4/18/16 Report - Beach Conditions On The Treasure Coast, Cross or Crucifix Find.

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

John Brooks Beach This Morning.

Yesterday morning this same beach had some three-foot cuts.  Today, none.  What happened is that the water got up to near the dunes last night.  It washed up over the front beach and smoothed it out.

I took a look at Turtle Trail, Seagrape Trail, Wabasso, Ambersands, and the beach north of the McClarty Museum.  None of those had any significant cuts.

At Turtle Trail, for example, just a little more of the blue bags were showing.  It looked like the beach there lost a little sand, but just a few inches from over the bags.

I would have taken more pictures but my camera battery ran down.

For the size of the surf, not much happened.  None of the beaches looked very interesting this morning,and most of the front beaches were pretty mushy.

The surf will decrease a little tomorrow.  I don't expect much improvement in the beach conditions the next couple of days.

Still, there were some interesting finds the past couple of days.  Below is one find made by Andy S.

Front

Back

Close Up.

The cross is about seven inches tall.  It was found yesterday on a shipwreck beach where a shipwreck spike was also found.

Let me know if you have any thoughts on the item.  I noticed some things that I'll comment on some other time.  I've also asked for expert opinion.

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Concerning my "Hero's Journey" post, Jerry P. said, Today's post is so much like I feel about this "hobby" that I felt compelled to let you know. The "Hero's Journey" chart really fits me and other Detectorists that I've come to know in the short time since I began my "Journey".

Thanks for your comments Jerry.

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Only one day remaining to respond to the current blog poll.  Thanks in advance.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/17/16 Report - Up To Nine Foot Surf Predicted For Tomorrow. Survey of Some Treasure Beaches.

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

Wabasso This Morning Before Low Tide.

With the increased surf I wanted to look around to see what was happening.  Above you see Wabasso. Nothing very exciting there.

Looking North From Turtle Trail Beach Access This Morning.

I didn't see anything very exciting from the Turtle Trail access either.

The waves this morning were hitting the beach directly from the east.

South of Seagrape Trail Beach Access Looking North Towards The First Flag Pole.

There was some sand loss around the Seagrape Trail Access.  

To the south around the first and second flag poles the sand was reduced, but only to the level that the very top of some of the erosion control bags were visible.  Another couple of feet would be required to take it down to where it was at the end of 2015 when it was producing.

South of Seagrape Trail Access Looking South Towards the Second Flag Pole.

You can barely see a little of the erosion control bags in the picture immediately above.

John Brooks Beach This Morning Before Low Tide.

There was some additional erosion here today, but not a lot.  You can compare it to the picture I posted yesterday, which I mistakenly labeled Frederick Douglass.

The sand in front of these cuts is still pretty mushy here.  The maximum cut is about three feet.

That is about it for today.

To summarize, there is some additional sand loss, but very little.  It has not improved enough for me to issue a beach conditions upgrade yet.

Although the surf is bigger, the tides are not very big and the waves are hitting straight on.

Tomorrow the surf is supposed to be up to 6 - 9 feet.  That is pretty big.  I wish we would get a good change in wind and wave direction.  As I've said many times before, it takes more than waves.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/16/16 Report - Surf Increasing This Weekend. Beach Photos. Toy Cannon Soldier Art.

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

Frederick Douglas Beach This Morning.

Walton Rocks Beach This Morning.

This morning the wind was coming from the east, and I went out to see if anything was starting to happen on the beaches.  I checked a couple of beaches on South Hutchinson Island, and neither had changed much.  If you go back and look at the last time I posted these beaches, you'll see they look about the same.

The surf is supposed to increase Sunday and Monday.  I'll be watching to see what is happening.

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Mystery Object Submitted by John C.

I posted this mystery object some time ago.  I didn't receive any guesses.  My thought is that it is a lead melt.  Whether it was melted accidently or intentionally is unknown.  The chips or material on the bottom might be accidental too.  Other than that I have no answer.

Melted lead is common.  Lead was carried and made into musket balls and was used for a wide variety of other uses.  Musket balls pounded or melted to be used for other things too.





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I posted the following before but thought it would be worth repeating today.

Toy Lead Cannon
From Old Sedwick Auction.

This toy lead cannon is from a mid-1800s shipwreck The reason it caught my attention is that I once found a similar lead item. For a long time I thought it was a finial, but now I am convinced that it is probably a soldier-art cannon.







The one I found (below) was found near an 18th century cannon emplacement on Pigeon Island.

Carved 18th Century Soldier-Art Cannon

It is always fun to metal detect new places when you travel. It was a lot easier to travel with a metal detector before the 911 tragedy.

I would take my detector with me as carry-on luggage. Security would look at it, ask me what it was, I'd tell them, they'd scratch their heads and I'd walk on the plane with it.

St. Lucia is one island I visited a few times. On a couple of occasions I explored Pigeon Island, which is now connected to St. Lucia by a causeway. 

There was a lot of history on the ground to see. There were a lot of historic ruins, and shards all over the place. I even eye-balled a grapeshot at the base of tree.

I left the grapeshot where it was. If it was taken on the plane and considered an explosive device, which I suppose would have been the case, the fine at the time, if I remember correctly, would have been something like $250,000. I wasn't going to chance anything like that.

Here is a little of the history of the Pigeon Island. 

Pigeon Island was first occupied by the Amerindians, mainly Caribs. The island was later occupied by pirates whose leader was a Norman Captain called Francois Le Clerc. He had a wooden leg and was known to the French as Jambe de Bois. The French who owned the island in 1778 declared war on the British, who retaliated by attacking them in Saint Lucia and capturing the island. The British then built a Naval Base at Gros-Islet Bay, heavily fortifying Pigeon Island. From there they were able to monitor the French fleet in Martinique which resulted in the defeat of the French at the Battle of the Saints in 1782. Pigeon Island was therefore a key factor in the Battles between the British and the French. In 1909 a whaling station was established at Pigeon Island.

That came from the following web site. 

http://search.aol.com/aol/search?q=st+lucia+pigeon+island+le+clerc&s_it=tb50-ie-aolmail-ab-en-us

If you look at the photos of the island, I think you will see that it is an interesting looking place.

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The salvage vessel Dare is deploying a hovering autonomous underwater vehicle equipped with an EM detector to scan the deep hard-packed mud and clay in search of new targets south of the Atocha's main pile.

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The surf is supposed to be up to 4 - 6 feet today and larger tomorrow.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/15/16 Report - Tomb of Spanish Priest in Aztec Temple. Treasure Hunting As Hero's Journey. Big Surf Monday?

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

Source: See link below.

The first thing I want to point out today is the predicted big surf, The prediction right now is for a peak surf of 6 - 9 feet on Monday.

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Archaeologists have found a heavy stone slab covering the tomb of one of the first Catholic priests in Mexico following the 1521 Spanish conquest, a grave sunk into the floor of what appears to be an Aztec temple.

The discovery suggests the extent to which the Spanish reused the temples of the Aztec capital in the first years after capturing it. The huge slab was uncovered in recent days at the site of the now-disappeared first cathedral of Mexico City, built in 1524 yards from the current cathedral that replaced it in the 1620s...

Here is the  link for more about that.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/13/mexico-priest-grave-spanish-conquest-aztec-archaeology

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At the top of this page is an illustration that summarizes Joseph Campbell's concept of the hero's journey."  ( http://www.movieoutline.com/articles/the-hero-journey-mythic-structure-of-joseph-campbell-monomyth.html )

Whether you are talking about Indiana Jones or Star Wars or any of a large number of other popular films or stories there are plot elements that you will see over and over again.

You might wonder what that has to do with treasure hunting. I'm not writing about the art of writing today.  I'm writing about human adventure and experience.  Those who "follow their passion" go through the steps and stages shown in the illustration to one extent or another.  There are treasure hunters that actually live the hero's journey.

If you look at the illustration at the top of the page, you'll see that the hero's journey begins in the ordinary everyday world.  It starts out in a place of relative comfort.  You might call it home.  Then the prospective hero receives a calling.  Just as one example, Luke Skywalker started as a farm boy living on a small backwater planet.  In his case, the calling was initiated when two droids appeared with a mysterious message.

The calling is to a life of adventure.  The life of adventure requires leaving comfort, ease, safety, and the current state of affairs.  Whether it is Never-Never-Land, Emerald City, Shangra-la, or a strange distant galaxy, after much conflict, the hero has to step out into a new life where he is tested over an over again.

Some treasure hunters experience the sequence of events described in the Hero's Journey and shown in the illustration above.  They make a decision to leave the life of familiarity and jump into the adventure. In a previous post I tried to describe something like that as being "all in."  Many reject the calling, and that might be the right thing to do for them.  The life of adventure is a life of risk.  You don't know if you will be successful, and there is a lot to overcome.  It requires a leap of faith.

You can find a complete breakdown of Raiders of the Lost Ark and how it follows the stages of the Hero's Journey at the following web site.  http://gordonnapier.com/raiders-of-the-lost-ark-the-heros-journey-breakdown/

I know I didn't do this topic justice, and I apologize.  It would probably take hundreds of pages, if I could do the topic justice at all.

Some treasure hunters actually live the Hero's Journey very much as it is described by Joseph Campbell and the illustration above.  If you look into what I talked about today and think about it, you might get some good insight into treasure hunting.  That is my hope.

As I suggested in a previous post, the hero's journey is more about the journey and personal development than it is about any object or objects. Traveling the yellow brick road, the cowardly lion finds courage, and the tin man and scarecrow find what they lacked.  In the end, Dorothy returns home changed.

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Let me know if you got anything at all out of this post.  It wasn't easy for me to try to address a subject like this in a brief post, and I don't really know if I should have tried.  I got something out of it anyway.

Thanks for your responses to the new blog poll.

Remember to watch the surf predictions.  It looks like we might actually get a 6 - 9 foot surf by Monday.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/13/16 Report - Blockade Runner Found. St. Augustine Well. WW I Ships Investigated Using Drone. Eight or Nine Foot Surf Predicted.

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

WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA, was the Confederacy’s last port. During the Civil War, blockade runners that evaded the Union navy were one of the Confederate army’s few lifelines. But maneuvering a small, fast ship in the dead of night was hard as it sounds, and many of them didn’t make it. Archaeologists now think they’ve found the shipwreck of one of those long lost blockade runners off Wilmington: theAgnes E. Fry...

Here is the link for the rest of the article.

http://www.wired.com/2016/04/sonar-may-turned-long-lost-civil-war-ship-agnes-e-fry/

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An 18th century well was uncovered in St. Augustine.

Here is the link for more about that.

http://staugustine.com/news/local-news/2016-04-12/coquina-well-walls-found-mill-top-excavation#.Vw7r-vkrLIV

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NavyNews reports

A tiny drone has scanned the wrecks of two German WW1 warships – forgotten and mostly buried by the sludge and mud at the southern end of Whale Island.

Marine archaeologists hope to bring the two vessels - one a veteran of Jutland - back to life in 3D computer model form as part of centennial commemorations of the Great War...

Here is the link for more about that.

https://navynews.co.uk/archive/news/item/14705

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I added a new poll to the blog.  I noticed that a lot of treasure hunters are very religious or spiritual.  I want to investigate that, but first wanted to see if my impressions are correct.

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Current predictions have the Treasure Coast surf building this weekend, perhaps up to eight or nine feet by Monday.  That should be interesting.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/12/16 Report - Poll Results. Musket Balls and Mystery Item. Mathematical Model For Finding Fossils.

Written by the Treasure Guide for the exclusive use of treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Bunch Musket Balls
Photo submitted by John C.

Take a look at that bunch of musket balls shown above.  There are a lot of interesting things to see. Some shown the mold seams.  Some have been cut.  Some show some iron rust.  And there is even a hidden Mickey.

John sent the photo with the hidden Mickey musket ball after seeing my recent posts showing the Donald Duck figurine.  He said, "I guess it seems that the Spaniards may have come up with the Mickey Mouse concept  in Florida  long before Walt did...."

Did you find the hidden Mickey?  It is right in the center of the group.

Hidden Mickey Musket Balls
Photo by John C.

There is an entire book about the hidden Mickies that were placed all around Disney World.

Below is a mystery item John has been trying to figure out.

Mystery Item Photo by John C.

I already have my idea, but let me know what you think.

Very Neat Green Bottle Found Recently During Surface Hunt.

This bottle has no embossing and isn't real old but it is in my opinion very pretty.  Too bad it has scuffs and scratches.

My surface hunts have turned up a lot of bottles lately, but none are valuable.  Enough is being found to suggest something better will eventually show up.

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The most recent blog poll has concluded and the results are in.  The majority, about 61 percent of those who responded to the poll hunt mostly on the beach.  It is generally easy to access and hunt on beaches.  Recovery is easy and no permission or special equipment is needed.

About 21 percent of the respondents hunt mostly on dry land.  That is more than the number that hunt mostly in the water (16%).

The number that do hunt mostly on the beach is almost twice the number that does not hunt mostly on the beach.

The poll does not tell us how many beach hunters occasionally do a little land or water hunting.  It is clear, though, that the blog's readers hunt mostly on beaches.

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Science Daily has an article telling about the factors included in a mathematical model that was developed to identify areas where fossils are likely to be discovered.  It is very general.  I'll see if I can find more details.

Here is the link.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160408102058.htm

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We're supposed to have a few days of 2 - 3 foot surf and then by the weekend maybe up to an eight foot surf.  That will be something to watch for, but as so often happens, the surf might or might not get that high.  Here's hoping.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

4/10/16 Report - Treasure Hunter's Cookout Coming Soon. Sunken City. Bulgarian Treasure.

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

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When the shoreline receded during the 2004 tsunami, tourists in Mamallapuram swore they saw a long row of granite boulders emerge from the sea, before it was swallowed again as the water hurtled forward. More than a decade later, a team of scientists and divers have uncovered what eyewitnesses saw on that fateful day - vestiges of an ancient port.

In a discovery that could lead to more underwater explorations off the historic town of Mamallapuram, a group from National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) has found the remains of a port or ruins of one of the six shore temples which, according to legend, went under water. The 10-member team, comprising divers, geologists and archaeologists, found a 10m-long wall, a short flight of stairs, and chiselled stone blocks scattered on the seabed. They were found 800m from the shoreline at a depth of nearly 27ft...

Here is the link for more about that.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Millennium-old-sunken-town-found-off-Tamil-Nadu/articleshow/51465600.cms


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A treasure consisting of silver adornments which was most probably buried in the fall of 1688 during the so called Chiprovsti Uprising, the largest rebellion of Bulgarian Catholics against the Ottoman Empire, has been found near the city of Montana in Northwest Bulgaria.

The treasure has been found by locals and has been turned over to the National Museum of History in Sofia, which has announced its discovery...

Here is the link for the rest of the story.


http://archaeologyinbulgaria.com/2016/04/05/17th-century-silver-treasure-hidden-during-bulgarian-catholics-uprising-against-ottoman-empire-discovered-in-northwest-bulgaria/

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Just a few hours remaining to respond to the current blog poll.  Thanks.

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We'll have a two to three foot surf for a few days, however there are some big tides and some good negative tides.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net