7/27/26 Report - Dom van Keulen Shipwreck and Salcombe Hoard. Being Discerning Reader. Fossil Find. Deadly Flesh-Eating Virus Kills One Person in Palm Beach County.

 

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

Moroccan gold coins recovered from the wreck provided historians with key evidence linking the vessel to a Dutch trading voyage from Morocco. (British Museum via Bournemouth University).
Source link: Shipwreck near Salcombe linked to Moroccan gold coins found in 1995 | Fox News

I started this post a few times and then deleted them and then started over again.  The problem is I'm finding it difficult to not go on a long rambling rant.  I'm disgusted by the current state of the internet.  It has become a garbage heap of cheap click-bait tricks and outright fakery and dishonesty.   AI has provided an additional powerful tool for fakers and imposters that can too easily produce seductive but misleading content.  The same story is lifted and copied by every outlet without any real knowledge or expertise but using site optimization techniques to catch your attention.   Old stories and endlessly recycled and slyly recycled with irrelevant but eye-catching images that have absolutely no relationship to the actual story cut and pasted to draw attention.  Here I go again.  I'll try to cut it short by giving just a couple examples.

One story that is being widely circulated on the internet is the story of a 17th century shipwreck associated with a large group of Moroccan gold coins that finally appears to have been identified as the Dutch ship Dom van Keulen.

It is a good story, but the MSN link takes you to a picture of a pile of coins that look nothing like the Moroccan gold coins found in association with the wreck.  The picture is completely irrelevant to the story.  That is a very common technique.  Many outlets add images that have nothing to do with the story.  Some readers may not care about those details, but someone with a genuine interest can be misled until they discover the deception.  The user is forced to waste time trying to determine what if anything in the article is actually true because the outlets put clicks over truth.  In some cases, they don't have any particular knowledge or expertise and might not know the reality or significance of the fake details.  Some outlets are worse than others and sifting through the trash requires an informed discerning reader.

Here is an excerpt from the story that gives some of the real story, which you can find after you wade through the trash.

A stage‑1 hypothesis proposed that metallurgical signatures of the Salcombe coins would match specific West African mine outputs documented in 17th‑century Dutch trading ledgers, proving the Dom van Keulen carried direct African gold rather than re‑exported European bullion. The available evidence does not yet confirm or rule out that claim. The coins are recorded as Moroccan and North African in origin, but no published metallurgical analysis tying them to particular mine sites has appeared in the accessible source record. The hypothesis remains testable but unproven.

This uncertainty has not diminished the wider significance of the find. The Salcombe hoard demonstrates that substantial quantities of African‑linked gold were moving through northern European shipping lanes in the later 17th century...

Here is a link from one of the better sources where you'll find more of the real story.

Four hundred gold coins finally cracked a 30-year-old shipwreck mystery off England

You'll find another link under the image at the top of this post.  

Here is a better source link.

Mystery of 17th-century shipwreck carrying 400 gold coins solved after decades of research | Archaeology News Online Magazine

That article presents the image of the image shown above and used by the Fox link.

When I see a possibly interesting story from some outlets, I immediately try to find the story on a more reputable site.  It takes an additional step, but at least you'll get a more worthwhile article.  

The next example is based on another story that I liked except for a subtle deception.  Here is the title to the article.

Family found a strange rock while fishing, it turned out to be a 32-million-year-old sea turtle fossil.  

That is something I'd like to read, and I did.  

The title suggested to me a regular everyday family on a fishing trip stumbling over a very old and rare fossil.  Part of the appeal is that could happen to anybody.  But it turns out the family was not only hunting fossils but discovered the fossil only after removing it from a rock.  

I know that titles must be short and cannot tell the whole story, so this one is forgivable, but I think the title was twisted to grab attention.  I can forgive that too, but a careful reader should be aware of the motives that affect content creators and publishers.  Those motives affect the product either intentionally and deceptively or unintentionally.  

Despite the editorial choices, the story is still interesting.  Here are a couple excerpts.

A family fishing trip in southern Alabama turned into an unexpected scientific discovery when a fossilized 32-million-year-old leatherback sea turtle shell was found along a riverbank. The fossil belongs to a new species named Ueloca colemanorum and is one of the most complete ancient leatherback turtle shells ever discovered.

The find happened in 2021, when the Coleman family spotted something unusual inside a large limestone boulder while looking for fossils during a fishing trip. Adam and Adrienne Coleman had spent years taking their children, Talah and Corey, fishing near their home in southern Alabama. During these trips, the family often searched the riverbanks for fossils. Adam had learned fossil hunting from his own father and later shared that interest with his children...

Here is the link to that article.

Family found a strange rock while fishing, it turned out to be a 32-million-year-old sea turtle fossil

Cool find for anybody, especially a fossil hunter.

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Alert!

Health officials in Florida are reporting the first flesh-eating bacteria death of 2026 in Palm Beach County.

The flesh-eating bacteria called Vibrio vulnificus — is a rare and potentially deadly bacteria that naturally occurs in warm saltwater and brackish water. However, the Florida Department of Health said most people get vibriosis by eating raw or undercooked shellfish, particularly oysters...

Here is that link for more about that.

Deadly infection: Florida reports first rare, flesh-eating bacteria death of the year | FOX 26 Houston

The Treasure Coast water is warm.  In the case of the Intercoastal, shallow waters are hot and in places, there are tons of rotting seaweed.  I would imagine it would be an ideal place for the bacteria.

Be careful.  You don't want to get it in your mouth or on exposed cuts.

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You might want to try DuckDuckGo.com for your browser and skip a lot of the junk stories and keep more of your data to yourself.  I like it.

I tried Duckai but so far haven't learned to use it well.  So far, I've just used it a little and don't know much about it yet.

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No tropical development in the Atlantic or Gulf and the surf remains pretty flat.

Good hunting,

TreasureGuide@comcast.net