5/18/17 Report - 19 Tons of Silver Bars. Some Erosion on Some Treasure Coast Beaches.

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

Eroded Treasure Coast Beach As Seen Early This Afternoon.

I noticed a good southeast wind once yesterday and suspected there might be some beach erosion.  I got out today and did find some.

The above cut is about two feet high.  As you can see, there is a lot of seaweed.  The sand in front of the cut was mushy.  The seaweed undoubtedly washed up after the wind changed direction and the erosion was done.

The quick erosion and refilling happened a number of times during a few weeks a month or two ago.  No cobs showed up then either.

Another Beach With Some Erosion. 

There was not quite as much erosion here.

No Erosion at The Third Beach.

The third beach had even more seaweed.  You could also see where the sand was accumulating on the front of this beach.

Overall, I'd say beach detecting conditions are not good despite the erosion at some beaches.

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I previously talked a little about the S. S. Gairsoppa, but did you know about the SS Mantola?

Odyssey Marine Explorations has filed to claim salvage rights for the SS Mantola, a ship that was carrying nearly 19 tons of silver bars when it was sunk by a German torpedo in 1917.

On May 1 an court order was issued giving Odyssey exclusive rights to salvage the wreck.  The order in part reads,  ...IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion for a Preliminary Injunction temporarily enjoining and restraining any and all interference by any third-parties with Plaintiff's rights to salvage the shipwreck site located within the area defined by the center-point coordinates is hereby GRANTED; it is further ORDERED that nay and all third-parties are hereby enjoined from conducting search and/or recovery operations, or conducting activities which would disturb the shipwreck site in any manner or that would interfere with Plaintiff's rights to continue its recovery of the cargo and artifacts at the shipwreck site;...

Here is the link for that source.

 https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/21218790/Odyssey_Marine_Exploration,_Inc_v_The_Shipwrecked_and_Abandoned_SS_Mantola# 

Any other parties have the right to submit their claims.

The coordinates for the wreck were kept secret, but it is known the the Mantola was discovered not far from the Gairsoppa.

The company ( Odyssey ) estimates 536,000 ounces of silver could be on board the ship. Under a 2011 salvage agreement with the UK government, Odyssey was to keep 80 percent of the cargo.

However, that agreement lapsed in September 2015 and the government no longer makes such deals, the suit says. Odyssey is staking its claim for ownership.

Here is the link to that source, where you can find some additional information.

http://nypost.com/2017/04/22/salvage-company-wants-rights-to-shipwrecks-treasure/

And here is the link if you want to find out more about Odyssey's Mantola project.

http://www.shipwreck.net/ssmantolafaqs.php

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Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/17/17 Report - 2.65 Carat Diamond Found. Story of John Huddleston. Pirates Hijacked by ePirates.

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

John Huddleston
Source:  EncyclopediaofArkansas link below.

An Oklahoma woman struck gold when she found a 2.65-carat diamond at an Arkansas state park in less than 10 minutes.

Victoria Brodski and her family visited Crater of Diamonds State Park on Saturday after she heard someone found a 7.44-carat diamond there in March, according to the Arkansas State Parks website.

Brodski, 25, picked up a shiny object she thought was a pretty piece glass minutes after she arrived that morning. She dropped it in her pocket and kept searching for diamonds for the rest of the day...

See the link below for the rest of the story.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/05/12/2-65-carat-diamond-at-arkansas-state-park-found-in-less-than-10-minutes.html

You probably know how the Crater of Diamonds State Park started, and how farmer John Huddleston found a diamond there back in the old days.  Some accounts describe him as a hog farmer who discovered a shiny stone in the mud of his hog farm one day.  It was something like some of the treasures I talk about.  According to some accounts (which might not be totally accurate in all details), he didn't know what the stone was at first and was offered a very small sum for the stone before he eventually found out what it was after sending it to a gemologist in New York.  I've used that story for illustration purposes many times, as have many preachers.

John Wesley Huddleston is best known as a struggling farmer who found two diamonds on the surface of his field near Murfreesboro (Pike County) in August 1906 and made himself and his state famous. Soon after the discovery, he was recognized as the first person outside South Africa to find diamonds at an original volcanic source. In the process, he became the controversial subject of numerous folk tales...

In August 1906, however, Huddleston found two unusual crystals along a public road running through the new property. Experts in Little Rock and New York City identified them as diamonds, and soon word of the discovery got out. When diamond-mining interests appeared on the scene in September 1906, the Huddlestons accepted $360 cash for an extendable six-month option on the 243 acres, at a purchase price of $36,000. Afterward, they signed deed contracts and received payments on principal and interest for almost ten years...

You can read more about John and how he discovered diamonds in Arkansas by using the following link.

http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=4732

Pretty amazing how discoveries like that are made. It could have happened to anyone, but it happened to John Huddleston when the events that changed his life converged at that specific time and place. It has happened on the Treasure Coast. It might happen to you, or it might not.

If farmer John didn't pick up those shiny stones and start the whole thing, somebody else would have.   It is that close.   He could have easily missed it one way or another, and it would have been some other person that went down in history.

You can visit the Crater of Diamonds State Park and search for diamonds for a small fee.  Might be a good vacation idea if you like that sort of thing.

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You probably heard about Disney's latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie being stolen and held for ransom.  Someone (North Korea is suspected) threatened to release parts of the movie before the official release unless they are paid off in Bitcoin.  The day before yesterday, I think it was, I just talked about hacking and digital pirates sailing the internet, I also recently talked about digital forms of payment, including Bitcoin. Funny how the timing worked out.

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Like I said the other day, I haven't been out to the beach much lately.  Darrel S. however, was out and submitted the following report about the beaches from Wabasso to Turtle Trail.  Very mushy and way too much sand near low tide line. Renourished dunes are exposed. Reason for too much dirt closer to ocean.

Thanks for the resport Darrel.

We're supposed to have a 2 - 4 foot surf today on the Treasure Coast, increasing to a 3 - 5 foot surf tomorrow.  The tides are small, so that will be no help.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/16/17 Report - Artificial Intelligence Helped Find Lost Treasure Hunter. Can It Help You Find Treasure? Colonial Period Items of Personal Adornment.

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

Find and photo By Captain Jonah Matinez.

Jonah sent me this picture several months ago but I never posted it before.  Looks like it might have held some decorative stones.

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A treasure hunter that disappeared while seeking the Fenn treasure was located by with the help of artificial intelligence.

When Randy Bilyeu disappeared, he was hunting for the Fenn Treasure, a chest allegedly filled with gold, precious stones, and jewelry, supposedly hidden in the Rocky Mountains north of Santa Fe, New Mexico...

Essentially, it’s an artificial intelligence system that figures out the current location of someone (or thing) using a data set of known previous locations. For example, geospatial abduction can pinpoint the location of a bear’s cave using the coordinates of animal’s droppings, or a serial killer’s address using the coordinates of known killings. Serial killers usually attack within six miles from their home, and bears will stay within the same distance of their cave when they go out on their daily hunts or bathroom trips. Shakarian has designed algorithms that take information like that into account, ingest data points, and, after ruling out obviously impossible locations like lakes, rivers and so on, come up with the most feasible solution to current whereabouts. As with most algorithms of this sort, the more data—the more killings or droppings—the more likely for the solution to be correct.

https://qz.com/770022/ai-for-missing-persons-found-fenn-treasure-hunter-randy-bilyeu/

I bolded and underlined two words in the above excerpt to draw your attention to the fact that AI systems can be used to find things.  The same AI system that helped find the lost treasure hunter could also be used to find treasure.

Artificial intelligence is being talked about a lot these days.  Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google all offer AI capabilities to various industries.  AI was one of my interests some thirty years ago.  I constructed a couple of few "expert systems." Now artificial intelligence is receiving new attention and is being applied to more significant tasks.

The treasure industry could benefit tremendously from AI but probably won't.  There are a variety of reasons for that.  It requires expertise that most treasure hunters do not have and do not want to take the time to develop.  You almost have to start with the computer skills and then bring those skills to the application.

The tons of GPS data stored over the years by the treasure salvage in Florida provides a very rich database.  That would be an ideal starting place for an AI project.  The data has already been computerized for the most part.

AI attempts to recognize patterns in existing data and make predictions from incoming data so the AI system is only as good as the data and the algorithms.

 I always enjoyed taking big data sets, soaking it in and analyzing the heck out of it.  If I was thirty or forty years younger, I would definitely be doing that.  So much in life and treasure hunting is about timing.

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It would be easy enough for a manufacturer to install an expert system into a detector that would guide you to the best settings for a specific piece of ground and target type.  You heard it here first.

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Here is a book you might like - especially if you find old things and try to identify them.

The book is American Artifacts of Personal Adornment, 1680-1820: A Guide to Identification and Interpretation by Carolyn White.

Here is a table from the book showing the items discussed.

Here is the link to the book, some of which can be viewed as a preview.

https://books.google.com/books?id=aWsnAAAAQBAJ&dq=artifacts+of+spanish+colonial+period

Aglets are often found and can easily be confused with a number of other items.  They are typically made of copper and in the shape of a rolled cone.

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The surf is picking up a little.  Expect something like three to four feet along the Treasure Coast.  The wind is from the east.  I hope to get out to the beach in the next couple of days.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/15/17 Report - In The Dumps. A Different Type of Jewelry Find.

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

Where I came from you could put out the garbage, but it was going to stay where you put it.  It wasn't going to disappear.  There was no garbage pickup service.  That is the way it was in rural areas.

Things stayed where you left them until they were reused, buried, rusted away or just piled up.

It was that way even on the Treasure Coast back in the day.  As I've said before, the people that lived along the Indian River threw there junk over the bank into the river.  Much of it is still there.

Farmers didn't throw away much.  They kept it in case it came in handy some day. If they needed to fix something, they usually found something laying around that they could use.

There was old stuff in the barn, in the shed and in the field.  But what about real garbage?

Organic materials like food scraps became animal food or fertilizer.  The dog got the bones.  None of it went to waste.

What about papers?  They were used too.  Maybe to start a fire or line a dog pen or the bottom of a chicken coop.

There were some things that went to waste, but not many.  Bottles and tin cans might get thrown into a valley or dip and piled up over time.  My dad buried those.

I know where some of those old bottle dumps were and could probably go back and dig them up.  Not many people would know about those dumps today.  They are hidden out there waiting to be found. That is one advantage of being older and knowing something about what went on in days gone by.

Old folks from the area can be a good research resource.  They're usually happy to talk.

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High Relief Cameo In Silver Find.

I've written about all kinds of jewelry finds in the past, but here is a different one.  It is a high-relief cameo mounted in a silver setting.

There are cheap cameos and then there are the more expensive hand-carved cameos.  The one shown above is not one of the common cheap ones.  It was carved in Italy,  which I learned after some research.

Nice hand-carved cameos run from hundreds of dollars to thousands of dollars.  The setting is silver and made so the cameo can be worn as either a brooch or pendant.

Back of Same Piece

As you might be able to see, the piece is marked Italy and sterling (upper left), and the sculpture signed the piece by carving his name into the back of the shell.  The signature seems to be Fraterno.

From what I've read, it is probably Sardonyx shell.

I found the following description online.

The creative process for the cameo begins where the shell divers appropriately select specimens from 90 to 100 feet below the water's surface. The divers' harvest journeys to the shops of craftsmen in Torre del Greco, where the artist painstakingly searches for sea shells free of flaws and cracks. A new dimension of artistic skill and aesthetic appeal was added to cameo carving when it was discovered that many stones - and later, shells - were made of different colored layers. This allowed the artist to create a striking contrast between the raised (relief) layer and the flat (background) layer. Unlike our competitors who use modern machinery to assist in the initial stages of the process, our master craftsman performs the intricate details still carved by hand.

The individual piece to engrave is mounted with tree sap on a wooden stick. After sketching a picture of what he intends to carve, the engraving begins using steel burins. The goldsmith work is strictly hand-made and the techniques used are part of the most remarkable Neapolitan and Italian artistic tradition. Gold frames, like cameos themselves, are created in all shapes and sizes, the most popular being the oval. A gold metal ribbon (bezel or gallery wire) is wrapped around the perimeter and folded over the edge of each single cameo. In this fashion no two can be exactly alike in their curvature, thickness and contour. The bezel is then surrounded by the most decorative part of the frame: gold-moldings, twisted ribbons, double wire braids, mixed ropes, strings of pearls, hallow-cane, etc., and embellished with filigree patterns, or diamond settings.

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Beach conditions remained unchanged.  I hope to get out to do a little hunting this week.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/14/17 Report - Happy Mother's Day! Fisher Distribution Week. Digital Technology and Treasure Hunting.

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

Happy Mother's Day!  

You can take that lightly, and I suppose that most of us do for a good part of our life, but there is no one else that carried you and gave birth to you or has the same type of feelings for you.  More than likely there is no one that has cared for you or worried for you any more than your mother.  

Time comes and time goes.  In my life, that person that cared for me now needs my help and care.  That person that held my hand when I tried to walk, now needs a hand.   In my later years, I can  look back and see the years and stages in life a little differently, knowing that probably some day not too far away I'll never have a chance to talk to her in this life again.  The person that I depended upon, now depends upon me.  Some things I can't do that I'd like to.  Some I'd like to fix, but can't.  I know she had the same type of wishes for me,  I hope I made her feel that through it all, it turned out pretty good.

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May 2 - 5 was Division Week for investors in the Mel Fisher organization in Key West.  Division Week is when investors received thei split of the previous year's finds.  

The Fisher crews made a few recent finds.  A cannon ball was found on the Margarita site.  An eight reale was also chiseled out of bottom rock.

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After posting a bit about the information war yesterday, I read an article from the New York Times under the headline  Hackers Hit Dozens of Countries Exploiting Stolen N.S.A. Tools

...By late Friday the attacks had spread to more than 74 countries, according to security firms tracking the spread...  Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity firm, said Russia was the worst-hit, followed by Ukraine, India and Taiwan. Reports of attacks also came from Latin America and Africa.

Elsewhere I read that one Los Angeles hospital paid thousands of dollars o ransom. More from the same article follows.

...Security experts described the attacks as the digital equivalent of a perfect storm. They began with a simple phishing email, similar to the one Russian hackers used in the attacks on the Democratic National Committee and other targets last year. They then quickly spread through victims’ systems using a hacking method that the N.S.A. is believed to have developed as part of its arsenal of cyberweapons. And finally they encrypted the computer systems of the victims, locking them out of critical data, including patient records in Britain...

...The attacks on Friday appeared to be the first time a cyberweapon developed by the N.S.A., funded by American taxpayers and stolen by an adversary had been unleashed by cybercriminals against patients, hospitals, businesses, governments and ordinary citizens...

...They also showed how easily a cyberweapon can wreak havoc, even without shutting off a country’s power grid or its cellphone network...

Here is the link to the article.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/world/europe/uk-national-health-service-cyberattack.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

We are all computer users and vulnerable.  You need to be aware of the dangers.  Digital technologies are becoming a bigger part of our lives.  We all need to know something about the new technologies. The very nature of treasure and treasure hunting is changing.

You probably know about Bitcoin.  It is a monetary system in which payments are made and received by transfering units of digital money outside of the national monetary systems.  I can't really explain it well without taking more time so you'll have to look into it yourself if you want to know more about it.  There are no physical coins or bills aassociated with Bitcoin.  It is entirely digital.

As you know, the economy is becoming increasingly digital.  That has a direct impact on how much change you'll find on the beaches.  People carry less cash.  They rely more and more on plastic and other forms of payment.   That affects metal detecting directly and immediately.  In the future it will transform treasure hunting in a variety of ways. Some are predicting that in the not too distant future, coins and cash will not be used at all.

Some detectorists have told me that they find fewer coins on the beach these days because people are carrying less cash.  Some attribute at least part of that to the increase in the number of people detecting.

I mentioned not long ago one place where a lot of old coins were found, and I think it is because that is where parking fees were collected in the old days.  If there were parking meters that required change or if an admission or parking fee required change, you would find more change at that beach.  Also beach snack shops, businesses or concessions would also result in more change being lost on the beach. Less money is being exchanged at places like that now too.

It used to be possible to go out and pick up a couple of dollars of change almost any day on any busy beach.  It seems that is not the case anymore.

Information can be a type of treasure. Computer code can be treasure. Personal information can be treasure.  Pirates sail the web looking to hijack personal information that they can sell.

I feel like talking more about computer security and our nation, but won't do that right now, but treasure hunters do need to be aware of the big picture and what is going on.  It is good to know something about new technologies, including both the benefits and the potential problems.  It is also good to know something about the changes occurring in our culture and lives.

I once did a post about how different cultures wear more or less gold and how that affects the distribution of lost gold jewelry on Florida beaches.  Some groups wear more gold than others, and some groups tend to wear a higher karat gold than others.  I've talked about that in the past.  You can tell a lot about who visits a beach, by what type of jewelry you find there.

Many different types of knowledge are relevant to and can help you with treasure hunting, and treasure hunting can help you learn about a lot of different types of things.  I guess that is what keeps it so interesting for me.

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Next week on the Treasure Coast we're supposed to have a gradual increase to a surf of up to five feet.

Again, Happy Mother's Day.
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/13/17 Report - Multi-Million Dollar Reward For Detectorist. Viking Hoard. Shipwrecks in the Suwannee River. Auction Results.

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

Items Found in Viking Hoard
Source: DailyMail link below.

According to a May 12 article in the DailyMail, the British detectorist who discovered the famous Viking Hoard will be receiving a reward of just under 2 million pounds ( a pound is worth just over 1.25 U. S. dollars).

In Scotland the reward goes to the finder, in the rest of the U. K. the reward is split between the finder and the property owner.

Another Piece of the Viking Hoard
Source: See DailyMail link below.

To read the rest of the article and see more of the finds, here is the link.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4500480/Metal-detectorist-line-2million-reward.html

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Mystery Surrounds Sunken Remains in Florida Spring.  That is the title of a National Geographic article on shipwrecks in the Suwanee River.

...So far state archaeologists have found and are working to identify the remains of at least ten steamboats in the Suwannee River, three of which are accessible to divers.

In addition to the ruins in Troy Springs, divers can visit the David Yulee near the Suwannee's mouth, as well as the well-preserved ruins of the City of Hawkinsville,the last steamboat to operate on the Suwannee...

Here is the link for the rest of that article.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070215-steamboat_2.html

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As you know, the most recent Sedwick Coins auction has concluded.  You can view the prices realized by browsing through the catalog or jumping right to a spreadsheet that lists the realized prices for each lot.  Below is the link for the spreadsheet.

http://www.sedwickcoins.com/ta21/pr_ta21.pdf

While looking through the catalog, I noticed one category that did not sell well despite the overall excellent auction results.  It was the U. S. paper money category.  Many lots in that category did not sell at all, and many others sold for under the auction estimate.  I don't know much about the paper money market, so I can't say why that happened, but I would guess that Sedwick's customers are mostly intersted in coins and shipwreck artifacts.

The two maps that were offered in the auction did not sell either.

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Something to think about.

According to many books and publications, "information warfare" is reportedly being conducted by Russia on the U. S. and other countries, but what if an information war is being conducted in the U. S. by U. S. agents on the U. S.   If you accept information warfare as a genuine type of warfare and it is being conducted by dissident parties in the U. S., you could say the U. S. would be in a civil war.  It isn't like THE Civil War - North against South - it is more like the war against terror.  In fact one side might be aligned with terror without the intention or realization.  The result is the same.  While information warfare is often associated with computers, TV is one of the most effective tools (weapons) for the delivery and spread of misinformation.

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I didn't detect much last year due to a series of issues, and I haven't detected much yet this year either.  Hopefully that will hange later this year.

Righ now we have a one to two foot surf.  In a few days it will in increase a two to three foot surf.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/12/17 Report - Custom-Made and Hand-Struck Fine Cob Replicas. Great Information On Gordon Cooper and the Cooper's Treasure TV Show.

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

Yesterday I mentioned that you can get cobs made according to your specifications.  The die and cobs are made using the same methods used in colonial days.  The result is a very nice hand-struck replica.

The name of the business making these replicas is the St. Augustine Mint.  I'm not sure where it is located though.

Here is the link where you can learn about either buying replica cobs or having your own made.

http://saintaugustinemint.bigcartel.com/products

There is also a YouTube video that shows how these replicas are made from an ingot or planchet.

Here is that link.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifFQY9FxXc8

I wondered about this, but towards the end of the YouTube video it is said that a small "COPY" mark is added.

I've seen fake coins (not from this business) on which the COPY mark was so small or well disguised that it was very difficult find.  COPY marks can also be reduced or removed.  I've seen that before too.

These replicas are beautiful, and if one ended up on the beach or in your scoop, you might not recognize it as a fake at first glance, especially if it was out there long enough to corrode a little. Otherwise it would look too good, perhaps still showing lustre.

I recommend that you check out the YouTube video.

I can't fault anyone who wants to make a replica for any of a variety of good honest reasons.  As a metal detectorist it is possible to dig up the real thing, but you might also pick up a very good replica or very poor copies or even what you might call fantasy pieces or play money.

It is sometimes fairly easy to identify a cast copy, but a well made and aged hand-struck replica might be more difficult.  It would not present some of the tell-tale signs common to a cast copy, such as a seam.

Replicas, such as those sold by the Mel Fisher museum, have been found on the beach.

If you found one of these fine mint replicas on a beach, the first indication you might notice is that it looks to good too be real.  It could be too shiny, and the ones I've seen in the pictures are more complete than what you will likely find on a beach.  They mentioned that the die for one replica required referring to several different real examples because any single real cob, unless it is a "royal" will be missing some of the design.  Real cobs typically do no show the complete design because of low spots in the surface, or because of the irregular shape of the cob or poor striking.  And corrosion can reduce a real beach cob by 30 percent or more.

The weight of these replicas is not what a genuine newly minted cob should be either.  They tell you that in the video.

By the way, as I've said before, although beach found cobs are often not the correct weight, weighing a found cob can still help you determine if it might be real or fake.  It should fall within certain limits if it is real and made of either gold or silver.

I think I am fairly good at identifying a newly dug cob in the field at first glance.  The last one I found showed absolutely no detail.  It was totally encrusted, yet it just looked like a cob to me.

If not totally encrusted, silver beach cobs will typically have a very characteristic grey or black color. They will clearly show the effect of weathering and salt water.

It might be worth looking at the web site and video, especially if you do not know how cobs were originally made.

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It never ceases to amaze me.  I hear from real experts all the time, and they provide really great information.

As you know, I've been mentioned the Cooper's Treasure TV show a few times lately and conducted a poll to see how people felt about that TV show and a few other shows.

I just heard from James Oberg, a retired rocket scientist and author, who was a colleague of Gene Kranz, who I mentioned yesterday.

James wrote two articles about Gordon Cooper and the TV show.  Both articles were published in The Space Review.  Below are the links.

“The magic MacGuffin of Mercury 9”

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/3228/1

I think you'll enjoy reading both of those.  They are packed with good information.

The first article debunks the "secret sensor" and the "five thousand photos" claims.

The second bears the title, Loss of Faith -- Gordon Cooper's post-NASA stories.  

I really enjoyed both.

James Oberg also pointed out that "Cooper's flight-annotated ‘flight plan’ was sold at auction last year,

there is no mention of any latitude/longitude observations of any surface anomalies in the catalog description."

The following was posted by James on various comment threads.  So far he has recieved no substantial reply.

I need some help figuring out how Cooper did the map. This is the best I can do reconstructing the scenario but I must have missed or misunderstood something important. As I see it, Cooper’s only opportunity for a near-overhead daytime view of the Turks & Caicos area was on the 4th orbit, when he was talking to the Cape Canaveral Capcom [Wally Schirra] between 04:40:04 [HH:MM:SS] as he passed over Houston, to 04:45:52, for 5m 48 s [traveling about 1740 miles] or slightly more…. The ‘as-the-crow-flies’ distance of Houston to ‘Turks and Caicos’ is 1530 miles, so by the time the comm link was lost he was hundreds of miles past the islands. As the voice transcripts show, he was busy talking about spacecraft systems and experiments [such as a flashing beacon sub-satellite just jettisoned for visual tracking tests] the entire pass. He turns the in-cabin television camera on. They discuss emergency landing opportunities, how much he had eaten, and medical samples. Towards the end of the pass Cooper describes the view of Florida, indicating his small window is pointed north rather than straight down as would be needed to be eyeballing the islands passing beneath him. The suggestion he ALSO has secretly turned the window down and is surreptitiously scribbling hidden notes about what he observes near the islands doesn't seem to fit in. A day later he follows the same track but is deep into preparations to fire retrorockets to return to Earth, so no sightseeing either. When did he spot the anomalies and log them?

Thanks much James.  I appreciate the information.  I also think I'll become a reader of The Space Review.

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I've noticed that the Cooper's Treasure posts in this blog are still popular and get a lot of readers.

We're still having a small surf on the Treasure Coast.

It won't be long until the salvage season heats up.  I hope things go better in the water than they have on the beach so far this year.

Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net