  in 1671 on the shallow Lajas Reef.  Additional excavations are being conducted at the site this summer in the hope of identifying the wreck.                        

Here is a link for more on that story.

http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/26/4662701/underwater-archaeologists-dig.html


And here is one of those stories of a lost wedding ring being found and returned years after being lost.  This one was found by a kayaker on the beach of a  lake without the aid of a metal detector.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/26/idaho-womans-wedding-ring_n_1707303.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-main-bb%7Cdl8%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D185118

Keep your eyes open.


Treasure Coast Treasure Beach Detecting Forecast and Conditions

The wind is from the South and the seas flat.   The seas will remain flat for a few more days at least.

There has been no change in conditions and none expected real soon.

Low tide will be around 11:30 and midnight.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

7/23/12 Report - 1715 Fleet Ornate Silver Piece

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

Treasure Coast Dug Silver

This ornate silver piece was found on one of the 1715 Fleet beaches.  I don't know what it might be from, but it looks like it would have simply been attached to something else for ornamental purposes.  I haven't been able to figure out what it is from but have one idea.

The irregular shape might help narrow it down some.   What do you think?   Have you seen one like it?

Below I'll post a picture of something that I think it could be.


Yesterday it was rainy on the beach and the sea was kicking up a bit.   The beach was still very sandy and extends well out into the water. 

While some beaches show absolutely no targets, a few beaches do have miscellaneous targets out in the wet sand where the waves have kicked up things lately.

Conditions remain poor for finding old shipwreck cobs or coins.  The water hasn't been getting very high on the beach, and the frequent south winds have been washing sand in.

Here is a photo of the one Treasure Coast beach yesterday afternoon near low tide.  It is pretty typical.

I stopped at three beaches yesterday to see what was going on and didn't see a single person or foot print in the sand.


You can still find some miscellaneous junk to sift through, with an occasional but rare old item of possible interest showing up if you are willing to dig a bunch of junk.

On the few shipwreck beaches with variety of  targets, expect lead sinkers, lures, hooks, iron, copper, etc. with an occasional spike or other item of interest.  Patience can pay off.

Gun Showing Side Ornamentation.

Back to the silver item.   Here is a photo from an old Dixie Gun Works catalog.

Notice the ornamentation on the side of the pistol.   The gun shown here is a Deringer, and so would not be the type of gun that the silver came from (if it did come from a gun) but it shows what I am thinking it might be.  

Below are some other sideplates from the same old catalog.


Old catalogs like this can be helpful if you are trying to identify or restore an old item.  This particular catalog has everything from entire reproduction cannons, to matchlocks, to swords and percussion caps and all kinds of springs, bolts, hammers, or anything you might need to repair or build a reproduction of an old weapon.

A Few Example Sideplates For Old Guns.

The silver I'm showing might not be from a gun, but that is my best guess at this point.  If you have an ideas what it might be from , please let me know.

The style of ornamentation shown on the silver is similar to some that I have seen on gun side plates.

I think you can see how a catalog like this might help you identify mystery items.





From an email from the Fisher organization:  A total of 26 emeralds were found during the 5 days on the site last week. Add to that the 58 emeralds found by investors during Division Week, that brings the total for the year to 84 beautiful Atocha emeralds!!


Some time in the next few days, I'll be showing and talking about cobs from the Charles II period.

Expect continued south/southeast winds today, with up to four foot seas.  On the Treasure Coast it will probably be too rough for any but the most experienced shallow water hunters.   Watch out for lightening.

Low tide will be around 5:30.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/18/11 Report - 1715 Fleet Shipwreck Screw Top & Treasure Coast UFO Photo???

1715 Fleet Shipwreck Screw Top Listed on EBay.

I thought it would be a good idea to show this photo because I bet there are a lot of people that would simply throw this thing away if they found it. I bet a lot of you never associated screw tops with Spanish shipwrecks.

This item is said to be a screw top from a container that might have been used to hold sugar. Might be, I guess.

It is listed for $199.00, so if you find one you might want to keep it. The item number is 120724702170.

I always like to browse artifacts just so I know what they are. I know I've thrown away some good things over the years, simply because I didn't realize what they were.

It just occured to me that the piece of titanium from the Challenger that I showed yesterday was picked up at about the same time the Endeavor was going off. I don't know why that didn't strike me at the time. The view of the last launch was pretty good along the Treasure Coast. I saw the shuttle go up while I was on the beach. I know it had to be about the same time that I was picking up that metal. I guess I didn't know for sure that the metal was titanium when I was on the beach. I stuck it away for later. That is undoubtedly why I didn't put the two things together. It would of been really neat if I picked it up and held it up and got it in with a picture of the Endeavor taking off. To bad I didn't do that.


Titanium is being used a lot for jewelry these days. It is similar in appearance to aluminum but duller and stonger than steel. At first glance it sometimes looks like white gold, but it is a lot less expensive.


While I'm on the subject of space, I'm tempted to show you another photo I got by accident one day a few years ago.

Uhhhhhh... I'll do it. Here it is.

Photo of Cobalt Blue Bottle.

I was taking a photo of this old cobalt blue Milk of Magnesia bottle for someone and didn't notice anything unusual until I went inside,loaded the photo onto the computer and looked at it on the monitor. After a while I noticed something just above the lip of the bottle.

Here is the original photo and the other photo was cropped from the original to focus in on whatever was above the lip of the bottle in the photo.

I didn't use Photoshop or do anything to this photo. I didn't even sharpen it. This is the original, just cropped.

I don't have any idea what it is or where it came from. I guess you could call it a UFO. It could be a reflection or something, but I took other photos from nearly the same angle just seconds apart, and the object is not in those other photos.

Cropped Photo Showing Unidentified Object.

I have a relative that loves UFOs, and he thinks I am the luckiest person in the world to have captured a daylight photo of a UFO.

I don't know what it is. It could be a reflection of some sort? What do you think?

I better quit on this one. I don't know how to follow that.


Oh, I put a new survey on that will help me find out what types of things you are most interested in. Please respond to the survey. Thanks.

I've been having some trouble with the blog lately. Today after starting the survey, I found an error. When trying to edit the error, I lost the original responses, so if you answered the survey earlier you can answer again. The survey restarted at about 4:25 PM 5/18/11. Sorry.


Treasure Coast Beach Forecast and Conditions.

The wind is still out of the west. We've had some cool fronts lately and the weather is really nice for being out.

The swells are coming from the north and the tides are pretty high. Take a look at the tide charts.

The seas are still calm and will remain calm for a few days. Still good for water hunting and low tide hunting.

Yesterday I gave some tips on how to work the water where the swells are breaking on the front of the beach. I think you'll find that useful.

I'll get out to get some new beach photos sometime soon.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net