5/26/20 Report - Encrusted Objects. Cased Bullet. Beach Dynamics Resources.

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

Three Small Encrusted Objects.

I decided to investigate a few small encrusted objects this weekend.  The item on the left is a broken or repurposed spike that is partially encrusted.  The item on the right is still totally encrusted.  When I shook the totally encrusted object, it rattled.  It sounded something like a small lead ball within a cavity.

I soaked the broken spike head in acid for about a day and little progress was made.  I should have removed some of the crust mechanically before using the acid.  That is my normal procedure, but I neglected to do that this time.

I decided to just break open the totally encrusted object.  Here is a closer look at it.

Small Encrusted Rattling Object.

Below is what I found when I broke it open.

Copper Casing Within EO and Shell Removed From Casing.

Maybe someone can help me with this, but it looks like what I would call a double-cased shell.  Is that right?  Below you can see the lead core at the tip and butt of the bullet.

Lead Bullet Core At Point (left) and Butt (right).

And below is the outer casing for both sides of the bullet.  The two halves of the outer casing are still stuck in the encrustation.

Two Ends of Casing With Bullet Removed 

(Butt end left and point right.).

 I wouldn't think there would be that much room between the outer casing and the bullet so that it would rattle like that.  Maybe that was caused by corrosion, and maybe someone that knows more about bullets and casings can tell me about that.

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Yesterday I posted the mystery object shown below, which was found by Bill M.  It gave a detector reading.  I thought it looked like it could be an EO.  SuperRick, who hunts meteors and nuggets, gave the following informative response.

Mystery Object

Find and photo by Bill M.

The photo is just a river rock better known as an igneous rock! A lot of rocks will have iron in them to prove me wrong take a file to a high point on the rock and file it. If you see shiny metal then take it to your bathroom toilet and lift the cover and rub your rock on the inside part of the [tank] cover.

If your rock leaves a streak you have what I said it was just a rock. You can also use a rare earth magnet to see if the rock will jump to it! 

If your rock doesn't streak and the magnet makes the rock jump to it you might have found a meteorite but all kinds of rocks are what we call hot rock when we are hunting for meteorites! Those rocks will hit on a metal detector and you have to know what you are looking for! ...

Thanks Rick.

It is always good to hear the knowledge of the various experts that read this blog.  He suggested some good tests too.

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If you are interested in learning more about beach dynamics, here are a variety of excerpts and abstracts from a number of studies.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/beach-profile

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Source: MagicSeaWeed.com

Looks like some more small surf for this week.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/25/20 Report - Coastal Range Monuments. Beach Profiles. Mystery Object.

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

Turtle Trail Coast Line With Survey Monument Markers Identified.

There are range monuments all along our coast.  Maybe you've seen some of them.  They have brass caps with location information on them.  The one at John Brooks beach is just to the right of the walkway near where the walkway opens to the beach.  I think you might be able to see it now.  It has been uncovered for a while but could have been covered again.

The above map shows the location of the range markers along the Turtle Trail area.  The Turtle Trail parking lot is between markers R-51 and R-52.  R-52 is south of the parking lot.

The following shows the beach profile at R-52 on Nov. 1972 (blue) and Sept. 2007 (green).

The waterline in 2007 at the mean high water was about fifteen feet farther out than in 1972, but at mean low water, due to the more gradual slope, the water line was thirty feet or more farther out than the 1972 water line.

Here is a closer view so maybe you can see it a bit better.

Of course the slope of the beach is not as steep as it appears in the illustration.  Each square represents fifty feet.

Notice how the 1972 profile has a steep front slope and drops off quickly in the water.  The 2007 profile, on the other hand has a lot more sand in the shallow water.  Because items in shallow water were covered by less sand in 1972, the likelihood of items being washed up onto the beach would be greater at that time, although they could also get pulled back into the water more quickly due to the steeper slope.

Here is what the beach in front of the R-52 monument looked like last Thursday - gradual slope with only some of the renourishment sand remaining at the dunes.

Just South of Turtle Trail Thursday Near Low Tide.

You can see the face of the dunes and the white renourishment sand from the last renourishment project at the back of the beach.

Here is an illustration showing various beach profiles at R-13 for seven different times between 1999 to 2008.  R-13 is a little less than about halfway between the Ambersands beach access and the McLarty Museum.

Frances and Jeanne hit us in September of 2004.  You'll notice a profile taken in August of 2004 (before those storms) and in October of 2004 (after Frances and Jeanne).

On the beach front it looks like the beach was cut back around ten feet after the storms.  But remember by that time some refilling had already happened.  The biggest difference between the August and October profiles is closer to the dunes.

You will see a bump in the October profile about 40 feet back from the waterline, that would probably where a lot of the sand that washed back in piled up forming a new berm.

In the five to ten foot elevation range, the June 2003 profile shows the beach being higher than it was during both before and after 2004 storm profiles.

The July 1999 profile shows the beach front at that location eroded farther back than at any other time.  I would expect the best metal detecting around July 1999 and January 2003.  The front beaches were eroded back and the shallow water had less sand close in.

There is a lot you can learn from these beach profiles, but it helps to know when the beaches were renourished and when major storms occurred.

I could go on for a long time about this type of data, but I'll leave that to you if you are interested.

You can use this link, which was sent to me by DJ.

https://www.ircgov.com/Departments/Public_Works/Coastal_Engineering_Section/Documents/Sector_3_Environmental_Assessment.pdf

Besides the beach profiles you'll find a lot of other information about the beaches and the renourishment projects.

Thanks DJ.

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Bill M. sent me the following.

On Friday I spent most of the day detecting Amber Sands beach.  Going north about a mile, I got into the area where there are lots of iron flakes.  Going further north, I found the item below.   

Mystery Object

Find and photo by Bill M.

It rang up as metal, is only slightly magnetic, is heavy at 9.3 grams, and has what looks like flakes of metal in it.   I've been detecting for years and never found anything quite like it.

As I was working my way back to the stairs, I noticed a large shadow in front of me.  I thought it was a bird, but it seemed to be following me.  I looked up and there was a large drone hovering about twenty-five feet above my head.  It was much larger than a DJI Phantom and had a glass dome over the camera.

I couldn't see anyone nearby operating it but did notice a salvage boat offshore.  I wonder if they were the ones who launched it.

Two mysteries in one day!

What do you think of Bill's mystery find?   An EO perhaps?

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A person wearing a facemask on a wide open beach might at least be reducing the risk of skin cancer.

If you believe Governor Cuomo, the exaggerated and  inaccurate predictions of the IMHE model and agencies were responsible for a good number of the coronavirus deaths in New York.  He said it was because of the dire predictions of an over-whelmed health care system that he demanded the nursing homes accept infected seniors, and that is precisely where a big percent of the deaths occurred.

Expect a two to four foot surf along the Treasure Coast for the next week or so.

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

5/24/20 Report - Memorial Day. Remembering.

Memorial Day.

Remembering.

Veterans Burial Flag.

Detectorists who dig up old items often talk about the thrill of touching a piece of history.  It is easy to look at an old object and forget to appreciate that the person that made it, held it, and maybe cherished it, was a real person just like you and I.  We usually can't recover the story that goes with the item, but research might be able to help you recover some of the story.

The photos shown above are all family photos from my family and my wife's.  We are fortunate to know some of the stories that go with them.  

In my father's case, he like many veterans, never talked about his service during the war, but again, I was lucky.  My mother kept the letters he sent from overseas.  Recently she gave the letters to me to keep.  She is now 94.  I never knew about the letters before.  And, of course, I never read them.   They share the most intimate thoughts and feelings of two newly married young people as they went through all the feelings that young newly married people go through, but also the strain of being separated by the war.  What makes it difficult reading for me is not what you might think.  I expected to read about the horrors of war, but what was difficult was getting to know my parents as young people struggling through the process of becoming the people that I would later know as my parents.

These photos, like the objects we dig up, all have stories behind them.  I know some of the stories because of the letters.

In the letters I read the feelings of my dad when he observed two young boys that were blown up by a landmine.  One boy had the top of his head blown off, as my dad described it in one letter, and the other had a hand and arm blown off.  That was just after my dad arrived in Italy on the minesweeper shown in the photo above.  The photo shows my dad asleep under the gun and a sunken destroyer off the bow.  You probably can't see it, but there is also the a dog sleeping on the deck.  They must have picked it up somewhere.

My dad asked in one letter that they send him more cheese and cookies, especially the cheese.

My dad was worried about having to go through the tear gas during training at Norfolk because he had a "whale of a cold."  He had the same sinus problems that I have.

The bald fellow is my wife's father - also deceased.  He and a close friend that was drafted with him from a small mining town in Pennsylvania went to boot camp and then landed at Normandy and worked their way across North Europe.  One day they got the bright idea to shave their heads, which at the time seemed like a good idea.  Later they found out it was a mistake because their helmets  against skin was not comfortable.

One story he liked to tell was about how they had a cook that like to be photographed.  They took advantage of that even when they had no film for their camera.  They would tell the cook they needed more photos and pretend to take pictures of him in action just to get him to cook more that they could eat.

On Memorial Day we remember those who gave their lives in service to our country.  My dad and my wife's dad survived the war, otherwise we wouldn't be here - at least not with the same genes.  Our dads were among the lucky ones.

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Burial flags like the one shown above can be obtained from the VA Service and Distribution Center and sent to next of kin of honorable discharged veterans.

Here is a link to the National Cemetery Administration web site that tells you how you can obtain a burial flags and veteran gravesite markers.

https://www.cem.va.gov/burial_benefits/burial_flags.asp

Did you know that the first observances of what we now refer to as 'Memorial Day' were intended to honor those who died in battle during the Civil War. Claiming more lives than any other conflict in U.S. history, the Civil War required the establishment of the nation's first national cemeteries.

Here is a link that will take you to a site that tells many more interesting facts about Memorial Day.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/did-you-know/13-memorial-day-facts-you-didnt-learn-in-school/ss-AAB5KlB?ocid=spartandhp

You can find a lot of helpful information in the National Archives. You can research individuals and battles on wars going back to the Revolutionary War.

If you want to find information about a family member or track down a ship that sank while carrying gold bullion, the National Archives and Navy have tons of records that can be accessed. You can receive some information free, but there may be a price charged to cover the cost of copies for some records.

Remember.