Just Where is the Rest of the Ship???

[capt dom]

We found our first "GOLD" of the season yesterday !

O.K. so it was only a 10 karat high school class ring from 1973 but it was GOLD!!!

All kidding aside Yesterday was a fun day at the Jupiter Shipwreck site! Normally I do not like to go
out on Sunday because of all the traffic but with a nephew and two daughters in town I decided to bring
the "Tank" into an area where I new there may be finds. This was off the normal scatter pattern - where
both the Polly -L and we have been concentrating. See photo.

We found lots of fish weights! Now that is a good sign! Why?

 

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[capt dom]

The water was a bit "green" but otherwise the vis was O.K.

See below link for some photos:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?p...nf#/photo.php?pid=364586&id=1607486125&ref=nf

Here is another photo that shows one of the holes.

Today we are finally getting the generator electrical connections hooked up so as flat as it is we are at the dock.
You have to slide the bar over a bit to the right to see the "Tank" at work!

 

[ivan salis]

easy --fishing weights are heavy --gold is heavy --were one settles the other is liable too as well.

 

[capt dom]

We were in so close - we change the name of the mail box to the "cookie cutter"!
That is what it does to you if you get between it and the rock out croppings when a swell takes
the boat or a boat goes by.... which just south of the inlet they always are doing!

Looking forward to them there bronze cannons.....

 

[capt dom]

WE DO... Jupiter Wreck Inc. I am one of the original three directors of the company.
We are the owners of the shipwreck vis-a-vi a Upheld Federal Admiralty Claim and subsequent 100 % awards
from the Federal Courts.

 

[capt dom]

Each of the three directors of JWI holds a subcontract agreement.
The Polly - L is working under Seahunter's The "Tank" is working under mine
That's it rokit... no more players

 

[mad4wrecks]

I hope Capt. Dom doesn't mind that I created and posted a short video of his operation on Youtube.



Tom

 

[capt dom]

Thanks Tom

But we need to let everyone know the big guy with the paunch is me!

The coin still shot was from 2006. We have been
shaking down the "Tank" - developing an anchoring routine and dealing
with mechanical malfunctions such as burning up a generator flooding
a metal detector or two and wearing out5 our finger tips!

We have bounced around - first digging in the shallows - then deep
sands - then the real shallows once more. I've got a rabbit I am going to pull out of my
hat but it is going to be later on in September - maybe even in October. As they say.
"Rome wasn't built in a day". After 23 years of playing "chutes and ladders" at this
wreck site - you learn not to be in a hurry!

Hopefully the mechanic is going to finish the installation of the gen set today and we
can get out again with just our regular air supply and save what is left of our ear drums.
To all of you that are unhappy about how loud the tank is - wet canister exhausts are next
right after the gen set is completely functional.

 

[cuzcosquirrel]

The line formed by the deposits, or found artifacts is interesting. The abrupt decline in artifacts to the north-west of it could mean a lot of things. It could be a natural elevation rise that prohibited sea energy movement of artifacts past this boundary. It could mark the limit of the original dredge and recovery work that was conducted earlier. Or it could be a line where the sand became too deep to move by salvors, or where they were prohibited from doing any more work.

The drop pattern of artifacts looks similar to a lot of others, with lighter stuff moving further along toward the shore, the ballast out in a break up zone where I presume the cannons are also. I don't see any falconets, but that is not unusual. There are a lot of wrecks where it is kind of a mystery as to what became of portions of the hull, like the Girona or the Atocha. If it was burned to the water line by account, which seemed to happen a lot with wrecks, that would be an answer. It seems like there would still be some wood around, but it would be little pieces on shore coming up occasionally, and maybe some planks and rib parts way down in the sand. It is hard to get an idea of how many olive jars were found, or cannon balls. This would probably help place the main deposit of material. Like another poster said, if you are looking for coins, then coins are what tend to be found.

 

[capt dom]

The sand does get very deep right where the scatter pattern drops
off - from major finds to just almost nothing. That is right in the middle
of the apparent scatter pattern. The drawing of the cannon spatter at
the beginning of the thread is at the very beginning of the westward portion
of the scatter pattern. The two outrigger cannons were larger and out about
125 to the east east north east. This is very close to where the Polly -L is sitting
right now.

The cannons were 2 pounders, 4 pounders and 6 pounders - all iron. About 5,5 feet
to 8 feet long. What I think is there are two layers of shipwreck scatter. Everything
we have found in the last 23 years is in a layer of sand that was not even there before
1920 - when they dug the first inlet - causing a new sandbar to form off shore. This
represents finds from the secondary scatter pattern.

The scatter pattern drawing is a compilation of all recorded finds to date. I believe
the green markings that represent ballast stones - came off the portion of the shipwreck
that laid in shore - where the cannons were originally found and they worked there way off
shore in the new sand bar as a result of storm events since 1920.

I further believe there is a primary lay of shipwreck scatter that lay in the deeper sand
and under rocks that have accumulated on top of the scatter from the first few jetties
that were built with native stone. Storm events washed these first jetty attempts away
numerous times in the 20's and 30's. During the 40's and world war II they let the
inlet fill right in. You could drive a jeep over where it is today.

Now there is a mouth full I finally got my gen set in so I'm going diving...

 

[capt dom]

DID WE HAVE ANY LUCK?

We found treasure!!!!! His name is Tom Gidus!
I fill you all in right after dinner...

But this guy really knows his stuff!

 

[capt dom]

O.K. So I wolfed down some spaghetti like a good Italian boy and I can
sit back and fill you in. We finally got the gen set we just put in the boat running
and so we could properly turn it on and off and it was about 12:45. I called Tom
and about a half hour later he showed up at the boat with his Aqua Pulse, dive gear
and two bags of ice and we were off.

Tom is a quick study. It did not take him any time at all to find his way
around the deck of the "Tank" and 15 minutes later we were laying anchors out - like
clock work.... I can not impress upon any of you how important it is to get your anchors
set properly... That governs the rest of the day!

Anchors out - blower down - again without a hitch! I stuck the pin in - as every blow
boat is a little different and we were digging.. Of course my metal detector started acting up

Tom, to the rescue! He has an aqua pulse and knows how to use it!

It was like the old days! Fish weights everywhere! Now that may sound screwy to some
of you but some of them were ancient fish weights! That should mean the area we are working in
has not been beat to death by other salvors! In less they weren't worth a crap any good salvor
picks up any hit when searching - if its metal - bring it up! We got some interesting E. O. s a few spikes
Tom got at least 3 highly encrusted coins (quarters) so what! That means when we get to the ledge
tomorrow - which we will - the good stuff may start hitting the deck!

We saw the Polly -L head south later in the day... Does anyone know where she is off to

Thank you Tom for making our day! I hope we can make yours even better tomorrow!

 

[mad4wrecks]

It was a good day Dom. Thanks for teaching me a little bit about how to work the bottom and about the underwater topography on the wrecksite.

It was also great to finally meet you and Yvonne and the Lisa's-the most beautiful treasure hunting crew anywhere!

Oddly enough, when I got home, I had spaghetti waiting for me as well.

Tom

 

[capt dom]

Tom found his first 8 reale" on the Jupiter Shipwreck today

We are going out to eat.

Thanks Tom for slugging the anchors and all the other help today
We were on the south western edge of the scatter pattern on the upper ledge
just south of where the wreck impacted in about eleven feet static.

The bottom is pretty much exposed out there at eleven to twelve feet.

 

[capt dom]

tomorrow - we are whooped