Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Source: Vero Beach Magazine (see link below). |
Below are a couple paragraphs from a great article written by Chris Fasolino and published in the Feb 19, 2024 issue of the Vero Beach Magazine.
When the Treasure Fleet set sail from the great port of Havana, Cuba, it was carrying goods that came from South America and even from as far off as Asia. Did you know that Chinese porcelain was part of the cargo? Today, delicate blue-and-white ware can be seen at the McLarty Treasure Museum in Vero Beach and Mel Fisher’s Treasure Museum in Sebastian. Park Services Specialist and archaeologist Corey Kerkela of the McLarty Treasure Museum explains that these exotic items were carried across the Pacific by a separate fleet before they ended up on the Spanish Main (the body of Spanish colonial territories in the mainland Americas)...
Here is the link for the entire article.
https://verobeachmagazine.com/features/colorful-cargo-at-the-mclarty-treasure-museum/
The article mentions various types of treasure salvage from the 1715 wrecks, including precious metals, emeralds, and cochineal dye as well as Chinese porcelain.
It is still possible to find shards on the Treasure Coast beaches. It would be quite unusual to find an intact cup or plate, but it has happened.
I also explained how to identify Kang-Hsi. Blue and white pottery is common but most of it is not Kang Hsi.
Here is a good post on Kang-Hsi porcelain how the Manilla galleons that transported them.
And here is a post showing a shard found on a Treasure Coast beach and giving some clues for identification.
There are more posts on Kang Hsi, so you can use the search box on TreasureBeachesReport.blogspot.com to find them. Although it is spelled in various ways, the spelling I usually use is Kang Hsi. Sometimes it is spelled Kangxi or K'ang Hsi.
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As you might recall, in my 2/20/24 post I asked how you first learned of treasure hunting and what got you started. In response I receive the following email from Mark G. Below is what Mark wrote.
In your 2/20/24 post you asked about what got you interested in treasure hunting? For me it was growing up with it.
As far back as I can remember my dad was always into some sort of “collecting”, we didn’t call it treasure hunting - that just seems futile. But in order to collect something you had to hunt for it. We lived in New England and all through the woods were old sites or foundations that once had populations of people and people always have trash. That’s where I first remember bottle hunting old dumps. Then we also had a camp in Maine and my biggest thrill was when my dad would go over to the local trapper's bottle shed and he would swap stories and bottles with him. I became quite the aficionado of bottles I could tell you how old a bottle was just by how it was made. I would even hunt myself in places no one would think of. I once found a perfect condition blown glass brown flask in the attic soffit in this 100+ year old house 50 years ago because I knew that’s where anybody who drank from it would hide it. Then there was his coin collection. We would go through rolls of coins he would get from the bank when cashing his paycheck looking for silver quarters, wheat pennies or mercury dimes all that good stuff. He even had a metal detector later on (mid to late 70s I think) although I don’t think he ever unearthed any treasure he still collected the trinkets he found.
I think it’s the American dream mixed with human nature that makes us all want to find that treasure, I’ve been searching for it all my life in one form or another. Dads gone I live in Florida now it’s hard to find any silver in a roll of quarters anymore and up until recently I didn’t even think about bottle hunting here. Thanks Treasure Beaches for reminding me, people and their trash are everywhere.
I buy my silver collection now and the 1715 shipwreck finds are being picked clean by the hordes of detectorists on the beaches daily.
Given my nature of not following the crowd and the fact I am lucky enough to live on the treasure coast we are still out there searching for that treasure. I am researching new ground to hunt modern finds at the beaches, more to come on that.
I’m not going to lie, the first paragraph about my Dad dug up emotions (pun intended) that I hadn’t felt in a while, thanks for asking.
Thank You
Mark G.
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Thanks Mark. Great email.
I hope more of you will share the story of how you got started and what it means to you.
As I told you recently, my first exposure to pirates and sailing ships was probably through the Peter Pan story. Mark's email reminded me of the first time I used a metal detector - as rudimentary as it was.
My grandma brought home a Radio Shack metal detector. It is not surprising that she'd be the person in my family to be interested in adventures like that We took the detector out in the country to an old house site where she lived one time in her childhood. There was not much more than scattered few boards and a stone chimney standing. We a few big iron artifacts, as I recall. Maybe a door hinge or something like that. I don't think that metal detector would even detect a coin, but maybe we just didn't know how to use it for best effect. I don't think there was much to it other than turning it on.
We didn't feel like we found anything worthwhile and wasn't at the time encouraged to continue with it. Funny thing is, I'd probably have a ball working those sites today with the same metal detector now. For one thing I appreciate iron artifacts now more than I did then, especially farm implements. I wouldn't mind searching a using one of those primitive metal detectors today on an old farm or home site. I'd probably thoroughly enjoy using an old detector like that to dig up some old iron stuff - especially farm implements.
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| Surf Chart From SurfGuru.com. |
No big change in the predictions.
The north winds did some cutting though. Some cuts were up to five feet.
I'll show a new gold ring find tomorrow or soon.
Good hunting,
Treasureguide@comcast.net