3/17/19 Report - The Manila Galleons. Big Cash in The Sofa. New TV Treasure Shows. Big Surf.

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

A few days ago I wrote about the Kang His porcelain that you can find on the 1715 Fleet beaches.   Of course that pottery came from China.  The porcelain and other items from Asia and the Phillipines first crossed the Pacific on the Manila galleons before being loaded on the galleons that would cross the Atlantic.

There are wrecks of the Manila galleons that have been investigated.  You can find them described in The Archaeology of the Manila Galleons, by Robert Junco.  Here is the introduction.

This paper presents a brief recount of the Manila Galleon sites investigated to date. It also proposes, some ideas of what the archaeology of Manila Galleons could consider in its research objectives. The Manila Galleons, loaded with their rich cargos of oriental goods are still a great mystery to researchers, especially those belonging to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Furthermore, studies of Asian ceramics and other products of exchange in New Spain and beyond are scarce. While the work of historians and art historians has contributed significantly to the topic, archaeological studies are rare given the few sites located. In this paper, I shall mention the Manila Galleon sites that have come to my attention, and then present some ideas that I deem relevant in the pursuit of what can be termed the archaeology of Manila Galleons.

And here is the link if you want to read the rest of that article.

http://www.themua.org/collections/files/original/61b274c68e00272c5e50f0af53f5b140.pdf

I think you'll find a lot of interesting information if you read that study.  It summarizes seven different wreck sites and has an extensive bibliography that you might also find useful.

Another study of the Manila Galleons is The Arrival of The Spanish Galleons in Manila from the Pacific Ocean and Their Departure Along the Kuroshio Stream, by Jose Eugenio Borao Mateo.  This one is historical rather than archaeological.

Here is the abstract from that one.

The aim of this paper is to revisit some well-known features of the seasonal conditions and geographical incidences of (1) the yearly arrival in Manila of the galleons coming from Acapulco and (2) the first stage of their return voyage along the Kuroshio stream. It will be based on existing published data, like the well-known Blair&Robertson (BRPI), the less known Navas&Pastells (CDF), the collection of Spanish Documents of Taiwan (SIT) published by the author, and other documents from Spanish Archives. The paper will try to present the routine of these trips, and some of the nautical conditions (specially the monsoons and typhoons contingencies) as explained by sailors like Cevicos, and to revisit some particular well-known cases of shipwrecks like the ones of the Spanish galleons San Felipe (1597) and San Francisco (1609) in Japan, and Nuestra Señora de la Concepción (1638) in Marianas Islands. Finally, some conclusive ideas will focus on Taiwan as one of the last ramifications of the Acapulco-Manila route; and the fact that for the sailors was much more important the winds than the currents, which—as it seems—their knowledge was not yet totally clear.

And here is the link.

http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~borao/2Profesores/Kuroshio.pdf

Again, you will find a useful biography with references from some unusual sources.

There haven't been many books on the Manila galleons since the one written in the 1930s, but here is one you can preview online.  It is The Manila-Acapulco Galleons: The Treasure Ships of the Pacific, by Shirley Fish.

You might want to get it at your local library.  If they don't have it, ask for an interlibrary loan.

Click here to preview that book.

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You might like this story about how three students found $40,000 cash hidden in a sofa they purchased at a thrift store.  Good story how it turned out.

https://people.com/celebrity/cash-couch-students-return-40000-found-stuffed-in-thrift-store-sofa/

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There are some new treasure hunting TV shows this season.  I ran into one the other day.  It is Lost Gold.  I think it was on the Discovery channel.   I didn't find it very exciting.  The best thing about it for me, in the short time I saw it, is that they talked about some famous treasures and early treasure hunters and detectorists, such as Frank Fish.

You can read more about Frank Fish in this issue of The Tombstone News.

It begins...

In April 1963 death came to one of the most famous and successful of the treasure hunters, Frank Fish. To all appearances and evidence he died by his own hand. But did he? Frank was my close and personal friend; my family and I spent many hours in his Gold Rush Museum listening to him spin yarns of lost and buried treasures. To say the least, it is my honest opinion that Frank Fish was not the suicidal type. He loved his museum and its thousands of relics too well. In addition he was close on the track of a large treasure cache for which he had searched many years...

I also saw advertisements to a program on Civil War gold and a Japanese treasure in the Philippines.

I'm a little over most of the TV treasure shows.  They have generally been disappointing.  Too much foolish hype and showmanship, and not totally trustworthy.  It is better to go out and do it for yourself anyhow.  Still, we all have a little downtime for foolishness.

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The Treasure Coast surf forecast has changed a little.

Source: MagicSeaWeed.com.

It looks like the peak of about seven feet will be Tuesday.  It doesn't look like it will be as sustained as forecast earlier.   Still a pretty good size, along with some good tides.  And still a couple days for things to shape up.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/23/17 Report - Traveling and Metal Detecting. Hard Cases and Other Issues.

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

I always enjoy detecting new places, so when I travel I like to have a detector.  I used to take my detector with me when I flew, but after 2001 airport security became more of a hassle and I started shipping my detector and associated items ahead instead of taking them on the plane.  Some people still take their detectors on the plane and say it isn't a problem.  I remember back in the day, a lot of the time airport security had no idea what my detector was but they weren't very concerned about it.

Iowa Steve wrote to me about the Cooper's Treasure TV show and mentioned the hard metal detector carry case they used and wondered where to get one.

I still have a nice case that I got with my Fisher Aquanaut 1280 many years ago and it can be used for other detectors even thought it fit the 1280 perfectly.  There are, however, cases made specifically for many metal detector models.

Below are some examples of hard carry cases.

Obviously not all cases will work for all detectors.  Detectors like the ATX fold up and can fit in a more compact case.

You might want to modify some of the foam inserts if you want to use a case for another type of metal detector.

You can purchase hard carry cases through online metal detector retailers or sites like eBay.  eBay offers a good variety.

Prices generally range anywhere from close t0 $70 up to around $200.  I'd check the detector manufacturer web site first.

If you don't have a suitable case around and don't want to buy one, I'm sure an old vintage suit case and some Styrofoam and padding would work.  Wouldn't look so cool though.  If you don't have any of the old hard suitcases around the house, you can find them for almost nothing at thrift stores.

If you detect when traveling, there is also the matter of bringing finds back.  Most small items such as coins or buttons  are usually not much of a problem.  However other finds, such as the grape shot that I found, can be tricky.  I have left items like that behind because I didn't want to take a chance that it might be considered an explosive, which could have resulted in a fine of over $100,000 or worse.  It wasn't worth the risk so I just left it.

International travel can be more problematic because of customs, which can apply to items that you acquired, no matter if they were purchased or acquired otherwise.  You could explain how you found an expensive diamond ring or gold coin with your metal detector, but there is a chance that might get sticky.  You could also get into issues of cultural heritage, just to name one other kind of possible problem.

You might decide for any of a number of reasons to ship certain types of finds, in which case the shipper can take care of clearing customs and paying duties.  They'll charge a fee.

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I know some of crews that are going to work leases this year along the Treasure Coast are still waiting for the weather to improve.

This was one rainy day.  It finally stopped.  We really needed the rain though.

The surf got up to three or four feet, but I haven't had a chance to check out the beaches.  The surf is supposed to decrease again over the next few days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

9/18/13 Report - Found Half Reale, Shipping Detectors For Repair and Current Beach Conditions.

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

Find and Photo by William M.

Here is the other side of William M.'s cob that I showed yesterday that had the Mexican cross on it.

Looks to me like this side is showing a part of a Philip monogram.

William said it is so light he could blow it off of his hand.

I think you can see on the upper right where some of the silver has been lost.

As I mentioned to William, I'm not surprised that it is particularly light since conditions have been so poor.

Little cobs like this can be washed around with shells.  I've found them in a shell line at the top of the berm after the berm had been breached.



Here is a nice link showing a variety of nice half reales.  Take a look.

http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=155093



I had a detector that needed to be sent for repairs.  In the past I've used UPS.  I found out they are not the best choice now.  I packed the control box, ear phones and coil in a fairly small box, and they told me the cheapest would be about $13.70 for regular ground, which would take about a week for delivery.

I went to the US Post office and found they were cheaper for regular mail, and if I used a Flat Rate Priority Mail box, it was even cheaper.   And of course, priority mail does not take as long.

Therefore, if you have to send a detector for repairs, consider Flat Rate Priority Mail.  It has the other benefits too, such as tracking.

I was able to use a relatively small Flat Rate box in this case because this detector's coil is relatively small and the control box is also compact.  You might have to use a slightly larger box and pay a couple more dollars.

Cut Seen This Morning On One Treasure Coast Beach

This is the same area that I showed two days ago in the following photo.

As of this morning, the waves hadn't picked up yet.  It was pretty tame out there.  The surf was supposed to pick up later in the day.

Notice that now instead of two steps, there was now only one.  The beach smoothed out, and only one small one foot plus cut remains at the top of the beach.

One of the most recent high tides came up over the berm.  The lower cut was filled in and the front beach generally smoothed over.

Notice also that the sea weed is now gone except for what remained above the berm on the flat beach.

Photo of Same Area Two Days Ago.

While beach detecting conditions did not improve here, you can see that sand was definitely moved around.  The beach looks very different today than two days ago.  

It isn't a bad idea to compare photos of the same beach to get a better idea of how the sand is moving.

As you can probably tell, the top photo was taken from closer to the water than the bottom photo.

Humberto is still out there but won't be coming our way.


The surfing web site is predicting a 4 - 6 foot surf for late Wednesday and through Thursday.   The high tide will be higher than yesterday, and so probably will come up over the berm again in some places.


Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net