Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
For 17 long years, David Hole hoarded a rock in his home and imagined that it contained a gold nugget. When he couldn’t figure out a way to cut up the rock for investigation, he took it to two eminent geologists at the Museums Victoria. As it turned out, the ordinary-looking rock proved to be valuable beyond Hole’s wildest imagination. It was not just an ordinary rock, but a fragment that had landed here in Australia after a cosmic trip dating back to the dawn of the solar system, as they documented in a scientific paper published in Proceedings of the Royall Society of Victoria.
Here is the link for the rest of that story.
Man Hoards 'Gold Nugget' for 17 Years — Then Experts Reveal It's a 4.6-Billion-Year-Old Meteorite
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Several times in recent posts I referred to a U. S. Army Professional Paper of the Corps of Engineers (no. 31) entitles Wave Action in Relation to Engineering Structures by D. D. Gaillard (1904). I should have provided a full and proper reference along with the link before, so here it is.
Even though the paper is over one hundred years old, it is far superior in many ways to most modern sources that I've found. Too often today people depend upon technology rather than careful observation and creative practical experimentation. Mr. Gaillard deserves much praise and credit for the detail and quality of his observations. Modern technology can become a distracting crutch as much as an aid. People get overly fascinated by the tool. The same is true of the metal detector.
There are some that love exploring metal detectors. And that can be valuable when in its place, but then other important things are neglected. A good hunter can make good finds with a less capable detector than someone less skilled can make with a better detector. I've said before that if I was going to depend on someone getting me food, I'd choose the wise old Indian with a bow and arrow over the city slicker with the newest and best rifle.
Gaillard was an exceptionally skilled and practical observer who made effective use of his tools, including particularly the dynamometer, to answer important questions and provide solutions.
The Guillard paper mentioned some important observations that I didn't previously include in my posts. I recommend studying his paper in detail if you have the patience. For example, Gaillard discussed how long shore drift adds to the sand flow and erosion. That is something I've discussed before but never saw it discussed anywhere else. I discussed that in regard to the more erosive effect of north winds and currents as compared to more southerly winds and currents.
Wave action in relation to engineering structures : Gaillard, David Du Bose : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive---
| BEACH HAZARDS STATEMENT IN EFFECT THROUGH LATE TONIGHT |
| Instruction: * WHAT...A southward-flowing longshore current and a moderate risk of rip currents is expected. * WHERE...Coastal Volusia, Coastal Indian River, Coastal Saint Lucie, Coastal Martin, Mainland Northern Brevard, Northern Brevard Barrier Islands, Mainland Southern Brevard and Southern Brevard Barrier Islands Counties. * WHEN...Through late tonight. * IMPACTS...Northerly winds of 10 to 20 mph with higher gusts will produce a longshore current, flowing parallel to the coastline. These currents can push swimmers into deeper water and possibly into rip currents. |
| Description: Swim near a lifeguard. If caught in a rip current, relax and float. Don't swim against the current. If able, swim in a direction following the shoreline. If unable to escape, face the shore and call or wave for help. --- We had some north winds yesterday and they continued this morning. The Fort Pierce South Beach started to cut this morning about an hour or two before high tide. You can see that below. |
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| Fort Pierce South Jetty Beach Cam (South Beach Zoom View) about 11:30 AM. |
I'd say there are probably other spots eroding as well.
I'm not too impressed by mid-beach cuts, especially smaller ones. Generally speaking, I'd get more excited by either dunes cuts or deep front beach cuts.
I captured the following earlier in the morning of the same area.
The arrow points to an area where you will often notice rougher surf. It seems there is either a bottom feature there or the currents run together, but if you watch that, you often notice it is rougher there.
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| Surf Chart of Fort Pierce Jetty Area from SurfGuru.com. |
The surf is still small and the tides are not as big as they were a few weeks ago.
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Here is a piece I mistakenly included at the end of a previous post. I don't know if you saw it or not because it was below my usual sign-off so I'll post it again.
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When I began, I hoped to gain financially. At first I was a coin shooter and kept records of my finds. When I found a lot of coins, or on occasion bills or other things, I thought I did well. That was during a time in my life when I was looking to the future and hoping to become be able to provided for myself and my family. Although I had a profession, which had nothing to do with metal detecting, metal detecting provided a supplemental source. At that time I measured my success in economic terms. Sometimes I didn't find much and was unhappy about that.
After a while it became very much about seeing what I could accomplish. It became a challenge. I wanted to see what was possible for me. Success or failure was still measured largely in economic terms though.
Once it became very much about the challenge, I wanted to see how far I could go. I wanted to see what was possible - for me. There were times I really pushed myself.
The matter of it being fun was a part of it, but the fun was at times sacrificed. There would be times when I would push myself physically and do things that I now realize were downright dangerous. I'd call it stupid now, but youth doesn't always recognize danger or stupidity. Age doesn't fully do away with that either.
All along I understood that success, no matter how measured, could be aided by learning. I wanted to understand how things worked. I wanted to improve my efficiency. I was not only interested in what I could find, but I was also interested in the amount of time and effort that was required. It was not only about the absolute amount found by the amount found per time period.
Over time I became less interested in the economic payoff. That has to do with changing circumstances to some extent. I was still setting goals, but not all of the goals were the most economically productive.
Now that has gone to the extent that some things I enjoy finding are worthless economically, but they have another kind of value. They seem to put me in touch with something bigger or take me back in time. They put me in touch with the people that made or used the items.
Now it is more of a Zen thing. It is a way of being in the world. It is just an extension of who I am.
I can't say the stages were all that well defined. They overlap. There was always some element of fun involved. There was always some element of curiosity being satisfied - and learning. There was always some element of the joy of being in nature. But the relative emphasis or importance changed over the years. Now I have to say that it has almost nothing to do with economics for me. The learning part of it is a big part of it. The curiosity part is big. The finds have played their part. I've studied the objects. I've lived with them and learned from them and am now preparing to discard or pass them on.
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Good hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net