9/28/20 Report - John Newton: Slave Trader and Song Writer. How Currents and Beach Erosion Shape Our Beaches.

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

1715 Fleet Cannon
Photo submitted by Jerry P.

This photo was sent to me by Jerry P.  The cannon was listed for sale for $5000.

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Somebody asked me about the beaches on South Hutchinson Island that have been renourished.  Of course, the beach just south of the Fort Pierce inlet is often renourished.  It seems like they do that one twice a year, but it actually might be more like once a year. 

It seems like Bathtub Beach is always being renourished too.  The sand just won't stay at those places.

The sand has really piled up just south of the condos to the north of John Brooks.  As I've said before, the beach in that area is a hundred or two hundred yards out from where it was once back in the eighties or nineties.

Along the Treasure Coast the predominant long shore currents run north to south, so when the sand is dumped on South Jetty Beach it erodes and gets carried south down to John Brooks and Frederick Douglass beaches.  A lot of it piles up just below the curve at the condos.

Fort Pierce Inlet
Source: Google Earth Maps.

Notice how the beach south of the inlet is cut back.  They keep dumping sand there, but it keeps eroding and being carried south, so when beaches to the north are renourished, beaches to the south will get sand too.

Flow of Sand
 South Hutchinson Island

The inlets along our coast will look like that.  Here is Jupiter Inlet.  Notice once again how the sand builda up north of the inlet, while the sand starved area to the south of the inlet is eroded back.

Jupiter Inlet
Source: Google Earth Maps.

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You undoubtedly know the song Amazing Grace, but there is a lot of interesting history behind that song.

It was written by John Newton, a former slave trader and slave. His mother died when he was seven, and his father, a seaman, often took him on voyages while he was still a young child.

In 1743, he was captured by the Royal Navy, and he was forced to become a midshipman aboard the HMS Harwich. John Newton tried to escape a couple of times, but every time he was captured and punished in front of a crew of three hundred and fifty members. He was humiliated by the punishment that he wanted to kill the captain. At times he thought of killing himself, but he never did the acts since he would get over the humiliation he faced. Newton was later shifted to the slave ship ‘Pesagus’ which set sail to South Africa. The ship carried slaves and goods to be sold in England. He created a lot of problems in the ship that he was left in South Africa. He was left to a slave dealer known as Amos Clowe who gave him as a slave to his wife who was called Princess Peye who was an African duchess. As a slave, he was tortured and abused just like other slaves who were left in the hands of the Duchess. 

In 1748, he was rescued by a sea captain upon the request of his father. He boarded the ‘Greyhound’ which was a merchant ship that transported beeswax and dyer’s wood.  He spent most of his time reading religious texts and the bible. The ship reached Britain, and there he accepted the doctrines of evangelical Christianity. In 1750, he returned to England where he became a captain for the slave trading ships ‘African’ and ‘Duke of Argyle.’ Newton later stopped dealing in the slave trade...

Here is the link where you can read more about that.

https://www.sunsigns.org/famousbirthdays/d/profile/john-newton/

And another link where you can find additional information.

https://www.learnreligions.com/biography-of-john-newton-author-of-amazing-grace-4843896

So now you know where the words came from - a life of white privilege.  

Here are some of the words.

Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas Grace that taught my heart to fear,
And Grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come.
'Tis Grace hath brought me safe thus far

And Grace will lead me home.  

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No storms and the Treasure Coast surf will be only one foot today. 

I've been forgetting to mention, but my beach conditions rating is back to a 1.

Happy hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net