Written by the Treasureguide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Source: See BBC Travel link below. |
The San José galleon left Panama’s port city of Portobelo in late May 1708. It was laden with gold, silver and precious stones extracted from what was then Spanish-controlled Peru, which have been estimated to be worth between $10bn and $20bn today. The riches were destined for King Philip V of Spain, who relied on resources from his colonies to finance the War of Spanish Succession.
The galleon’s captain, Jose Fernandez de Santillan, knew that the British, who were involved in the war, might have ships waiting to attack in Cartagena; the city was only meant to be a quick stop to repair the San José before its longer journey to Havana, Cuba, and then on to Spain. But the captain pushed forward anyway. And by the evening of 8 June, a battle for the San José’s treasure had begun. The British Navy – armed with pistols, swords and knives – tried three times to board the galleon and take it as their own, said Gonzalo Zuñiga, a curator at the Naval Museum of the Caribbean in Cartagena.....
On 27 November 2015, the San José was “officially” discovered by a robotic submarine called the REMUS 6000, which is operated by the US-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The nearly 4m-long underwater autonomous vehicle can explore up to 6km below the sea’s surface, and was able to descend just 9m above the San José to snap photos of the galleon – as well as its bronze, dolphin-engraved cannons, which were what helped researchers to distinguish the San José...
A shipwreck worth billions off the coast of Cartagena - BBC Travel
Gold has been an important part of North Carolina’s history since 1799, the date of the first authenticated discovery of gold in the United States. North Carolina was the nation’s only gold-producing state from 1803 until 1828, and continued as a leading producer until 1848 when gold was discovered in California. Below is some information on gold in North Carolina.
By about 1830, the leading mines in North Carolina were hard-rock mines rather than surface placer operations. Output probably peaked in the early 1830s and again in the late 1840s. The most famous mines in the South were at Gold Hill, where one shaft eventually reached a depth of 800 feet. Writer andillustrator Porte Crayon visited Gold Hill in 1857 for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine and created the best surviving images of antebellum Carolina mining. The federal government built a branch mint at Charlotte which coined southern gold from 1838 until the start of the Civil War in 1861...
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| Balsam Pear. |
This is a Balsam Pear, which is an invasive Florida plant. It reminds me of some of the Fall season plants from other regions such as pumpkins and gourds - very Halloweenish to me. Some parts of it are edible and used medicinally, but the seeds are poisonous.
Plant communities where balsam pear has been observed include: scrub, maritime and mesic hammocks, pinelands, beach dune, coastal strand, shell midden, wet flatwoods, floodplain swamp and edges of freshwater swamps. This pioneer species gets shaded out in intact mature hammocks. The fruits and leaves are used medicinally but the seeds are toxic. Because exposed seeds have a bright red aril, balsam pear is likely dispersed by mammals and birds. Sometimes called “stink vine,” the unpleasant smell from handling the plant washes off with water. (UF, IFAS)
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Happy hunting,
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