6/1/25 Report - Shipwreck Pocket Watch Recovered. 1700s or 1800s Military Artifact Finds. Mystery Items. Geomagnetic Storm.

 

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

The late Herbert Ingram’s historic pocket watch recovered from the bottom of Lake Michigan.Credit : 

Fox 17 WXMI

After sinking to the bottom of Lake Michigan in 1860 — along with the steamship Lady Elgin — Herbert Ingram’s pocket watch is back home.

The historic timepiece returned to Boston, Lincolnshire, in the U.K. this month, 165 years after it was lost when the Lady Elgin sank during a brutal storm after it collided with a schooner in the dark of night.

The watch belonged to Ingram, a British journalist and politician who died with his son when the ship sank. It was found in the lake in 1992, but was just recently sent back to the Boston Guildhalls Museum near where the Ingrams had lived...

Here is the link for more about that.

Pocket Watch from Deadly Shipwreck Returns Home 165 Years Later: ‘Truly a Once-in-a-Lifetime Discovery’

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My First Finds From a 17 or 18 Hundreds Military Site.

I've been showing some find photos lately.  They were mostly gold finds, but with my find photos I also found a couple photos showing other kinds of finds.  For a bit of a change, I decided to show one of those today.

This photo might have been made for a magazine article, although I don't think this one was used.

It shows my first old British military items.  That particular hunt was a different kind of hunt for me and a real learning experience.  I wasn't experienced with 18th century military relics and made a couple regrettable mistakes that I've detailed before.  One involved the failure to identify a dug musket cock and flint.  See The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 11/7/14 Report - Seven Metal Detecting Mistakes That I've Made That You Should Avoid. Catching An Asteroid.

The item at the top took me years to properly identify.  At first I thought it was a finial.  Here is a better picture.  It shows several features of a cannon that is was found near.  

I showed the individual marks made by the soldier in the soft lead in an old post.  See The Treasure Beaches Report Direct From Florida's Treasure Coast.: 4/16/16 Report - Surf Increasing This Weekend. Beach Photos. Toy Cannon Soldier Art.

My point is that it took a while (a few years, I think) before I correctly identified and understood this find.  Additional knowledge, help from a blog reader and better magnification all helped.

In the second row are two musket balls found at the same site.  Then under that are three military buttons.  The one on the left has a little gilt left, and the two other ones are pewter.  I got better photographs after taking the one above.  Again, better equipment allowed that.

While I've learned a good bit about the regiments 

I believe the buttons and some of the other finds found at the site probably came from the 1796 Battle of St. Lucie, but I can't be certain of that and haven't yet been able to place the two regiments on the site at time.

In addition to these items, other military items were found at the site, including grapeshot, which I was unable to bring home.

The two items at the bottom of the photo cam from the same site.  I'm still not confident about.  Some people think they might be gorgets, but I don't know.  What do you think?  

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SEVERE GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: A major solar flare on May 31st hurled a CME straight toward Earth. Severe geomagnetic storms and widespread auroras are possible when the CME arrives on June 1st or 2nd. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.

With your metal detector you can hear lightening a good distance away, maybe the geomagnetic storm can be picked up as noise as well if you are in the right place at the right time.

Expect a few more days of very small surf.

We've been having slightly negative low tides in the afternoon.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net