Treasure Beaches Report: Pt. 2. (2020 and Beyond). : 9/29/24 - Aftermath of Helene. Lead and Cannon Aprons: A Fascinating Puzzle. Cedar Key Damage and History.

Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.

Broken Spike Found by Kurt R.

Yesterday, shortly after I posted my post, I received the above photo along with some photos of Seagrape Trail. Kurt said when he stopped at the beach he didn't have his detector with him but found the above broken spike. Can't see the shape of it well enough in the photo.

As I've said before, you can sometimes eyeball things, and when there are surface finds, you can go back later with your metal detector and see if there is any more to be found. When there are surface finds, there are often additional buried objects. It would have been a good idea to return with a good deep seeking detector, being careful not to discriminate oit any additional iron objects.

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Yesterday I also posted photos that DJ took of Turtle Trail. Among his finds was a crumpled piece of lead, which he researched. Here is his lead find.

Lead Found by DJ at Turtle Trail.

He included the follow-up email.

Just a note to thank you for the great resource of both TreasureGuide articles [ie. blog sites].

I found the small piece of folded lead nearby the two partial bullet casings the center fire primers are easily seen but newer so I did not photograph or try to date them.

I had never found a piece of lead like this and thought I would search both Treasure Guides. I found a reference in Part 2 but a really nice article you wrote of your find in Part 1.

I copied your in-hand photo [shown below] just for size comparison.

That is a hard item to photograph so I just did a side one and side two.

Very interesting research and article, my find was much smaller than yours, but it was still very enlightening and interesting reading.

In the article you mentioned you might unfold it. Did you ever do so?

Thanks for sharing DJ, and thanks for reminding me of that old post and find.

To answer your question, I put the folded lead aside for a later time and never got back to it. In fact, I forgot about it.

When I was researching my folded lead find years ago, I stumbled upon information about cannon aprons, and one very interesting cannon apron that was recovered from the Queen Anne's Revenge wreck stie. That cannon apron showed a variety of carvings that begged interpretation. Here is the link to that fascinating article. Cannon Apron | Queen Anne's Revenge Project (qaronline.org).

Below is an illustration of the QAR cannon apron and the markings found on it.

Lead Cannon Apron and Markings from qaronline.org.

Those markings don't look to me like random accidental damage to me.. Maybe nothing more than graffiti, but maybe something significant to be deciphered.

Below is my still unopened folded piece of lead.

Folded Lead Found by TG on a Treasure Coast beach
and shown in the 4/26/19 treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com.

Immediately below is the link to my original post on cannon aprons.

https://treasurebeachesreport.blogspot.com/search?q=Folded+lead

The old treasurebeachesreport.blgospot.com blog still draws hundreds or thousands of views daily. I forgot about my post on cannon aprons and was glad to be reminded of it.

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As you now know, hurricane Helene caused a lot of destruction. Among the hardest hit places is Cedar Key, which has a very rch and interesting history including pirates and Civil War events. Regrettably it is one of those historic out-of-the-way Florida places that I have never visited.

Here is a link for a site showing the destruction on Cedar Key.

Florida resident gives tour of devastated, flattened Cedar Key in the wake of Helene's wrath | AP News

And here is a link for more information on the history of Cedar Key.

Cedar Key Historical Society Museum - Nostalgia, Cedar Key History

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