6/16/20 Report - Our Ships on the Bottom of the Ocean. Gold Cross Find. Metal Detector Signals.

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

Gold Cross Laying on Sand

Find and photo by Alberto S.

The small gold cross (14KT written on the clasp) was laying on top of the (dry) sand and before picking it up I moved the coil of my CTX 3030 over it to listen to the FeCo tones and the values reported since this is my first gold cross I wanted to get an idea but, the tones and numbers kept jumping around not sure why, maybe the way it was laying on the sand, the shape of a cross and size or something else. The ctx 3030 is working fine as I double checked with a couple of coins I had found and later with an air test of the cross which gave me a solid sound and reading when moving in a horizontal position or flat over the coil, in a vertical position; silence. Beach conditions were not good at all but I needed the exercise so I am glad I went metal detecting today. Oh, and my metal detecting mistake #345 I started to walk away from the spot where the cross had been found before I went like wait, where is the chain? I retraced my steps and tried for a while but no luck. :(

Have a great evening,

Alberto S 

One good thing about all the rain we've been getting lately is the items that are uncovered by the rain.  Wind will uncover things too. 

Good idea to look for the chain.

A metal detector signal will be different for odd shaped objects and round objects.  On round objects the signal will be pretty much the same when you swing at one direction and then again at 90 degrees.  Very irregular shaped objects like the odd silver earring I showed the other day will give what I might describe as a jittery signal.  I meant to mention that at the time, but forgot.  You can usually tell the difference between a round object, a nail-shaped object and a fish hook, for example, from the audio signal alone.  Objects that aren't round, in addition to having a different audio signal when swept from different directions, will also tend to give inconsistent numbers as you hit them from different directions.

You can test that at home with various types and shapes of objects.  With practice you can learn to tell much about the shape of the object from the audio signal.

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I found an interesting paper on early Portuguese shipwrecks.  The title, Our Ships at the Bottom Ocean, immediately made me suspicious.  The title seems to suggest a group of people, including the author as chief among them, that owns the ships at the bottom of the ocean.  I thought I remembered some of the author's previous wacko statements, and the paper confirmed my suspicions.  The author seems to rank anyone and everyone that has touched a shipwreck or anything that has came off one other than he and his group, as a part of an international network of thieves.  Nonetheless, the paper does present some good information that you might enjoy reading.  It is mostly about early Portuguese shipwrecks.

Here is one paragraph to give you the idea.

There is much more like that.

Here is the link.

https://www.academia.edu/13927040/Our_Ships_at_the_Bottom_of_the_Ocean?email_work_card=title

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I felt like saying thank you to all the good police and found this Egard Watch commercial that does it for me.  Click here to view it.

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I had a lot of trouble with yesterday's post.  First I wrote a long original essay and lost it, then the post wasn't displaying correctly, so I finally took it down.

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Source: National Hurricane Center.

There is a weather system just north of Jacksonville that has a 10% of becoming a tropical storm in the next couple of days.

Our wind changed yesterday.  We only have about a two foot surf and small tides with a primary swell from the east but a secondary wind swell from the ENE.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/20/18 Report - New Technology to Detect Paper Money. Diamond Ring Find. Engagement Ring Found and Returned. Royal Scotland Dock Yards.

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

New Diamond Ring Find.

That ring is heavier than it looks. 

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I'm always interested in new ideas and different ways of solving problems.  Here is an article about a different approach to finding large amounts of cash.  

Sniffing Out Billions in US Currency Smuggled Across the Border to Mexico

Criminals are smuggling an estimated $30 billion in U.S. currency into Mexico each year from the United States, but help could be on the way for border guards, researchers reported recently. The answer to the problem: a portable device that identifies specific vapors given off by U.S. paper money...

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

http://www.labmanager.com/news/2014/08/sniffing-out-billions-in-us-currency-smuggled-across-the-border-to-mexico#.WwDGmUxFzTg

I guess you could call it a cash sniffing machine.

$30 billion dollars could be used a lot of ways in the federal budget.

It reminds me of the time many years ago when I arrived at a Treasure Coast beach and found huge wrapped bails.  The bails must have been four or five foot cubes.  It was very early in the morning and no one was around.  One bail was down by the water, and one was up behind the dunes.  I wondered if it was cash and took a look.  It was pot, heavily wrapped so it wouldn't be damaged by water.

That is back in the day before cell phones.  I wondered if anyone would be returning for it.

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Here is a great story about an engagement ring that was found and returned by a metal detecting police officer.

May 16 (UPI) -- A Texas woman is praising a police officer who spent hours on a beach to find and return her lost engagement ring...

Jaradi used a metal detector and the pair searched together for hours before giving up for the night.

Haelen said she received a message from Jaradi about 4:30 a.m. saying he had found the ring...

And here is that link.

https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/05/16/Officer-searches-beach-for-hours-to-find-lost-engagement-ring/9661526490844/

I like to post found and returned stories.  If you have any new ones let me know.

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Archaeologists may have found Scotland's Royal dockyards.

https://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/news/environment/airth-archaeological-dig-sheds-more-light-on-royal-dockyards-connection-1-4740727

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After a good soaking is always a good time to check out old hunted inland sites again.

Happy huntng,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/20/18 Report - Cobs, Ingots and Artifacts Available in Latest Sedwick Auction. Prohibition and Rum-Running In Florida. Bigger Surf Coming.

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

The 23rd Sedwick Treasure auction is now online and available for registration and bidding.  There are already a number of bids, including one bid of $29,000 for a large silver ingot.

The artifacts section has a little bit of everything it seems including some items you might not expect to see in a Sedwick auction including an antique book and a 1950s Tiffany pill box.  As you would expect there are the usual musket balls, cannon balls, candle stick holder, fork, etc.

There were also non-metallic artifacts that seemed more typical of an archaeological dig than a treasure salvage operation, such as Spanish Colonial glass jewelry fragments, jet beads, and a stone bird shot mold.  Sometime not long ago I talked about jet and glass Spanish jewelry items and mentioned how common they appeared to be in documentation and archaeological digs, but how uncommon they are as beach finds.

Of course there are the seemingly endless lots of cobs that are good for study even if you are like me and prefer to find things rather than buy them.

Here is the link if you want to register, bid or just browse.

https://auction.sedwickcoins.com/Treasure-World-U-S-Coin-and-Paper-Money-Auction-23-May-15-16_a34033_p8?m=all

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For drinkers and those who surreptitiously supplied them during Prohibition, the thrill of obtaining smuggled liquor was a quintessentially American custom bringing to mind the rebellious streak of the nation’s founders and their defiance of the oppressive laws and taxes imposed by a tyrannical monarch. Floridians were not immune to the lure of smuggling.  Freckled along the state’s Atlantic seaboard and extending out among the islands of the Bahamas and the Caribbean lay bays and inlets ideal for the trade, which would famously become known as rum-running. It also helped that in the 1920 Census, the Florida counties along the 250-mile long stretch of coastline from Titusville in northern Brevard County to Florida City near the southern border of Dade (now Miami-Dade) County, had a combined population of only 82,843, with more than half of the population clustered in the Miami area. (Today, incidentally, the seven counties along that stretch of coastline have a combined population of 7.9 million. The proximity of so many people hasn’t brought smuggling to a halt, but nowadays the illicit cargo is more likely to be drugs than booze.)

Also helping the smugglers was the fact that the southernmost portions of Florida’s Atlantic seaboard were not far from the Bahamas, then a British colony. Most of the rum and other illegal booze of all kinds entered Florida through the Bahamas, where the sale of liquor remained legal. Nassau, on New Providence Island, further cemented its historic reputation as a hub of piracy and crime by becoming the bootleggers’ paradise during the 1920s. Nassau served as the depot for alcohol shipped there from all parts of the world. From Nassau, rum runners would transport their illegal goods to the infamous Rum Row, which was created by one of Prohibition’s biggest celebrities, William “Bill” McCoy. Rum Row was a stretch of ocean that lay just beyond the U.S. territorial limits along the Eastern seaboard. At that time, the territorial limit was a mere three miles off the coast. Long chains of vessels carrying liquor of every sort tossed their contraband to contact boats assigned to deliver the smuggled cargo to accomplices on the mainland, all the while avoiding the interference of customs officials and other lawmen...

Here is the link for more about that.

http://floridaverve.org/prohibitionists-domain-and-smugglers-paradise-floridas-peculiar-status-during-prohibition/

You've heard the expression, "Real McCoy" and you probably know how it is used, but do you know where the expression came from?

Rum-running also saw a revival as a trade in the United States. Liquor was smuggled in station wagons, trucks and boats from Mexico, Europe, Canada and the Caribbean. The term “The Real McCoy” came out of this era. It’s attributed to Captain William S. McCoy who facilitated most of the rum running via ships during prohibition and would never water down his imports, making his the “real” thing. McCoy, a non-drinker himself, began running rum from the Caribbean into Florida shortly after the beginning of prohibition. One encounter with the Coast Guard shortly thereafter stopped McCoy from completing runs on his own. The innovative McCoy set up a network of smaller ships that would meet his boat just outside U.S. waters and carry his supplies into the country...

Here is one link for more about that.

https://www.metrojacksonville.com/mobile/article/2011-oct-bootlegging-and-rum-running-in-jacksonville

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The low tides have been nice and low lately.  That can be a big help at times.

The surf has been small lately but will increase up to around 4 - 7 feet this weekend.  I'm eager to see that.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/26/15 Report - Erika Headed Towards Florida, Lima 8-escudo, Treasure Crates, Smuggling and Contraband, New Wreck Discovered

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

Predicted Path of Erika.
Source: nhc.noaa.gov

Erika looks to be headed towards Palm Beach and is expected to arrive very early Monday as a level 1 hurricane.  There are still a few days for all of that to change, so keep watching.

The surfing web sites are not predicting a big increase in surf. They are only showing a maximum of four feet on Sunday evening, decreasing after that.

It is still too early to be certain.  That could change as well.

I'd really like to see some sand get removed.  I'd so like to see a ripped beach.  It has been so long.

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1702 Lima 8-Escudo
Photo submitted by Captain Jonah Martinez.

Here is an interesting escudo.  Notice how the top of the pillars is off angle.

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The other day I was talking about how treasure was packaged on the treasure fleets.  I found the following in the Foster article on Talegas and Contraband.

Here is that link again.

 http://www.academia.edu/9270986/Talegas_and_Hoards_The_Archaeological_Signature_of_Contraband_on_a_1725_Spanish_Merchant_Vessel

The chests weren't always cedar, and they weren't always of exactly the same dimensions, but it seems they were usually pretty similar.   Since gold is nearly twice as dense as silver, I'd assume that crates carrying gold weighed closer to 450 pounds.

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There is a lot of really good information on the internet these days. Here are a couple of books that I found.

One is Smuggling: Contraband and Corruption in World History by Alan Karras.

Click here to link to that book.    Click on View Sample when you get there to read the sample.

Looks like a very interesting book.

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 Here is another book you might like to take a look at.  It is  Treasures of the Spanish Main: Shipwrecked Galleons in the New World by John Chistopher Fine.

You can read a sample of that one online too.  The sample had some nice information on the 1715 Fleet.

Click here to link to that.

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(August 24, 2015) - During the repair of the US 50 Bridge over the Nanticoke River, the Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration (SHA) discovered an 18th century shipwreck in the water. SHA was removing debris from under the bridge when workers realized some of the wood may be ship timbers...

Here is that link.

http://www.roads.maryland.gov/Pages/release.aspx?newsId=2332

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Keep watching Erika.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net