3/2/17 Report - Bigger Surf This Weekend. Ancient Trails of America Discovered By Spanish Explorers. Archaeological Pub. HMS Victory Galley and Mess.

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

Source: See link below.

On August 26, 1776, after descending the eastern side of the Uncompahgre Plateau to the Uncompahgre River Valley, Father Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante wrote, “In the meadow of this river … there is a very wide and well-beaten trail.”

Similarly, on Sept. 9, when the expedition he led with Father Francisco Atanasio Domínguez descended the north side of Douglas Pass, Escalante wrote that the group traveled nearly 30 miles “over a very well-beaten trail with only one bad stretch.”

Since very few Europeans had traveled this region prior to Dominguez and Escalante, it’s clear that these “well-beaten trails” were established by the natives who lived there. In 1776, that meant the Utes. But the trails were likely used by a variety of native people over the ages...

http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/routes-trails-crisscrossed-area-long-before-europe

Having done some hiking in the area I couldn't help thinking how nice it would be to hike those ancient Indian trails.

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The restoration of an historic pub on Falmouth's waterfront has led to some "remarkable" archaeological finds which has delayed the project.

St Austell Brewery are currently restoring and refurbishing the Chain Locker and builders have discovered that not only is the building older than first imagined, but some of the earliest features of the place are still in situ.

This includes an original earth and hair plaster-bounded wall, a timber partition wall featuring hand-painted wallpaper and a stone-built fireplace...

Here is the link for more about that.

http://www.cornwalllive.com/archeological-finds-during-restoration-of-falmouth-s-chain-locker-pub-surprise-st-austell-brewery/story-30163164-detail/story.html

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Not too long ago I talked about galley bricks.  I just found this nice article about the galley of the HMS Victory.  Here is how it begins.

The galley provided the means for cooking hot food for all of the ships crew - at the time of Trafalgar, 821 men. The galley stove burned firewood (kept dry in its own store in the hold). Due to the risk of fire in a wooden ship, the galley fire was put out in rough weather or during action to prevent sparks or burning embers from setting light to the deck around the galley. Crews were often given a hot meal before being called to clear the ship for action - there was little knowing when the next hot meal might be able to be cooked. In rough weather, when the crews were often wet and cold, there was no respite from cold food.

The crew ate in groups of 8 to 12 men known as a 'mess'. These groups remained together throughout a voyage so the men became 'mess-mates'. Each day one man would take his turn as 'duty cook'. It was his responsibility to fetch the day's rations from the hold and to prepare the food for cooking. The prepared food was then taken along to the galley to be cooked (each mess marked its food with a metal tag). The galley cook was often a naval pensioner or wounded sailor - unable to perform the normal heavy shipboard tasks, he cooked the food for all the crew - a cook's pay substantially supplemented the poor pension given to a man wounded in battle. The duty 'mess cook' would then collect the food for his mess and carry it back to his mess-mates...

And here is the link for the rest of the article.

http://www.stvincent.ac.uk/heritage/1797/victory/food.html

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The Oak Island TV program brought in another expert to clean up the "spike" mess.  I expect her, after much study and deliberation, to declare it a shipwreck spike.

Don't know why they never had the board that they thought might be a deck plank dated?

There  was a fellow that used to be on a sitcom that is now a teacher who they were going to follow in the classroom to make a reality program out of it.  They dumped the idea because they said there wasn't enough drama.  Of course the producers are going to try to keep a program exciting to keep the ratings up.

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Hope and change coming.  Looks like the weekend could get interesting.  Its about time.

Source: MagicSeaweed web site.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/27 Report - Galleon Galley Bricks

Brick Found on the Beach.

You might be wondering why I am showing a stupid brick. In one of my recent posts, I mentioned using your eyes and scanning the beach for non-metallic objects. Not only can non-metallic objects sometimes be valuable, but they might also provide important information about the site or what went on there in the past.

A brick could indicate an old home or other structure, or it could even indicate the presence of a shipwreck.

If you know what you are looking for you can often get an idea of how old a brick is or where it might have come from.

Bricks are often found on old shipwreck sites because they were used in the galley.

Of course not all bricks come from shipwrecks, but there are some signs that will help you determine if it might be.

Brick Shown in the Mel Fisher Artifact Database.


Here is a brick found on either the Atocha or Margarita site. I forget which now.

Notice the black areas and the course materials in the brick. It shares many features with the brick in the first photo. Unfortunately the photo doesn't show the first brick well.

You can see that the brick from the database has a broader and flatter shape

The Mel Fisher artifact database also shows some bricks that seem to be modern bricks that were mixed in with the wreck debris.

I wonder if the black areas could have been created by smoke from the galley. I don't know.

The Exploring Florida web site mentions galley bricks found on the wreck site of the San Pedro. The web site says, "A Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve is open at the San Pedro site for divers. The San Pedro is among the most picturesque of the 1733 wreck sites. She is located in a white sand pocket surrounded by turtle grass. Abundant marine life inhabits her grave. A large pile of ballast stones contains flat, red bricks from the ship’s galley."

That is another example.

Here is the link if you want to read more about that.

http://fcit.usf.edu/florida/lessons/shipwrecks/shipwrecks.htm

I've mentioned the Queen Ann's Revenge before. It is a wreck that has been studies a lot. I found a pdf file containing information on the bricks and tiles found on that wreck site.

They also show a picture of a ship's galley. Here is the galley.



The study mentions a variety of types of diagnostic information that could help determine the source of old bricks. Some have quartz inclusions, for example. And the dimensions of sample British and Spanish bricks differ, as do French, I believe.

You might want to take a look at the study. Here is the link.


http://www.qaronline.org/techSeries/QAR-B-07-03.pdf

I understand that bricks in Spanish are called ladrillos, which is also a word sometimes used to refer to more flat and broad bricks.

In summary, some bricks come from shipwrecks. Keep your eyes open for possible clues like that.

On a different subject, researchers have found that the Biblical account of Moses crossing the Red Sea is possible. They discuss how the wind could have affected the water levels, which were considerably different back then, to create a land bridge across the sea.

If you'd like to read more about that, here is the link.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/research-bible-may-have-been-right-about-red-sea-miracle/

I don't know if you've ever seen the photos of what appear to be chariot wheels under the Red Sea. I think they were in National Geographic as well as other publications.

Forecast and Conditions.

Seas are relatively calm now with winds from the south. The high tides are still pretty high.

There is nothing much in the topics to watch.

Next weekend might have higher seas again. We'll have to wait a few days to see about that.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcase.net