9/27/16 Report - Almiranta Campsite Finds. Before the Jupiter Wreck Discovery. New Tropical Depression Forming.

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

9 Maravedis and Reliquary Pendant
Finds and photo by Darrell Strickland

There was a time when you could get up in the dunes to detect.  That has changed. 

I've been talking about survivor and salvage camps a bit lately.  These finds were made in an area thought to be a campsite associated with the Almiranta. 

Thanks for sharing Darrell.

---

Everybody knows the much publicized names and place, but there were often others who were there first. Everybody knows, for example, how the Jupiter wreck was discovered by a lifeguard who noticed the cannons on the bottom one morning when making his morning swim, but people were finding cobs on that beach long before that.

One fellow that worked the beach there before the wreck site was discovered, I only knew as Dave. Dave worked the beach south of the inlet frequently. At the time he was like the beach keeper, and he found a lot of cobs there.  I told the story before about  how a jar of cobs was stolen from the trunk of his parked car while he was detecting.  That was years before 1987, though I can't remember how many years before.

I first ran into Dave on the beach one morning after I made the drive up to Jupiter from Broward County.  I didn't visit Jupiter very often because it was at least an hour drive for me.  Dave used a brand of metal detector that I was not familiar with at the time, and he was very curious about mine.  I was using a modified Nautilus, which I liked a lot.  It was modified and mounted in a Ikelite case by Steve Noga of Maryland.  After I got my first detector from Steve and used it a little while, I called him and asked if he'd give me a good deal on a second one to use as a back-up.  It was that good.  So I got a second one.

I tried to contact Steve a few times in recent years, but without any luck.

There were others besides Dave that detected the wreck area for cobs back then.  One fellow I remember, I can only recall his last name, which was Rainey.

One day that I remember very well, the beach produced hundreds of old U. S. coins, including a lot of silver, but oddly no cobs.  Dave showed up a little late that day, and promised he'd beat me there the next time beach conditions were good.

The first time I found a cob there, the cliff was really getting really banged by the waves and I was fighting a strong backwash as the water bounced off of the cliff.  The backwash was up to my knee and washing back down the slope when I detected that cob.

The first time I met Dave there he told me that the cobs sounded like tin cans.  I don't know if he was trying to throw me off or what.  Some were loud, but the small ones weren't that loud.

I'm sure there were others that worked the beach by the Jupiter wreck even before that.  If I correctly recall, Frank Hudson, who is not known for religiously sticking to fact, in at least one book said there were chests and other treasures buried in the dunes there, so I'm sure people were detecting there and perhaps having some luck.  I think some of Hudson's Lost Treasures books were written as early as the seventies.  Maybe I can find one around here somewhere.

---

Source: nhc.noaa.gov

A topical depression might develop Tuesday (red), but as you can see it could well stay to the south of us, but it isn't even to the West Indies yet.

Not much but a two or three foot surf for the rest of this week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/2/15 Report - Treasure Map and Skeletal Hand Found In Box. An Old Pirate Cemetery. A Lot Of Discoveries Including Possible Reliquary At Jamestown.

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

Old Box Containing Hand, Coins, Photo and Map.
Source: http://fox13now.com/2015/04/29/man-discovers-coins-treasure-map-and-skeletal-hand-in-attic/

I just ran across this story.  A Florida man's sister found this old box containing what appears to be a human hand and some Maravedis and a map in an attic that was being cleaned out.

I don't know how all this proved out, but interesting story anyhow.

Here is the link.

http://fox13now.com/2015/04/29/man-discovers-coins-treasure-map-and-skeletal-hand-in-attic/

---

Here is another interesting story.  I should have found these on Halloween.

Source: see link below.

Ile Sainte-Marie, an island off Madagascar's remote east coast has what the article describes as the world's  only pirate cemetery.

...In the 17th and 18th centuries up to 1,000 pirates reportedly called the rocky island home, including widely-feared brigands William Kidd and Thomas Tew. Thanks to its safe and secluded bays and location on the trade routes frequented by treasure-laden ships returning home from the East Indies, Sainte-Marie (known locally as Nosy Boraha or St. Mary's Island in English) afforded the perfect spot for shifty sailors looking for booty and a friendly place to live with like-minded looters...

Source: see link below.

Here is the link for the rest of the article and more photos.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kip-patrick/worlds-only-pirate-cemete_b_2754126.html

---

...Jamestown Rediscovery archaeologists may have been busy identifying the four founders of the Jamestown colony who were unearthed in gravesites under the church for the past 20 months, but that did not stop them from continuing to dig elsewhere....


Since then, the team has discovered the fort and more than a million artifacts in the ground...
In the last month, the cellar has produced several noteworthy artifacts, including gun parts and rare coins...

The coins are what is known as Irish pennies. The English minted them in 1601 and 1602 and tried to introduce them as currency in Ireland, however the Irish rejected the coins and they quickly fell into disuse...


Here is the link for the rest of that story.

http://wydaily.com/2015/07/31/local-news-jamestown-unearthed-archaeologists-find-gun-parts-rare-coins-in-cellar-pit/

Here is a paragraph from another article on the Jamestown project.

...One of the four was Capt. Gabriel Archer, a lawyer and scribe. What intrigues researchers is that his grave contained a small hexagonal box etched with an “M.” The salt-shaker-sized box holds seven fragments of bone and parts of a small lead vial that may have held holy water, blessed oil or the blood of a saint. The bone fragments, about the length of a toothpick, appear to be human, said Kari Bruwelheide, a forensic anthropologist at the Smithsonian...

http://www.aleteia.org/en/religion/article/jamestown-excavation-unearths-four-bodies-and-a-possible-catholic-reliquary-5788277718122496

Reliquary?
---

There you have three very interesting stories to check out.  I got a late start today and that will be about it for today.

I know that the local guys have been putting in some good work along the Treasure Coast and you'll have to keep watching for the latest and greatest news.  As you saw last week, you never know when something amazing will pop up.

---

The tropical disturbance that was out there in the Atlantic has disappeared.  Expect something like a two foot surf on the Treasure Coast most of this week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net