12/22/16 Report - Beach Conditions Today. Treasure Hunting On The Treasure Coast Over the Decades. What Has Changed.

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

Douglas Beach Thursday Morning Just After Low Tide

Different View of Douglas Beach This Morning.

I took a look at the beach this morning.  As you can see from the photo above, there was very little in the way of cuts.  At some spots there was a little cut less than a foot high.  In front of that was a sloped front beach, which was mushy towards the top and a little firmer at the bottom.  It didn't look very promising.

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In yesterday's post I said I might start a new series of posts about treasure hunting on the Treasure Coast over the last few decades.   I'll get that started today.


Some people think that most of the treasure has been found and that is why there are decreasing finds being made. Some would be a little more specific and say that the "easy" finds have been made.  If you think about how many big finds were made both in the water and on the beach in the early days - many without the use of a metal detector - it would be easy to conclude that the easy finds have been made.

You might have read at one time or another how beachcombers used to find flat black items on the beach and skipped them back into the ocean.  That was decades ago.  It is very rare for reales, especially the larger ones, to be found by sight these days.  In fact they aren't found real often even with a metal detector, and when it does happen it is probably one of those special days when conditions are just right.  That doesn't happen very often.

In 1940 the local newspapers reported that gold coins, cannon, cannon balls and other shipwreck items were found on the beach along with the remains of what were believed to be the bones of Spanish shipwrecks.  Those things were reportedly found on both the beach and in the shallow water.

I suppose those reports were accurate.  Of course I can't prove it one way or the other, and I'll entertain the possibility that they could be wrong to one extent or another, but I suspect that they are basically true.

I've also read that the mid-century salvage crews made a lot of big finds without metal detectors, sometimes in very shallow water.  And some of them successfully worked without blowers - again making some impressive finds.  I don't think that happens very often today either.

Comparing the reports of finds made forty, fifty or sixty years ago with those of more recent days, it certainly appears that it was easier to find treasure on the Treasure Coast back in the earlier decades.

If you've been waiting to make some nice beach finds, you probably know that there haven't been a lot lately.  There are some finds from time to time, but not the kind of days when you walk out and quickly fill your pockets with silver or gold.

If it is harder to make big finds these days, the question remains as to why.  Why would so many more finds be made by sight back in the early 1900s?  There are many believe that it is simply a matter of all the past finds reducing the amount of treasure that remains to be found.  That could be.

It could also be that back in the forties and up to just a few decades ago, beach and water conditions were better for treasure hunting.  It could be that there was a period of continued erosion.  I'll check on that as soon as I get a chance.   I think I've seen studies on the amount of erosion that occurred along the Treasure Coast over the years and decades.

The beach and inlets have opened and closed over the centuries as the result of both nature and man.

In 1924, the Sebastian Inlet was opened at its current location and small jetties were completed.

In 1939, Approximately 72,000 cubic yards of sediment are removed from the inlet at a cost of $6,000.

In 1941 the Inlet closed due to a northeaster. For safety reasons, it was left closed during World War II, then permanently blasted open in 1947 and has remained open since.

Here is the source for that information and more on the Sebastian Inlet.

http://www.sebastianinletdistrict.com/Inlet_History.html

Shallow water visibility also changes along with the opening and closing of inlets.

Areas to the north of the inlets fill with sand while the areas immediately south of the inlets cloud up to some extent when the inlets are open.  Bigger and bigger jetties are required, and that means more sand piling up to the north of the inlets and more and more frequent replenishment projects to the south of the inlets.

Besides natural trends, man has had an effect on beach conditions too.  We all know how often the beaches of the Treasure Coast have been replenished in the last decade.  It seems that every year replenishment sand is being dumped somewhere along the Treasure Coast.  Even when the beaches erode again, the sand moves southward along the beach and covers the shallow water areas.  If it wasn't for the renourishment sand, I think we would have had more finds in the past couple of months.

Well, I haven't answered the question yet, and this post is getting long.  I'll finish this post tomorrow or some other time before long.

To be continued...

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/21/16 Report - Metal Detecting Technique. A New Series of Posts Introduced.

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

I will be doing a post or a series of post on Treasure Coast finds and major trends and conclusions.  I don't know yet how many posts it will involve, but probably more than one.  I might even get started on that today.

I just received a post from SuperRick who besides visiting the Treasure Coast every once in a while does a lot of hunting for gold nuggets and meteorites out west.  Here is an email I just got from Rick.

I don't know if you remember it or not but I sold the same detector that you use because it would not read meteorites but was great for gold and deep targets! I bought it when it first hit the market and tried everything I could think of to get it to read common meteorites and it just wouldn't do it and weighing in at 6 1/2 pounds didn't help out here in the desert! 

The one thing that most guys miss is you have to spend time with any detector that you use. What should be a love affair turns out to be a nightmare for some guys because they don't understand their machine or don't know the proper way to detect with any metal detector!
Their swing is always way off of the ground and when they are coming to the end of it the detector swings up into the air even higher! So far I had two bad experiences with two different detectors that I bought for meteorites. The first one the factor took it back after I worked with them for a few months. I sent them videos of how we were setting it up and it wouldn't even read gold nuggets doing air test with the way they were telling me to set it up!
I want to thank you once again for all that you do with your Blog, your the best out there when it comes to the Fla. beaches and the history of the shipwrecks!
I hope that you have happy holidays and good health in the next new year!


Rick

Thanks Rick!  You mention a lot of very important points. 

I'm going to expand on a couple of things Rick referred to.

First, different detectors are good for different things.  A detector that might be great for one type of hunting, might be an absolute waste for another.  Rick mentions one detector that he found to be very good for certain types of targets but poor for meteorites.  Florida guys don't think much about hunting meteorites.  Florida is just not the place to do that.  

Second, it can take a lot of time to master a metal detector - some more than others.  In the past I've spent a lot of time talking about experimenting and testing with whatever detector you are going to use.

Third, I often see some very poor technique being used on the beaches.  I usually assume that the user is a beginner, but I saw one fellow recently that I don't think was a beginner.  I almost said something, but decided I wouldn't.   It was not cheap "beginner's" detector either.   It was a high end metal detector, but it was being used in a way that would make it impossible to detect a lot of good targets.  I thought maybe the fellow was backing the coil off for some specific reason.  If you don't want to detect small or normal size targets or something, you can lift your coil off the ground higher than normal.  The fellow had the coil nearly a foot off the ground, and like Rick said, was lifting it even higher at the end of the swing.

You can miss a lot of targets at the end of a swing by lifting the coil or changing direction too quickly.  Jerking the coil at the end of the swing can cause false signals, which can mask real signals.  The same goes for lifting the coil at the end of the swing. 

You may or may not realize how high your coil is from the ground, but it is worth checking to make sure that it is near the ground.  There were some people years back that used to "scrub."  Scrubbing refers to actually having your coil in contact with the ground.  I haven't seen anyone doing that for a long time. You can't do it with all detectors anyhow, and you might need a coil cover.

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Yesterday when I was talking about detectors that years ago showed target images, I was not talking about some of the more recent detectors like the CTX 3030.

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I'll introduce what might become a series of posts today.  The series, if that is what it actually turns out to be, will be called Treasure Coast Finds: Major Trends and Conclusions.

The series will be about old treasure finds going back to the mid 1900s up to today.  While thinking about the history of treasure hunting on the Treasure Coast, I realized that there are some definite trends over the past several decades and some general conclusions that can be reached.  At least it appears that way to me.  Maybe you will not agree with everything.  In that case feel free to let me know.

I'll consider discoveries made from the post - World War II era up to the present.  After the war there were a bunch of developments that came together to facilitate treasure hunting on the Treasure Coast.

There were young, healthy skilled, adventurous trained men coming out of the war ready to begin new lives.  Some were trained right here along the Treasure Coast.

Technologies developed during the war were also helpful.  Magnetometers and mine detectors developed for the military were used to find treasure on the Treasure Coast.   SCUBA technology was developed around that time too.

The products of military research and development often have peacetime applications.   A couple of days ago I referred to the development of "swarm" drone technology being used by the military, and as you know, underwater remote control devices are being used for deep sea treasure hunting.  Military research and technology is often on the leading edge.  That is why I referred to it in a post the other day.  

WW II technology will not be my topic for the proposed series, but the series will consdier the post - WW II era.  I think I might get started on that tomorrow or sometime soon.

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Still eagerly awaiting the predicted increase in surf this weekend.  We had some nice low tides lately.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/20/16 Report - Detector That Displays Target Images and Has Exceptional Target ID? Higher Surf Coming

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

Interesting Intertwined Ring Design
Find and photo by Dan B.

Below you can see how it looked when found.

Same Ring Shown Above.

Thanks Dan.

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I haven't posted many pictures lately.  I've been having some trouble with the camera I usually use.

There will soon be  new book out that was written by a salvage crew member who worked on 1715 Fleet wrecks.   Keep watching and I'll let you know when it is available.   This one will be different than most of the others.  It takes a unique perspective.  More on that in the near future.

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I don't often talk about specific metal detectors, but I do sometimes.  I think most detector tests aren't worth much.  Many are done by people who either don't now how to use the detector or only barely know how to use it.  Some detectors take a while to really learn how to use them well.  Others not so long.

I came across some YouTube videos demonstrating a line of detectors by DRS Electronics - a German company.  The low end detector starts at around $4,500 and the upper end system costs around $45,000.  At those prices you should expect something good.

It appears from the DRS videos that the DRS Ground Exper Pro, the $4,500 detector, that the detector has truly exceptional discrimination capabilities.  The video shows the detector being able to discriminate out both iron and lead and still detect and identify gold.  That is a good trick.  From the video it would appear that the discrimination capabilities exceed those of other detectors costing up to $3000 or more.  It looked as if the detector was capable of allowing the detectorist to dig nothing but gold, if that is what they wanted to do.  That would be great for some situations - if it actually works well.

As you probably know if you've been reading this blog very long, generally speaking I encourage digging everything.  Don't just see the trash, but get rid of it.  There are however situations when discrimination and target ID, if it is accurate enough, would be very useful.

One thing I think I saw mentioned in a DRS video is the statement that strong batteries are required for accurate target ID.  From what I've seen with other detectors, I'd say that is true for most detectors.  Also, with many detectors, depth makes a difference.  Deep targets are not identified as accurately as shallow targets.

Back to the DRS detector.  Not only does it appear from the video to have exceptional discrimination and target ID capabilities, but it also can produce target images.  You can see the round shape of a coin, for example, or the more rectangular shape of an aluminum can.   Images can be displayed on an iPad that comes with the detector or your own smart phone.

I seem to remember years back seeing advertisements of detectors that displayed target images like that.  Was it Whites or Garrett?  It seems that it didn't catch on at the time.  Does anyone remember that, and if so, why it didn't work out.  Am I just dreaming, or does someone else remember that.

Three types of coil come with the GroundExper, including a large coil for detecting large targets meters deep.

Here is a link if you want to look into it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ziv6ZU2W7dE

I'm not advertising this detector or company.  I have never used a DRS detector and would never draw any strong conclusions about a detector without having used it or at least seen a demonstration.

I would like to hear from anyone who has used a DRS system or seen it demonstrated in person.

I also recommend not buying any detector without a personal demonstration, especially something this expensive or advertising capabilities that seem so remarkable.

Again, it does seem like years ago I saw advertisements of detectors that provided target images on a display screen, but I don't know what happened with that.

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It looks like beginning Saturday and lasting for about a week, we'll have a four to six foot surf.  That isn't bad.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/19/16 Report - First Hand Reports on Wrecking of the 1715 Fleet. History of Metal Detectors.

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

Talking of the wreck of the 1715 Fleet, here is what the Escribania de Camara said in a letter sent to Seville about the wreck (translated, of course).

We all grounded upon the coast from midnight of the 30^th at 10AM of the 31^st of July. Most of the ships were divided into sections upon grounding. Mine was the only exception and it remained intact throughout the storm. It was only after 30 days after grounding that the hull was destroyed by fire in order to try and take advantage of salvaging what lay below the decks in the main hold.”

Could you imagine wrecking and scrambling for your life on a deserted beach in the middle of the night.  I don't know if you've ever been on one of the beaches like Douglas Beach at night, but it can be very dark.  I imagine there were clouds so if there was a moon, it might not provide much of any light.  You might not be able to see the wreckage scattered about, but you could hear the waves crashing.  And if you've ever been on the beach during a strong storm, you know how the palm trees and other flotsam can be a real danger as it trashes about in the waves.  I imagine that people died from that.

Supplies for survival would have been the first priority after getting safely to shore.  Fortunately, some of that would have been salvagable, being light or in containers that could float.

Decks that survived would have been an obstacle to recovering treasure underneath.  It seems to me that very little treasure would have been salvaged without sinking first.  Perhaps a few pockets or bags of personal property, but I think even little of that.

De Camara goes on to say, “All of the main ships were broken in pieces and wrecked at a distance from one another of 15 or 16 leagues. The only one which remained intact was the Refuerzo of Lima, under the command of Rafael de Eliza, on which I was sailing, although later it gradually filled with water so that the greater part of its cargo in the hold was lost and we set fire to the hull…”

About a month after the wrecking, Don Miguel de Lima y Melo wrote, “… All of the ships, with the exception of mine, broke to pieces. My ship stayed intact for 30 days after this disaster until we recovered part of the cargo and then burned the ship... 

All of the cargos of the other ships were all lost, less a few leather bags off my ship, but this was little because by the day following the disaster the hold of my ship was completely full of water with over a codo and a half (27 inches) over the main hatchway. This was caused because we were unable to cut the rigging on the leeward side of the ship to dislodge the foremast. By the movements of the sea, caused by the mast still being erect, the bottom part of the ship opened and if this hadn’t happened I would have been able to recover all of the cargo on my ship."

You can read more about that along with the draft manifests by using the following link.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/85684/000102826906000019/ex99-2ahc8k.htm

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Darrel S. sent in the following brief history of metal detectors.

Electromagnetism by Joseph Henry USA and Michael Faraday ENGLAND in 1833.

1877 Alexander Graham Bell passed a coin across 2 coils on telephone noticed silence broke.

July 2 1881 Pres. Garfield shot. Bell attempted to find the bullet with his newly found discovery. Garfield died Sept. 19, 1881. Later Bell noticed the springs in the mattress interfered with the 2 coils.

Supposedly, detectors were used in WW1, but the first actual metal detector was invented by Gerhard Fisher in 1929 known as the M-Scope or Metallascope. It weighed 22 lbs and cost $200.

Thanks Darrel.

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I watched football and did Christmas things yesterday.    Christmas will be here soon.

The surf this week will be in the 2 - 4 foot range until the weekend when it is supposed to bump up to 4 - 6 feet.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/17/16 Report - Numismatic Archaeology. Underwater Drones. A Study of Two Early Shipwrecks.

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

Last month this blog had over 100,000 page views.  When I started this blog I never dreamed of those kinds of numbers.

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Here is the description of what sounds like an interesting book.

Numismatic Archaeology of North America is the first book to provide an archaeological overview of the coins and tokens found in a wide range of North American archaeological sites. It begins with a comprehensive and well-illustrated review of the various coins and tokens that circulated in North America with descriptions of the uses for, and human behavior associated with, each type. The book contains practical sections on standardized nomenclature, photographing, cleaning, and curating coins, and discusses the impacts of looting and of working with collectors. This is an important tool for archaeologists working with coins. For numismatists and collectors, it explains the importance of archaeological context for complete analysis.

Click here to read a preview.

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One of the big things in defense technology these days seems to be drones.  That is not real new and we've all heard about it, but the newest thing with drones is using them in swarms, which are groups of small drones that communicate with each other and act in a coordinated fashion to accomplish mission objectives.

If you like to stay up on technology - and I think any serious treasure hunter should -  Jane's would be good reading.  It will keep you up on defense and security intelligence.  See www.Janes.com.

Search underwater drones, for example.

As you probably know, metal detector were developed to detect mines and the internet was developed as a military project.  A lot of research and development is conducted for military applications.

Here is a test on the latest underwater drone technology.

 Click here to read about that.

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Jack sent an email and said the following.

I've been reading your site for years,.. Worked Ft Lauderdale for over 25 Yrs,  but that will come later, You are right on the ball in everything you  say. Keep it up, please. I Love it!  Regarding The article on Tommy Thompson,  It's reported that just B-4 Blackbeard was hung, when asked where he had buried his gold he said, "Only me and the Devil knows where it's at."  Maybe Mr Thompson is following suit with a grin on his face,

                                                                                                                                                  
Thanks Jack.

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The only people normally reflected in the documentary record pertaining to these fleets are European. Very little is written about the approximately 100 Aztec warriors who accompanied Luna and his men to Florida or about the common sailors of the Padre Island fleet. Archaeology has the unique ability to give a voice to the disenfranchised whose history and lifestyles were not chronicled in the historical record (Little 1996:42-78).

That is one paragraph from a lengthy masters theses that primarily compares the ceramics of the Padre Island and Emauel Point shipwrecks.  

Here is the link.

http://etd.fcla.edu/WF/WFE0000406/Sorset_Scott_Ryan_201306_MA.pdf

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The surf will be around 2 - 4 feet for a few days, but we will still have some nice negative tides.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/16/16 Report - What Happened To Tons of Gold From The S. S. Central America? Tommy Knows!

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

Neat Picture of Recent Cold Air Covering The Northern U. S.

Here is a link to a video showing the cold air moving south.

https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/129177.php

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The main topic today comes from a long article from the Washington Post about Tommy Thompson and three tons of sunken gold.  It seems Thompson won't be able to leave jail until he tells where the gold is.

Here is how the article, which reads more like a novel, begins.

Tommy G. Thompson was once one of the greatest treasure hunters of his time: A dark-bearded diver who hauled a trove of gold from the Atlantic Ocean in 1988 — dubbed the richest find in U.S. history.

Years later, accused of cheating his investors out of the fortune, Thompson led federal agents on a great manhunt — pursued from a Florida mansion to a mid-rent hotel room booked under a fake name.

Now Thompson’s beard has grayed, and he lives in an Ohio jail cell, held there until he gives up the location of the gold...

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

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/12/14/a-treasure-hunter-found-3-tons-of-sunken-gold-and-cant-leave-jail-until-he-says-where-it-is/?utm_term=.bc6e2d50ffbb

I think you'll want to read it all.

Thanks to Dean for that link!

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The water has calmed down in the Keys and the Dare was back out working the Atocha while the Sea Reaper is working west of the Margarita.

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The surf isn't going to increase much for a while.  From earlier predictions it looked like it might be higher this weekend.

We are still having some nice negative tides and the water is calm.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

12/15/16 Report - A Key Find. Appreciating Finds. 62 Foot Wave.

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

Encrusted Find
Find and photo by Jerry P.

Can you guess what this is?  Below is what Jerry said.

I was detecting on Palm Beach last week when I dug this find out of the wet-sand. We’ve had a LOT of erosion here lately in PB County and I’ve been finding older modern coins and jewelry from as far back as the 1930’s. This key set really got my heart rate going when I first set eyes on it.  As you can see, it is from the Breakers Hotel back when they still used regular room keys. They were riveted together with a copper rivet that broke during a multi-stage cleaning. Not sure what the small key might have been for. A cabana lock or safe maybe? I’m trying to find out what time period it may be from, but not getting very far.

I also have an old silver woman’s ring (missing a large stone) I found this week that could be Very old. If you’d like to see it too, just let me know.

Thanks for looking,

Jerry P.

Below are the keys as they looked after cleaning.

As you can see the one side is very pitted.

Nice find Jerry.  Thanks for the report and pictures.

I have about 10 gallons of big brass hotel keys that I dug back in the 80s.

Breakers Hotel Key With FOB Dug In The 80s.

I don't know what era this one came from.  I just remember roughly when it was dug.  It looks very much like the one Jerry dug.  (Jerry's photo is better than mine.)

The danger was that if you found a hotel key you could possibly go up and enter the room.  Locks weren't changed quickly like the key cards of today.

If they changed over the years and somebody knows how to date them, please let me know.

People collect vintage hotel keys.  If you check eBay or other auction sites, you'll see that even the ones with large plastic fobs are priced around $12 or more.  I personally like the look of the large metal ones like the one shown above a lot better.

Old skeleton keys seem to be popular with collectors.

Some people don't collect keys, but they collect hotel memorabilia, and the keys fall in that category.

If you detected the beach back in the eighties, you probably found a lot of hotel keys, and if you kept them, you might now be able to get a few dollars from them, or at least have a little collection of your own.

One other thing - if you dig up an encrusted item like the one shown at the top of the post, be sure you know what it is before you throw it out.  I've been very wrong before.  I thought one such item was a modern coin and it turned out to be a 18th century medallion.

One of the main things I want you to get from all of this is the various ways you can appreciate and enjoy your finds.  Keys or gold coins can be more than some amount of money.  They can also be viewed as collectibles, history and art.  They are more valuable to you when you learn to appreciate them more.

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The 62 foot (19 meter) wave -- captured between Iceland and the UK on February 4 2013 -- has set a new world record for the biggest wave ever recorded by a buoy, according to the World Meteorological Association...

Here is the link.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/13/europe/record-wave-north-atlantic/index.html

I wonder what that would do to the Treasure Coast and how it would redistribute shallow water and beach treasure.

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More people believe in climate change than evolution.  One study recently found that about 45 percent of the sample did not believe in evolution.

Here is the link.

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Evangelicals_are_more_skeptical_of_evolution_than_of_climate_change_999.html

I accept microevolution but not macroevolution.  There is a big difference.

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The surf will be only one to two feet on Thursday.  It will increase a bit, but not a log, Friday and Saturday.

You might want to take advantage of the calm surf and nice negative low tides.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net