Better Days will Soon Be Here Again!

[capt dom]

Those great window days will soon be upon us at the Jupiter Shipwreck Site!
Take a look!

I'm still thinking our main pile may be sitting right here.


But, its going to have a lot of rocks sitting right on top of it.....


What do you all think?

 

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[billlybob]

Agreed!

How or what site was the "first Solution hole.jpg" picture from?

 

[old man]

capt dom, Is it possible that the wreck is under tons of sand on the beach??

 

[capt dom]

The first Arial photo was taken by a friend of ours, Paul Hedrick.
He holds the world's record for sky-diving from the most, different
airplanes or thinks one can throw oneself off of and still survive!

He swam up to our boat one day and offered to trade a day of arial
photos for a day on the boat!

Now that was a good trade...

The boat is our vessel the MRV "Enterprise"... We use to joke,
"Come aboard the MRV. "Enterprise" and Go where no man has gone before"'''''
That is, "And, returned to talk about it!"

The hole position was originally confirmed by Army Corps of Engineers core borings
or Isopach Chart done in the 1980's.
Our scatter pack leads right to and then over the hole to another that is out further.
Problem is when you more the first 12 or so feet of sand - there are a bunch of bolders
and rocks in it as well, that came from the 1920 - 1921 Jupiter Inlet cut.

The photos are of my wife metal detecting around the rocks....
Paul Hedrick and a composite of us at the beginning of the trail to where the rocks are.

 

[mad4wrecks]

Dom will correct me if I am wrong, but my understanding is that the beach on the south side of the inlet has receded in past years. You can actually see this in the first picture, where the beach on the north side of the inlet extends out quite a bit further. The location where the boat is digging in the second picture may have been the shoreline or the beach many years ago.

Tom

 

[capt dom]

Hi,

Thanks for taking an interest!

As far as the question, "May the rest of the wreck be under the sand on the beach?"
I will try and answer - based upon 23 years of observations....
But, I may be wrong....

When our shipwreck wrecked - which appears to have been in 1660, there was a sand bar
that extended off the south end of Jupiter Island - that was awash during high tides or storm events.
(See Chart)
Where the inlet is today is between the top coin and the middle coin. The middle coin is where
the wreck hit the then rocky reef just off shore and broke apart - with the upper deck pitch poling
on to the eastern side of the sand bar.

If there is any interest I will post a chart of our initial finds in the late 1980's.
Now the beach and dune line was cut back even further then than it is today.
We dug to the west - right up on to the beach - with Roy Volker's Jet boat
and did not find any scatter west of the initial finds...

Its my bet remains were drug off shore by undertow, subsequent storm
events and then 230 years of tidal currents - right into the, then exposed solution holes....
Hopefully we may see this summer.
One can dig so hard - here - you may possibly rip the transom off your boat - only
to get to the top of the rock pile the gents in the 1920's placed out there!

 

[old man]

capt dom, there are some pretty accurate pulse induction units with one and two meter coils. Have you ever tried to remove the sand to the rocks and then scan the area with one of these units?? When one of these units first came out, I bought one, because it said that it could find a cannon 40 feet away. I can tell you with certainty that if you have a big enough pile of silver that it will detect at even a grader depth.

 

[Darren in NC]

old man,

Those pi units are awesome. They don't quite detect 40 feet (unless you've found a buried Sherman tank), but they do detect larger objects much better and deeper. But there's one stipulation. The object must be solid. It won't detect a mass of coins together. Having said that, I don't know of anyone who has tried to detect a mass of fused coins. It would be an interesting field test.

All the best,
Darren

 

[capt dom]

Darren and old man.

Remote sensing isn't the issue - moving the rocks and boulders is.

We have a static depth of 10 to 14 feet depending on the tide.
There is the same - 10 to 14 feet of sand overburden.

Now after spending half a day or better of blowing pilot holes you begin
to get to the rock pile. One has to open up a big hole as the rocks are
big as well.

The next step is going to take a crane. Lift bags are a problem because
of rigging cable slack and the rim of the hole.

This is why I want to use a dredge. A larger diameter area can be opened up
so we will have enough room to move the rocks around and then out of the way.

I'm not just talking about two or three boulders.... I'm talking a getties worth!

 

[Lucky Eddie]

Dom.

That looks like a great fun operation.

I would not dredge it, if it were me.

Imagine you could have at no cost the biggest dredge in the world, move all the sand and stockpile the rocks...and recover all the coins.... in say1 months work.

Then what?

The search is over - finished and all the fun along with it.

Far better to have friends clients customers whatever, come sit n drink beer with you - shift a rock a day by air bag and enjoy this pass-time forever and your kids and so on.

Imagine the camaraderie built with everyone contributing to a joint effort.

A coin here, a coin there, no ones going to get mega rich - but isn't TRUE WEALTH, the fun time you spend with family & friends enjoying the adventure?

Life my friend is about the journey - not the destination.
Learn to enjoy the journey, for one day, these days will be "the good ol days"!
You sir have found paradise - only you just don't realize it yet!
Take the time to smell the roses.

Cheers

 

[capt dom]

I have to tell you...

In one respect you hit the nail on the head!
For over 20 years its been a great and wonderful ride.

Yes, there has been a dark side.... miss-understandings, damaged friendships
(it cost a lot of money to maintain full scale operations)
but all and all a fantastic journey and opportunity to share the adventure of discovery
with as many people as we possibly can.

But, Eddie... I am not a bureaucrat! I do not want to stretch this project out forever.
We are undersea explorers... It is our goal to solve the enigma of "Where is the Rest of this Ship"
Once one has truly tasted the adventure of discovery - finding "treasure" - they never will stop!

There are countless lost vessels and yet undiscovered events out there and all this legal and bureaucratic
bullsh_t will never poision the urge that is ingrained in some of us - to explore - to seek out
and to share the adventure of discovery with others....

There is a method to my madness about dredging the sand....
An environmentally sensitive coastal / dune restoration company will have
work forever! And, therein the funding can be made
available to support professional staff - (not me!) - so projects like this
may continue...

Sea level is rising. There is no question about that. Dune restoration
and saving both tax paying folks and turtles nesting habitats will continue to be
a priority as long as property taxes can be collected and and there are lobbyists.

By proving that an exploration company can do it right.
(see: http://www.jupitercoins.com/CHUMS.html )

My concept of where the rest of the shipwreck is may well be wrong
But, turning the moving of the sand into TREASURE
by getting reimbursed fair and equitably - while performing a public good
can wipe away the "black eye" those Bast_rds - in the name of protecting the
public trust have attempted to paint upon us "treasure hunters"...

And, I know even if I am wrong, we will find a sh_t load of coins
and artifacts...... because everyone in over the last 23 years
has blown them deeper into the holes along the scatter pattern
attempting to get to the bottom!

 

[capt dom]

Another Thing Eddie!

We don't need the "biggest dredge in the world" !

The government is auctioning off self powered coastal
barges 22 by 90 feet long with 8-92 Detroit's for an amount equal to their
scrap metal value - !

CHUMS can turn these into Environmental Coastal Dredge
Platforms. I will attach a photo. I've got the pump company that will provide the
pumps to us at no cost just to help prove the point!

These barges were originally designed and made to work in the surf zone!
They cost the taxpayer over a million two hundred thousand dollars each to
purchase. Yes, they have some design flaws but...
give me a couple of barrels of two part foam and I will take care of that!
For the cost of "melt" we can convert these to working platforms that can
hydraulically pump beach sand down stream - up on to the deck for inspection
and or de watering and then transit it to where it is needed for performing
a "public good"!

The only problem with this concept is it is too good of an idea...
Or... To some others ... Because it is my idea... and they just don't like me....
But that is just stupid...

And,.... I can't afford to do it on my own!

Anybody want to sign on for this one
We can be finding treasure and saving the turtles at the same time!

 

[itmaiden]

There's money in those rocks ! Landscaping rocks I tell ya ! You've got to sell those rocks. Maybe the state would like to have them to shore up another eroding coastline somewhere ? You could even "give the rocks away for free" to a company willing to remove them.

itmaiden

Darren and old man.
Remote sensing isn't the issue - moving the rocks and boulders is.

We have a static depth of 10 to 14 feet depending on the tide.
There is the same - 10 to 14 feet of sand overburden.

Now after spending half a day or better of blowing pilot holes you begin
to get to the rock pile. One has to open up a big hole as the rocks are
big as well.

I'm not just talking about two or three boulders.... I'm talking a getties worth!

 

[mariner]

Old Man,

Will those PI units detect bronze cannons and silver bars? I have a site here in Oregon which I have had surveyed with a caesium magnetometer and ground penetrating radar. The Caesium mag will only detect metals that are conductive and the ground penetrating radar would only penetrate three foot because of the salt infusing this particular site. I tried also White's deep penetrating metal detector, but I couldn't get rid of the background noise because of the salt. I am wondering about the next step. I only need about ten or twelve feet of penetration.

Mariner

 

[old man]

Mariner, The PI unit that I own is called a Pulse Star ll, it is made in Germany. I bought my unit through Kelly Co in Florida.
The unit will detect ferrous and non-ferrous metal. There are two lights on the control box. One light will tell you if the metal that is detected is ferrous the other light will tell you if it is non-ferrous. So yes, it will detect a bronze cannon and tell you on the control box that it is non-ferrous.
The unit is NOT Remote Sensing. It is a pulse induction metal detector. The control box can not be taken underwater. A 33 foot or 100 foot extension cable can be used from the boat to a diver that is on the bottom. The unit comes standard with either an 10 inch ( or maybe its an 8 inch coil) or an 18 inch coil. You can also buy a 1 meter coil or a two meter coil.

I spent 17 years off and on in Ecuador looking for the 45 tons of silver that Sir Francis Drake dumped off the Island of La Plata. You can read about it in the Treasure Divers guide by John Potter. That book gave a general location, but according to other research that is what pin pointed it for me. I can tell you that I held a 1 meter coil over the side of a boat and received a massive non-ferrous reading, an an area about half the size of a football field. ( I wont give you an exact depth, but I will tell you that the water was over 40 feet deep and under 100 feet) I then dove on the site with two others and using a homemade airlift, we uncovered several feet of sand and muck before we uncovered an 80 lb. silver bar. There are also other books that were written by ex-pirates in the 1600s that verify that that is where Drake dumped the silver, as well as a plaque on the island that states that is where Drake dumped the silver in 1589. The Island is now a National Park.

So in my opinion, I swear by this unit. Personally, if I was going to survey a site with a large amount of silver or looked for bronze cannons. I would put a 1 or 2 meter coil in a rubber raft and tow it behind my survey boat. I can also tell you that I used this same technique in the Indian River and received 3 separate small non-ferrous reading within a 50 yard area. I didnt dive the site at the time because of several fisherman on shore and in boats near by. I have however,given the general location to someone that posts on here and I lent my pulse star to him to check it out. Since I live in the North East and wont be down that way very often. Also if that person is reading this, I just located the GPS numbers that I have for that site.

 

[mariner]

old man,

Thanks for that information. I think I will try to get hold of one of those PI units.

I remember those previous posts about you finding and holding the silver bar, and putting in back so you did not spoil your chances of getting a licenser to recover the lot, and I believed you, even though I am conmvinced that those bars had nothing to do with Drake, whose movements I hacve studied for many years.

Thanks again.

Mariner

 

[Trond]

Great photos, I'm happy for you guys. You dig these wonderful finds- Little by little.


Please keep us updated.

 

[capt dom]

The rocks are not any good for
an active surf zone revetment. That is why many of them
made it out to these holes! Storm events after 1921 pulled
them from the original getties constructed at the inlet and
they worked their way into the solution holes as the bottom
goes into transit during storm events.

I am assuming the same thing happened to a lot of our shipwreck
remains over the next 240 years after 1660.

The rocks will however be great for landscaping but remember
This is state lands and the people own the rocks
I do think there is something in the contract permits that allow the
people's representative - the State - to collect some fees for moved excavated
material. Want to look that us itmaiden?

 

[ivan salis]

dom what is that 2 boat lengths to the rear of you and one boat length to the right with your boat in the seaward facing direction that is ? --any ideal? --in the the photo its to the rear about 2 vessel lengths and 1 lenght down

 

[capt dom]

Hi Ivan

That is rock out croppings that helped to sustain and hold the
original sandbar our shipwreck upper hull structure ended up on
top of!

In 1920 - 1921 they blasted a channel through this structure to
the north - where the present inlet is. The bored holes and "shape charged
it". That is why many of the rocks are the same general pie shape!

They then scowed them over to the south of the new channel and left them there.
Subsequent tidal action and storm events washed the sand away and the rocks
dropped to the existing hard pan.....
or into the solution holes.
Here are some more photos of them and of us moving them.

Find rocks.... Move rocks.... Find coins....
and artifacts....

That s the big secret... Folks....
Just a matter of having the right gear and good weather.... and an Admiralty Rights
along with all the permits and agreements with our state.