Any Florida West Coast Shipwreck info. avail.?

[scubaozzy]

Here is a fun read...http://www.treasurelore.com/florida/table.htm

thanks aquanut..

 

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[aquanut]

Relicdude,
The answer to that is a 10' shovel! You can't let the state win...
Besides, we got a dredge too!
Aquanut

 

[ropesfish]

Needed: Dredge with a really good muffler and night vision equipment. Stealth is key.

 

[RELICDUDE07]

I like you guys style i've been back kicking the sand around

 

[RELICDUDE07]

Here's some info scubaozzy.... There are a reported 7,000 shipwrecks located in the great expanse of the Gulf of Mexico. Although most of these vessels pose no threat to the environment, many carrying cargoes of fuel and other materials that may lose their structural integrity over time

 

[ivan salis]

try singers - book

 

[Trembull]

hope everyone is doing good. i am intrested in researching old shipwrecks on the florida west coast.

http://www.thiswaytothe.net/tides/opengulfwrecks.shtml

http://www.thiswaytothe.net/tides/centralgulfwrecks.shtml

http://wreckcharts.com/pages/gulf/

 

[tarpon192]

Aquanut . You have two pontoon boats . Rig one of them with a proper cabin that sleeps two . With a proper instrument panel and steering . If you can do that I will spend three months on the gulf , north to north west of the Marquesas keys . Maybe someone will join me but not necessarely . I will pay for the fuel and my own groceries . I will bring my ROV and PI Metal detector with the 1 meter square coil ( for canon and anchors ) . I will be free after August 2012 . See what you can do . Cornelius

PLEASE LET ME KNOW, AND OTHERS HOW YOUR 3 MONTH STAY ON A PONTOON IN THE GULF ENDS.
THANK YOU.

 

[scubaozzy]

thank you everyone...i will start looking into all your advice.

 

[White Feather]

Ahoy Cornelius, Haven't spoken to you for a while. Hope you're doing well. Sherene said to say "HI" some time back. Talk to you later.

scubaozzy,

As for the original question; There is a lot of available information on Florida West Coast Wrecks. It is also very easy to come by but those with lots of time and some money involved are not willing to post in public those sites they may intend to explore at some future time. You can, however, expect that someone may be willing to share some of this information on wrecks they have no means to explore or have no intention to look for and may send you a private message. I have several that people have sent because they know I am in an area where the information might help. I have several sites I am planning to get back to next season so why would I give them away? I have others that I suspect are good locations that I would gladly share but will not post openly. Still, I have a list of many that are well known and documented that you are welcome to. Just email me and I'll send you a scanned list of twenty or thirty well known wreck sites with names and co-ordinates.

We are everything from coin shooters to professional treasure hunters on these websites. We try to help each other and keep a friendly open discussion but there are touchy subjects and some get very defensive or even insulting with their lack of patience for newbies asking the same old questions covered a hundred times. However new it is to you it has been covered. Read a little farther back in some of the older posts. If you see someone you would like to ask a question of just use the PM or email.

Okay, back to my Grog!

 

[trsrseeker]

Great post Trembull - thanks!

 

[scubaozzy]

Great post Trembull - thanks!

yes..thats a great site trembull ! thanks for the info whitefeather.

 

[Trembull]

being a novice at shipwreck finding is there certain steps you all take to find one?

http://www.thiswaytothe.net/tides/boat_tools.shtml

Download this to use

http://www.google.com/earth/index.html

 

[sabre15]

Aquaut, Cornelius count me in too. Sorry i couldnt make the picnic this year only living an hour north of you this year has been a busy one!

 

[sabre15]

By the way, i have been searching the west coast of florida for a few years now and have wondered about the buried depth here is it the same as east coast?

 

[cornelis 816]

Sabre 15. I immagine that there is a hard pan covered by mud and sand , So .....a side scan sonar is of no use , The equipment to use is a magnetometer and / or pi metal detector . These you can use to detect the cannon and anchor below the strata . After you detected these parts of a wreck you need a suction dredge to remove the overburden . Than you can use a ROV to check what you have detected .( or dive on it ) Cornelius

 

[LM]

There's a kooky 50+ pp book published during the treasure craze of the early 70's called "Lost Treasures of Florida's Gulf Coast". I think they're pricey now as out of print collectibles.

Anyway, surprisingly good. Not in-depth, but the authors compiled a ton of TH facts (and lore) from that region. It's pleasantly light on the "Follow the howling ghost wearing flowing white robes that rises at midnight during the full moon..." sort of nonsense that infested TH literature from that era, but there is a small dash of that in a couple entries.

The only problem, obviously, is that non-source research means you're usually going to be too late, but most of the stuff they mention was still out there at the time of publication, almost 40 years ago. If you can find a copy for a reasonable price, it's worth it as an index of leads to do more research on. Also, obviously, keep in mind that it was published during the TH wild west days. A lot of the places they mention would get you arrested, if you were out there nosing with exploration/recovery gear.

 

[stevemc]

Michael Barnette has 2 books on shipwrecks of Florida. He has dove on all wrecks in this book. Singer also has a book on shipwrecks of Florida. Both are good, and have either aprox location or GPS/lat-long numbers. I have lived on the West Coast my whole life, and read the above mentioned book(Lost treasures of the Gulf Coast") in the early 60s, so I know it was out for a while. And many others. Having a treasure salvor for a dad helped, he had lots of books on the subject, and many contacts. I checked a few of the places many years ago., and they are still worth investgating. Some rumors are true, or have a bit of truth to them. I was really into treasure hunting early in life, among other things, and there just isnt a whole lot printed on the West Coast, except what I have suggested, and what others have suggested. Just about any beach , inlet , island, any stretch of water is a possibilty. Remember that the internet does not have all stuff on it, it has to be put on here, to be here. There is stuff in many libraries, museums, college libraries, someone's personal book collection, and like was said earlier, and THE most important, fishing boat log books. We had a place that is 180 feet deep, and has a ton of fish on it. 65 miles out in the Gulf. I have fished it a few times. We finally dove it, not knowing what it was, and it was a barge, and some cranes or something. This is not on any wreck books. Just think how many shipwrecks have dissolved and are just a foot above the sand, and all that appears in a cloud of fish. Everytime I dive on a new spot it is the same, I wonder if it is going to be an old Spanish shipwreck. Anyway, keep looking. Steve.

 

[aquanut]

Steve,
That's why I said some of the best info is probably in the GPS's of the fisherman. I don't know any on the gulf coast, but my friend Comfortably Numb does...
Aquanut

 

[LM]

Anyone know if a Confederate blockade runner supposed to be in 12' in Deadman's Bay/Apalachacola Bay, north of of St. George Island was ever found? It may be the Havana. There's supposed to be anecdotal evidence that it was carrying silver (per Hudson/Prescott).

I found this report on PP 262 of "Official records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion".

Report of Lieutenant English, U. S. Navy, regarding the discovery of
steamer Havana in Deadinans Bay, Florida.

U. S. S. SOMERSET

Off Cedar Keys, Fla., June 10, 1862.
SIR: I have the honor to report to the Depariment that on the
morning of the 5th of June the tender (Ezilda) to this vessel sur-
prised a steamer named the Havana, in Deadmans Bay.
Before she could reach her she was fired and deserted by her crew.
She had about finished discharging her cargo and was taking in
cotton.
Nothing was saved but her jib, one anchor, two chain cables, and
three pigs of lead. At the time boarded she had on her deck about
10 tons of lead, which melted and sank with tbe vessel.
I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
EARL ENGLISH,
Hon. GIDEON WELLES, Lieutenant, Commanding.
Secretary of the Navy, Washington, D. C

Now granted, I'll admit to being a cynic, but if I were a Captain of a ship who captured an enemy vessel loaded with silver and watched it get scuttled before my eyes, I'd probably say it was 'just full of lead'. Pretty convenient he 'watched it melt', too. Tidies up the story nicely, prevents questions from being asked. And how in the hell do you board a flaming ship and recover the damn anchor and chain cables? Was it salvage? Did Lt. English report "melted lead" so he and the boys could go back down at a later date and get the silver? Would the structural integrity of a blazing wooden steamer even hold up long enough for the heat from the fire to melt 10 tons lead pig on board, before it just broke through and plunged into the drink? While not a result of fire, wasn't the main silver pile of the Atocha found basically intact with the ships planks still beneath the still neatly arranged bars? When wooden ships lose structural integrity, dense masses of metal bars seem to break through pretty quick...

Something about the 'official story' is weird.