8/23/25 Report - Earliest Spanish Expeditions into North America and Dating the Iron Artifacts. Erin Erosion Uncovers Mine.

 

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

The Spanish brought along vast quantities of iron on their long treks through the American interior. On his ill-fated expedition to La Florida in 1559, Tristán de Luna brought along more than 60,000 nails, 1,332 horseshoes and over 1,400 pounds of mule shoes. Florida Museum image by Charles Cobb

Below are some excerpts from a great article about dating iron artifacts., but the article includes a lot more that you'll find interesting such as the various Spanish expeditions into North Amercica and the adoption of metal detecting techniques for archaeology.

Iron artifacts from early Spanish expeditions in North America often look too similar to tell apart, making it difficult to establish the exact routes that were taken.

In a new study, archaeologists analyzed iron artifacts spanning more than 400 years of American history using X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. Their results show that differences in the purity of iron and the trace elements it contains can be reliably used as a diagnostic feature to identify iron artifacts from different time periods.

This method may be sensitive enough to distinguish iron artifacts from Spanish expeditions separated by only a few decades, but the study authors say more data needs to be collected to be sure...

The Spanish left behind detailed records of their exploits in the Americas, but because they only had a vague sense of where they were at any given time, the exact routes they took remains unclear...

“A wrought-iron nail from the 1500s looks like a wrought iron nail from the 1600s,” ...

Nails account for more than half of all metal artifacts found in North America...

The Spanish undertook several expeditions through the American continents during the early 16th century, many of which overlapped.

Map based on "The Luna Expedition: An Overview from the Documents" by James Worth

Here is the link for more of that article.

Archaeologists use X-rays to distinguish iron from different periods of America’s colonial past – Research News

The article also discusses how archaeologists finally adopted of metal detectors as a useful technique.

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Fragments of a 1900s sea mine was recently discovered on Angler's Cove Beach.

Erosion from Hurricane Erin uncovered the mine.

Here is the link for more about that.

https://veronews.com/2025/08/20/fragments-of-old-sea-mine-discovered-at-anglers-cove-beach/

Thanks to DJ for that link.

Additional research suggests that the mine dated back to World War II or earlier and was a Hertz Horns mine, a type developed in Germany in the late 19th Century.

I hope they open the North Causeway Fort Pierce bridge before long.  That bridge being closed is a pain.

===

Surf Chart for Fort Pierce South Jetty Area From SurfGuru.com.

As you can see, the surf has decreased locally.  Generally speaking, as you go north to North Florida and especially to North Carolina, the waves were bigger.  They undoubtedly had some good hunting on the Outer Banks after Erin.

Source:nhc.noaa.gov.

Erin is gone.  

I was interested in that system down by South America but the ECMWF model shows it staying to the south and fizzling out before long.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

8/22/25 Report - Recommending One of My All-Time Favorite Places. Strategies for Making Your Search Time Pay In More Ways.

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

You'll be seeing pictures like these on TV today as the annual Central Bank summit takes place at Jackson Hole, Wyoming at the Jackson Lake Lodge. They meet there every year at one of my favorite vacation spots every year.  

The view above is from the restaurant, where you can get the best breakfast anywhere in the world.  Anything you could want, and everything fresh and wonderful.  I don't mean to sound like a commercial, but it is my favorite place to visit this time of year.  They will soon close for the winter.

Below is the lobby.  To the right is the bar and grill where they had on display a variety of western artifacts.

Walt Disney visited the area when he made one of his documentaries.  If you visit the Disney World Animal Kingdom Lodge or Wilderness Lodge, you'll see large windows like these, which I think were probably inspired by the Jackson Lake Lodge.

On one hike in the Tetons I saw the mule train shown below. I never figured out what they were carrying and am still curious about that.

Also took a raft down the Snake River. The guides try to get as close as they can to the rock shown below, where they place a coin on top.

If there was a way for a detectorist to get those, there would probably be quite a few  I don't know how long they've been doing it, but.it provides another example of how coins end up in strange places.

Anyhow. I highly recommend the Jackson Lake Lodge in Jackson Hole.  Krushchev signed a treaty there.  They have the table where that took place.

On one trip I saw Air Force Two (Cheney's) at the airport there.  It is nice to be a humble public servant.

I didn't plan on talking about that today, but seeing the pictures on TV just sent me off because I like the place so much.

---

Pity the Reader is a book I've been reading.  It is by a famous author, Kurt Vonnegut, but I found very little in it worth reading.  It wasn't until I got more than halfway through the book, before I finally found an interesting chapter.  Since I highly value good ideas, I did spend the time wading through the text to finally find something worthwhile. The book seemed to be doing it/s very best to prove title. It is no wonder that so few people read books anymore.  Many books offer very little.  But it isn't just books.  The internet is the same.  It is very much like a beach treasure hunt on a hot day.  You have to scan tons of sand to finally find that one elusive gem. 

It takes patience, but the wise seeker will learn to become more and more efficient.  Being time efficient is something I've become very aware of in recent years.

There are many strategies.  Some probably work better than others.  The thiing is that you have to waste time trying different things in order to find out which works best.   Maybe it pays off. 

One thing that helps is being aware of a wide variety of the different types of treasure that you might encounter along the way.  It is easy to get so narrowly focused on that highly desired gold coin or cache that you miss a lot of the other many smaller treasures you pass along the way.  If you learn about seashells, you'll learn that some are rare and have value. Sea glass, fossils, lithic artifacts, clad error coins, etc etc. can be found along the path to the main target, and can make yout time more productive.

Another way to make your time pay off is to continually observe, think and learn.  Make each small failure into a learning experience.  Learn to read the clues all around you.  The beach, the weather, the firmness and color of the sand all provide information, if you learn to hear what they are telling you.

Another thing that will convert wasted time into treasured time is to enjoy it all.  Feel the sun, wind, crunch of the sand under your feet.  Suck it in.  It is the miracle of conscious life.

Another thing that will help is developing a huge appreciation for tiny things.  It is natural to marvel at the big things.  The biggest diamond, the biggest gold strike, the biggest statue or building.  But there are galaxies in the molecule that are just as amazing and marvelous.  The microscope can be as revealing as the telescope.  

The more you learn the more interesting things become, but sometimes you have to dig into it.  Molecules can be as interesting as galaxies.  Look into Dr. James Tour and molecular machines.  Absolutely mind blowing.

The biggest clues are sometimes found in the smallest things.  You'll be surprised by what you can see on some of your finds if you look at them with a microscope of black light.  

Two of my all-time most read posts involved looking at things in different ways.  For example, this crystallized whelk shell I(shown below) or fluorescent sea glass.

And you have to look closely to better see the details of a coin.

---

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

Keep watching the National Hurricane Center map.  There is a lot out there despite the decreasing surf expected for the Treasure Coast the next several days.

---

Good hunting,

TreausreGuide@comcast.net

8/21/25 Report - Storms, Seasons, and Weather Cycles for Beach Metal Detecting. Belief in Miracles. AI Shortcomings.

 

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

Source:nhc.noaa.gov.

After a long hot summer season of south winds, calm seas and building beaches, we are now deep into hurricane season and seeing more tropical activity on the map.  

Erin produced higher surf locally but for a short period.  They got bigger waves to the north of us. 

 Erin's impact is decreasing and the next system on the map slso seems to be heading north while remaining even farther out to sea.  It is too early to say much of anything about the system just leaving Africa.

Typically the winter months bring the Treasure Coast the highest average wave heights.  Spring waves are moderate, averaging less than winter, but occasionally we have some decent beach metal detecting conditions into March after the beaches have already been somewhat depleted by the winter weather.  

It won't be long before we are into Fall, which is characterized by increasing wave energy aided by the tropical storm activity followed by early cold fronts. 

Many hurricanes don't do much for the beaches, even with a direct hit.  For example, hurricane Andrew caused a lot of damage in South Florida but didn't cause much erosion to the Miami beaches where it landed.  The Miami beaches after Andrew looked very much like our Treasure Coast beaches looked yesterday.  Andrew was one of those that sent waves straight up onto the beach without much erosion except, of course, for a few spots where the beaches run less north to south, such as some areas on Key Biscayne, where there was some very good post-storm metal detecting.

We've had some very productive metal detecting in recent Falls, for example 2020 and 2022.  2020 had some very high surf combined with high tides.  That year, many of the barrier island beaches weren't cut but some of the beaches had very high water due to the combined effect of the storm surges and unusually high tides.  There were some good older shipwreck related finds then, including some from a 16th century wreck.

The December - February months bring some good winter storms, north winds and good erosion.  The winter brings some good cold fronts.  I often think of the times when it was near freezing on the beach.  Some of my best metal detecting days were in cold like that.  I've told about that before.  The cold blasts can provide a real test for some us hot weather adapted Floridians to work through. 

The day I found the most cobs I ever found was on a very cold day in December.  I remember being the only detectorists on John Brooks beach that day.  The bone chilling north wind was blowing maybe thirty mph.  One other detectorists walked onto the beach and after getting a good blast of the freezing air shook his head and turned around and left.  Back then I was still pretty much acclimated to cold weather and stuck it out.  

Here are the five coldest days in Fort Pierce for the last fifty years.

 They day I'm talking about must have been Dec. 24, 1989, which matches my memory, because I was driving from Fort Lauderdale to Palm Coast on Christmas Eve and stopped for some metal detecting on the way.  My wife stayed in the car while I was on the beach alone. I think I'll always remember that day.

My main point here is that we are going through the seasonal cycles and after a long slow hot summer, will soon be into a time of the year that has historically been better for metal detecting the beaches of the Treasure Coast.

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A Barna study (ordered by an evangelist) found that sixty-six percent of Americans believe people can be physically healed supernaturally by God...

Source: Do You Believe In Miracles?

There have been other awakenings or revivals in our country's history.  Such as what was called the Great Awakening, which, as Britannica says, was a "religious revival in the British American colonies, mainly between about 1720 and the 1740s.

The Great Awakening represented a reaction against the increasing secularization of society and against the corporate and materialistic nature of the principal churches of American society. A number of conditions in the colonies contributed to the revival: an arid rationalism in New England, formalism in liturgical practices, as among the Dutch Reformed in the Middle Colonies"... 

---

As I've found and reported, Copilot, ChatGPT and Grok, while useful for metal detecting research, have some shortcomings besides occasionally being downright wrong.

Scientists discovered that versions of ChatGPT, Llama and DeepSeek were five times more likely to oversimplify scientific findings than human experts in an analysis of 4,900 summaries of research papers.

When given a prompt for accuracy, chatbots were twice as likely to overgeneralize findings than when prompted for a simple summary. The testing also revealed an increase in overgeneralizations among newer chatbot versions compared to previous generations...

Here is the link for more about that.

Chatbots gloss over critical details in summaries of scientific studies, say scientists | Live Science

----

Source: SurfGuru.com.

As you can see, a steady decrease in surf size is predicted for the next week.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/20/25 Report - Looking At Some Treasure Coast Beaches This Morning.

 

Wave Crashes at Foot of Treasure Coast Beach at John This Morning.

I went out to the beach to see what was going on.  The beach had no cuts, which is what I was expecting.  Although I could see that the water had been fairly high on the beach, it did not reach the dunes anywhere that I was.  

The only surprise was that the surf was smaller than I expected this morning.  The above photo just happened to catch a good moment. 

I saw no cuts on the beaches on the north end of South Hutchinson Island.  As you'll see in my photos, the waves were running parallel to the beaches.  There was no angle at all.

John Brooks Around 8 AM This Morning.

Another Photo of John Brooks Beach This Morning.

South of John Brooks This Morning.

As usual, Frederick Douglass Beach looked very much like John Brooks Beach.

Frederick Douglass Beach This Morning.

At both John Brooks and Frederick Douglass, the slope was mushy.

I then went south to Walton Rocks.

Walton Rocks This Morning.

There were a few surfers at Walton Rocks this morning, but it seemed like they were mostly leaving.

Walton Rocks This Morning.

There was one couple with a metal detector and a tent like shelter.  Otherwise, I saw no detectorists this morning.

Walton Rocks This Morning.

So I saw no cuts this morning on South Hutchinson Island.  I didn't see any of the beaches in Indian River County, so maybe someone can send a few photos from there, but I would expect more of the same.  There could still be some good hunting spots out there.  

South Hutchinson Island is being developed.  It looks like there will be new housing all along the beach.  Pretty soon there will be little open beach other than the parks.  It has changed a lot.

Blind Creek park is undergoing a lot of construction and the main entrance is still closed.

---

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

So Erin is continuing north and away from us.  It looks like the next system will stay out to sea too.

Surf Forecast for the Fort Pierce Inlet Area from SurfGuru.com.

Nothing real promising in the near future.  That means you'll have to work a little harder and hunt it out.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

8/19/25 Report - Erin Sending Treasure Coast Increased Waves. Four-Century History Timeline. Ark of the Covenant.

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

Source: Surf Forecast for the Fort Pierce Inlet Area from SurfGuru.com.

The big news for me today is the higher surf.  It has been a long slow summer.

The morning update on the SurfGuru surf forecast shows the Fort Pierce area getting a four-to-six-foot surf Tuesday and six to eight feet Wednesday.  It has been a long time since we got anything that big on the Treasure Coast.  Several months at least.  

The surf direction is predicted to be from the east rather than the north.  That isn't ideal for beach erosion.  Still after all this summer's accumulation, I'd expect to see some erosion.  In fact, on one of the beach cams I was seeing a little - though very little - yesterday.

Of course there will be local differences depending upon various factors such as the angle of the beach etc.  Below is the surf forecast for the Sebastian Inlet area.

Surf Forecast for the Sebastian Inlet Area from SurfGuru.com.

The surf up there is predicted to be a foot or so higher.  Not a big difference though.

Early Tuesday, while there still wasn't good lighting for the beach cam, the Beach South Zoom view on the Fort Pierce Inlet cam shows the tide still fairly low.  

 

SurfGuru Fort Pierce Inlet, South Beach Zoon View Tuesday Morning.

I'm just using that view as an example.  The Sebastian cam showed bigger waves this morning.

Yesterday this view showed the water just getting back to touch the foot of the dune.  In comparison to a pervious view, I could see that the beach front had moved back a touch.  Still, this beach looks very sandy.  Not very encouraging at that spot yet.  Other areas could be better.  We haven't seen the higher surf yet.

I wish we were going to get a more northerly surf.  Still, the higher surf, after such a long slow summer, will be interesting to watch.  There is a lot of sand that needs to be moved.  It should be worth taking a look just to see how the beaches are developing.

---

Below is a segment of a series with the title Church History Timeline. 

1539  New Spain: Franciscan Friar Marcos de Niza was the first European to visit present-day New Mexico.

1540s  New France: Jacques Cartier explored the St. Lawrence River, located approximately at the border of present-day USA and Canada. This is the beginning of the development of New France. Eventually New France will include territory through the middle of present-day USA to the Gulf of Mexico.

1543  New Spain: Juan de Padilla, a Franciscan friar, became the first Christian martyr in America. Read his story here.

1565  New Spain: St. Augustine, in present-day Florida, is founded by the Spanish. It is the oldest city, in terms of European occupation, in the USA. It became a center for Spanish missions throughout present-day Florida.

1598  New Spain: Juan de Onate, leading a force of 100 men plus women and children and 7000 cattle, entered present-day New Mexico with a mandate by the King of Spain to colonize the northern frontier of New Spain. Within a few months, he had established a colony with administration plus divided the region into 7 mission districts, which were led by Franciscan friars. By 1617 the missions included 11 churches and 14,000 Native American Christians. In 1621 this number had grown to 16,000 Native American Christians led by 27 priests.

Below are the links for each of the four centuries included.

Church History Timeline: the 1500s: United States of America | Study the Church

Church History Timeline: the 1600s: American Church History | Study the Church

Church History Timeline: the 1700s: United States of America | Study the Church

Church History Timeline: the 1800s: United States of America | Study the Church

---

Joshua and Moses Before the Arc of the Covenant.

Believed to hold the original stone tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, the Ark of the Covenant disappeared around 586 B.C.E., and its fate remains a mystery...

One of the most popular theories about the location of the Ark of the Covenant is that it’s held at the Church of St. Mary of Zion in Axum (sometimes spelled Aksum), Ethiopia. According to Ethiopia’s 14th-century national epic, the Kebra Nagast, the Ark was taken from the Temple of Solomon by a group of sons of Israelite nobles who were traveling with Menelik, the legendary son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Thanks to the power of the Ark, Menelik was purportedly able to conquer great swaths of the territory that would eventually become Ethiopia...

Here is the link.

Where Is The Ark Of The Covenant? Inside The Enduring Mystery

You might remember that the CIA remote viewer described the current loation mentioined domes and robed people, for whatever that is worth.

---

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

It's that time of year.  Seems like we always get a lot of tropical activity around the end of August and first of September.

Looks like Erin will stay out to sea and pass by fairly quickly.

We'll still have to keep watching for any changes and to see what the next one is going to do.

We're getting some rain this morning.

---

Rip Current Statement issued August 18 at 7:45PM EDT until August 21 at 8:00PM EDT by NWS Melbourne FL

Description

* WHAT...Dangerous rip currents. * WHERE...Coastal Indian River, Coastal Saint Lucie and Coastal Martin Counties. * WHEN...Through Thursday evening. * IMPACTS...Rip currents can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore into deeper water. * ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Expect 3 to 6 foot breaking waves on Tuesday. A High Surf Advisory will likely be required beginning Wednesday for 5 to 8 foot breakers.

Good hunting,

Treasureguide@comcast.net

8/18/25 Report - Technology Used to Read Otherwise Unreadable Artifacts. 18th Century Litany Book. Nickel Values. Update: Erin Now Cat 5.

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

Source: See link below.

Archaeologists Say This Tiny Amulet Is the Oldest Evidence of Christianity Found North of the Alps

Discovered in central Germany, the 1,800-year-old silver artifact held a tiny scroll, which researchers have now deciphered using high-resolution scans... 

Researchers worked for years to recover the scroll’s contents, as the thin silver foil was too brittle to unfurl. Instead, researchers at the nearby Leibnez Center for Archaeology used high-resolution CT scanning.

“The challenge in the analysis was that the silver sheet was rolled, but after around 1,800 years, it was of course also creased and pressed,” says Ivan Calandra, head of the center’s imaging lab, in the statement. “Using CT [scanning], we were able to scan it at a very high resolution and create a 3D model.”...

Here is the link for more about that.

Archaeologists Say This Tiny Amulet Is the Oldest Evidence of Christianity Found North of the Alps

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Researchers uncovered the Lord’s Prayer on a corroded 16th-century cross using terahertz imaging, showing the power of non-destructive techniques for archaeology and preservation...

“Our approach enabled us to read a text that was hidden beneath corrosion, perhaps for hundreds of years,” ... “Clearly, approaches that access such information without damaging the object are of great interest to archaeologists.”

The cross, cut from a sheet of lead, was discovered in a burial plot at a medieval abbey in Remiremont, France... it is a type of funerary cross that dates to the Middle Ages and has been found at sites in France, Germany, and England.

“This type of cross typically bears inscriptions of prayers or information about the deceased,”...  “It is thought their purpose was to seek a person’s absolution from sin, facilitating their passage to heaven.”

Here is the link for more information about that.

Hidden Inscription on Early Modern Funerary Cross Revealed by Terahertz Imagin

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If you are interested in life and culture of Spanish colonial times, here is a digitized 18th century book of 37 produced in 1748 described as The litanies and prayers, in Latin and English recommended to be said in catholick families.

Here is the link.

The litanies and prayers, in Latin and English recommended to be said in catholick families. 1748 : Catholic Church : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Unfortunately, it isn't the best digitization, but you can read a lot of it..

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Old nickel values are benefiting from renewed collector demand. The different nickel series, plus the varieties within the major series are attracting interest. A step by step approach identifies the varieties, dates and mintmarks, and how to recognize condition...

From the early dates to silver nickels many dates and mint marks standout from the rest in value. Found every day, compare your coins to the value charts. One of the few coins worth searching through your pocket change...

Beginning with the top-grade Mint State; the following are descriptions of grades used to indicate condition. Greater detail to grading nickels is found on series pages.

Here is the link.

Discover Old Nickel Values

This article provides steps for grading your nickels of various ages and types and things to look for.

----

Erin became a Cat 5 hurricane.  

Hurricane Erin lashes Caribbean with damaging wind as US faces life-threatening coastal conditions this week.

For more on that see Hurricane Erin continues lashing Caribbean with damaging winds, flooding rain | Fox Weather.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

Not only is Erin out there, but there is another system following on near the same track. Erin, which is first in line, seems to be keeping on the same track.

Source: nhc.noaa.gov.

It looks like Erin will be sending the Treasure Coast some nice high surf, up to eight feet, increasing Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  

I like the size, but would like to see a longer duration, some more favorable winds, and some higher tides. 

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net

8/16/25 Report - Hundreds of Years Old Finds Bearing Religious Inscriptions and Decoding The Inscriptions. Jesuit Woodcut. Erin.

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

Prayer of St. Zacharias Ring As Listed in an Older Sedwick Auction.

As you probably know, many religious items have been found on the Spanish shipwrecks.  As personal possessions these items of faith provided much comfort to those undertaking such dangerous ventures.  The Catholic faith played a large role in personal and public life and small devices like these were statements of faith and also provided a sense of protection.  They encoded much information that aided the memory and communication of prayers and faith in a very portable compact form.

I showed the above image of the ring bearing the intriguing inscription in a 2022 post, so I know the auction occurred prior to that time.  I was attempted to find an image of a similar prayer ring in an old  issue of the Florida Historical Quarterly, which I think was published in a 1977 issue, but I wasn't able to find it so now so I settled for the above image from an auction listing. I've posted pictures of Treasure Coast finds bearing a similar inscription, and the in posts 1715 Fleet Society also did an article on an inscribed prayer ring prayer ring like this.  A bracelet bearing the inscription was also found.  Right off, I don't how many have been found or if some of those might be the same ring, but this inscription has been identified to represent the St. Zacharias prayer, commonly used for deliverance from plague.   

The Zacharias prayer for deliverance has also been copied on crosses and various items that became popular in modern times and during the Covid epidemic.  Below are a couple examples that are advertised on the internet and can be purchased very inexpensively.

These crosses bearing the Zacharias prayer are available on 
Plague Cross – Catholic plague protection crosses for sale. Available now.

The inscription is not the full prayer. It is a kind of shorthand or mnemonic device something like an acronym or acrostic. 

Below I'm going to show how the inscription was formed.

First here is an 18th century Jesuit pocket devotional.

Jesuit pocket devotional containing prayers and woodcuts, some from the 

late 16th century, the whole assembled in the late 18th century.

If you look closely at the part of the devotional shown above, you will see a Jerusalem cross (top center panel) bearing similar figures (enlarged below).

One Panel From the Jesuit Devotional Shown Above. The letters on and around this cross are more numerous than what you will see on jewelry or even most crosses.  I haven't decoded the letters and figures in this image.  If you can figure it out, please let me know what it all means. Here is a simpler cross that shows just the St. Zacharias prayer mnemonic very much as it is shown on the 1715 Fleet ring. Cross Being Sold In Modern Times. The symbols are the same shown on the 1715 Fleet ring and bracelet finds.   Now I'll show how the letters on these items relate to the words of the prayer of Zacharias.  The Latin language and English translation of the prayer is in a little booklet that is provided with the purchase of one of the crosses from the following web site.  Plague Cross – Catholic plague protection crosses for sale. Available now. Below is the Latin along with the English translation of the prayer.  You can also see the items inscribed on the ring and shown on the crosses. The first symbol, the cross figure, indicates a line of the prayer starting with the Latin word Crux, translated to English as cross. The Z, the first Latin letter of the second line, is the first letter of the latin word Zelus, translated as zeal. The word order in Latin and English being slightly different. Then a second cross symbol indicates another line beginning with Crux.  That is followed by a D, for the word Deus, which begins the next line of the prayer, and is translated to English as God. I think you can see from that how the letters and symbols inscribed on the ring and crosses indicate the lines of the prayer.   You can find the remaining lines of the prayer in both English and Latin in the pamphlet by using this link.  Plague Cross – Catholic plague protection crosses for sale. Available now.  There are a couple more pages to it. The rings and other items inscribed with the Zacharias prayer are amazing finds.  The Jesuit woodcut is a similarly interesting object that provides much insight into life and culture of Spanish colonial times in the New World. --- I first mentioned items inscribed with the mnemonic for the Zacharias prayer in a blog post fifteen years ago ( 8/1/10).  In that old post, I referred to a couple of links, one by to an article by an archaeologist discussing the inscriptions.  I talked about two items salvaged from a wreck and a bracelet bearing the inscription that was a beach find.  Unfortunately one link in that post no longer works, and I can't even find the other, but I did give the inscriptions as follows: 1989 gold ring: Z+DIA+BIZ+S+ZB+Z+HGA+BFS++ 1996 gold ring: Z+DIA+BIZ+SAB+Z+HG+F+BF Bracelet - beach find: Z DIA BIZ SAB ZHG BFRS The year dates above are the dates those rings were found.   At the time of that old post, I didn't know what the inscriptions referred to.  In fact, I probably thought they were from Spanish rather than Latin.  In more recent years other similarly inscribed artifacts have been found. I've been doing this blog long enough that I can see how my knowledge has slowly but steadily increased.  It is also apparent how much information has been accumulated by the archaeological and treasure hunting communities over the past decade and a half, thanks to a large extent to sharing on the internet.  It has also been interesting to see the adoption used hundreds of years ago becoming popular again during a modern epidemic.   I've learned quite a bit over the past decade and a half, but it has been a very slow process. Some of you have contributed and been along for the entire ride.    Thanks. ------ Source: nhc.noaa.gov. Erin has strengthened but has stayed on the same projected track.  Looks like it will stay out to see, but will send us some waves. Source: SurfGuru.com. The Surfguru forecast shows an increasing surf around Monday and Tuesday, possibly reaching a peak Wednesday or Thursday. --- I don't know how many of you noticed this, but I changed my Happy Hunting at the end of my posts to Good Hunting shortly after Russia invaded the Ukraine.  If the war ends, which I'm not very optimistic about at this time, ( and if it does end, I don't think it will be quick, but if it does end, I might change back to Happy hunting or some other signoff. For now, Good hunting, Treasureguide@comcast.net