New Shipwreck - Take a stab at dating artifacts.

[ScubaFinder]

The wood will likely go to the well equipped government conservation lab in Santo Domingo. Francis Soto is an incredible conservator, and he already has a lot of really nice hardwoods to conserve (some of the best pieces I've ever seen). I believe he will use Polyethelyne Glycol (540 blend or PEG 1500) and alcohol. Comparitively, my little pulley is not too impressive...I'll just keep it in clean water until I can get it to him. Here is a pic of some of the incredible pieces he has on his plate now to give you an idea.

 

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[mariner]

Jason,

In every aspect of the way you go about things, you are a credit to the brotherhood of Treasure Hunters.

Congratulations on this latest project.

Mariner

 

[TheMuseumGuy]

Jason,

In every aspect of the way you go about things, you are a credit to the brotherhood of Treasure Hunters.

Congratulations on this latest project.

Mariner

I know some of you on TN have worked with Jason before and know him at least somewhat...maybe better than me so far...I have only known him and worked with him since January 5th of this year...but let me tell you...we have had people come and go in the over 20 years Rick, my partner, and I have been working this territory and he is a real delight! He is hard working, conscientious, intelligent and the first one to get a "grip" on something that needs to be moved, the first one in and the last one out of the water...the one that remembers that little something that if we didn't have it...the day would be lost...a great conservator...great with equipment...and a truly good friend. He is a real pleasure to have aboard! We are damned lucky to have him!

Personally, he is funny, quick with a sly comment or joke, even keeled and a real pleasure to be around! The women down here adore him and he barely even seems to notice. He is humble upon all his other qualities. Go figure!!! Jason? He is definitely OK in our books! And NO, you can't have him!

In a way, NCR has already found a treasure!
Jack

 

[aquanut]

Jason's probably blushing after seeing your accolades, Jack.
It's great you all get along so well.
Aquanut

 

[ScubaFinder]

My face is red, but it's from too much sun....we finally got our weather window.

Mariner, I consider that quite a compliment coming from you...us ethical and archaeologically minded folks are often outnumbered here. Not that I don't love pirates and all, but if MY hands are on a wreck, I want to be proud of what I DID, not just proud of what I FOUND. I always enjoy the level-headed logic of your posts, keep 'em coming.

Jack, for the LAST time, I'm NOT going to sleep with you! Thanks brother, I appreciate your comments a lot...now if I could somehow live up to my new found reputation, I'll be all good. We do indeed have a great team with an incredible synergy...all we need now is a front page news headline that reads "Small band of professional salvors does outstanding archaeology on treasure galleon, archaeological community stangely quiet." LOL

Speaking of, I thought for sure we had found a big pile of silver bars today near the single cannon. We put a magnet on one and it didn't react...after further investigation, they were just iron ballast, but it sure got my blood pumping. Oh well, we brought up a few pottery shards today to help with ID'ing the wreck...it's not the one we were looking for and everything is badly overgrown with coral. This is one of those rare instances where the wreck (and reef) will be better off if we leave it as is.

Tomorrow we're back to dredging near the 18 cannons. There was hardly any white water coming over the reefs today, but we had to verify those targets on the other site so we could sleep tonight. Tomorrow should be a great day again, and I'm betting we'll have some more video for you guys soon.

Jason

 

[TheMuseumGuy]

HELLO FELLOW HUNTERS!

Sorry it has been so long between videos but the weather has been rather uncooperative but diving has commenced again in full fervor! Thank goodness for Jason's posts with photos or you would have thought we died! HA!

Well here is another HD video of Jason, Sandy, Scott, Christopher and the TEAM diving on yet another new site out of the literally hundreds & hundreds we have to explore in our 400 sq.mi territory! They all about had a heart attack when they found what appeared to be a big pile of silver bars, which turned out to be iron, but watch the urgency as they dig one up and bring it to the surface! Jason's underwater "MoonWalk" is awesome as he lugs that 45lb bar towards the tender!

The video starts out with our "commute" to work, fording two rivers and driving through the jungle to the deserted pristine beach!

I have videos from yesterday still that I haven't finished going through and Christopher just now brought me the ones from today that I haven't downloaded from the camera yet but will do that next and get both videos up ASAP.

The video from yesterday is very interesting since Christopher shot each step of setting up the dredge and then its use until a huge hole is opened up and we find ship's timbers! Another wreck! YIKES! Wrecks Everywhere!

My question is, has everyone set up and used a dredge before? I could edit that part out and just show the finding of the timbers for a 2 or 3 minute video or I could show the whole set up and end up with a 6 or more minute video if anyone is interested in seeing the set up etc. We get used to it but maybe some folks would like to see it? Let me know.

ENJOY THE VIDEO!
Jack
Let's See What Tomorrow Brings!

​

 

[FISHEYE]

You guys better cash in on those heavy iron bars at the scrap yard before the end of next week.China isnt going to be buying any more steel,copper or aluminum after that.So prices are sure to drop down to next to nothing.

 

[Trond]

Nice video.

 

[SEAHUNTER]

Hi Jack
I really enjoy yours and Jason's posts. Eagerly awaiting your next video. What kind of video equipment are you using?
Keep up the good work.
Seahunter

 

[TheMuseumGuy]

Hi Jack
I really enjoy yours and Jason's posts. Eagerly awaiting your next video. What kind of video equipment are you using?
Keep up the good work.
Seahunter

Thank you Seahunter and Trond for your nice compliments on the video! I'm editing another one of us dredging and finding timbers of a new wreck site but it is going to take me while as I want to show the whole process of setting up the dredge and digging deeper and deeper...maybe tomorrow sometime I will have it ready.

What kind of equipment do I use?...good question. I worked as a photojournalist for over 20 years for all 3 of the major networks, Hughes TV, European TV and others so I know equipment but believe it or not, after weighing all the pros and cons I bought a camera for under $1,000! I bought a little Sony HDSR-12 camera with a 120 Gigabyte hard drive which also shoots 12MegaPixel photos. I am so very happy with this camera! It is light weight and works great. I also bought a Sony Vaio laptop that is full HD with four Gigabytes of ram, Intel Duo-core 2 Gigahertz processor with the 64 Bit system and massive storage for the HD videos, also for just under $1,000. For an underwater housing we got a Equinox for about $800 but if I had it to do over again I would have bought the Ikelite. With the Ikelite we could see the LCD display on the camera and the Equinox you have to try and look through the viewfinder on the camera so it is extremely tough to see your shot and all the info you need like battery, settings and whether you are zoomed in or out and other important stuff you can't see at all! It was $200 less but pales in comparison. Also the mounting bracket for the camera was a tiny little screw that got lost the very first day and now we use tie-wraps to hold it in! DOH! I edit with Microsoft's Windows Movie Maker...free and easy to use and good enough for the girls I go out with! HA!

(I just looked online for the Sony HDSR-12 camera and they are back up to $1,300 to $1,999 but I waited until after XMAS and a couple of days before the end of the year to buy and the bottom dropped out on the pricing on both the laptop and the camera...I saved almost $800 by buying them at that time! I bet just before this XMAS they will come out with both cameras and laptops that store info on an MP3 type device instead of a hard drive with no moving parts and incredible battery life and low heat output...but I would wait until after XMAS and New Years Eve to buy them!)

Any other questions, please feel free to ask!
Jack

 

[TheMuseumGuy]

The HD camera was rolling the moment yet another new shipwreck site was discovered! This wreck, as yet unidentified, has not been seen for centuries and here it is again! Watch the look on Scott's face as the sand slides down the side of the hole uncovering the tip of the beam...he beams at the beam! HA! What a moment of excitement! GO NCR TEAM!

We have more shipwrecks than one can shake a stick at! WHOOHOO!

Enjoy!
Jack
Let's See What Tomorrow Brings!

​

 

[Trond]

Great video, how big is this wreck, and how old do you think this wreck is?

 

[TheMuseumGuy]

Great video, how big is this wreck, and how old do you think this wreck is?

Hi Trond, I was hoping Bobadilla or ScubaFinder would jump in on this one but the fact is that with such a small sample of the wreckage it would be irresponsible to try and guess anything about it at this time other than it is OLD!

We have been incredibly busy the last few days with new sites, cannon and all kinds of happenings so it kinda has our heads spinning! We have been going after prime targets to try and identify them and make a game plan for the next few days or weeks and prioritizing the results and will post the results soon! Please bear with us as we do this!

I/we hope/think we will have a video soon that will knock your socks off or at least wet your appetite for more!

Tick...Tick...Tick...

Stand by to stand by!
Jack
Let's See What Tomorrow Brings!

 

[Goldust]

Awesome video guys. You're making our mouths water. With so many separate wrecks, it would seem impossible to explore all of them in 10 lifetimes.

Continued good luck and keep the vids coming.

Jack - did you find anything worth persuing in the links to ships for sale?

 

[ScubaFinder]

Yeah, sorry for the lack of updates guys....been running around like crazy. Trond, my tentative (and quite early) guess is somewhere around 1620-1630. I'm waiting on some photo's of an artifact removed by fishermen, but based on the cannon and anchors and other stuff, I think it's going to be somewhere around there. No idea on the size, 20 cannon and seven 14 ft. anchors.

As Jack mentioned, we found another cannon nearby that matches our single cannon, and will likely point us to the rest of this wreck. There is a deep channel out there near the little coral plateau where the single cannon is...a mag survey will tell us if the rest of the ship ended up at the bottom of the channel. She definitely bottomed out on the plateau and bounced her way towards the channel leaving clues with each bounce.

The weather has turned for the worse again, so we are focusing on conservation, meeting with local fishermen, and "public relations" with the local ladies. LOL

Jason

 

[TheMuseumGuy]

Latest...Wind is laying down nicely today so the TEAM may be able to dive & dig tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed! The suspense is killing me on what they will find on this new site with all the cannon and anchors!

Just got some more research back today on the buttons we found on Napoleon's lost payroll ship site http://NorthCaribbeanResearch.com/La_Viete.html which was reported to have been carrying 125,000 gold coins and they, so far, look like the right time-period! More research being done and I will keep you posted.

It is so frustrating because we really, really need to have a team at each end of our 100 mi territory working these wreck sites however Rick is in the States in meetings with several different potential investors and we are in constant comms with some others so I hope someone comes through! We are so close but need bigger and better equipment and more research!

Goldust...yes those links went with Rick to the States to show to investors and I have sent them to other interested parties for an idea of what we need. We need a mother ship on site where the team can stay and we can dig literally 24 hours a day with lights at night and cameras rolling for real-time video...it will be so cool and so very effective to bring up the T! Thanks for your help and support Goldust!

Seahunter...did you get the video equipment yet?

...speaking of videos, thank all of you for all the compliments on the videos...I hope to have an awesome one tomorrow for you guys!

You guys please keep your fingers crossed for us and if we get the funding and do get to expand, I and/or Jason will post right here for who and what we need so you guys get first shot at it if any of you would be interested.
Jack
Let's see what tomorrow brings!

 

[Goldust]

Jack - I'd be interested in helping with what I can. You guys are living my dream, and in a small way, am able to whet that appetite by following this forum and your vids. I'm where Jason was a few years ago. So at least I can help a little hoping it makes your jobs a little easier. I'll wait to see the list of what you need.

Good luck on ya'll

 

[Bobadilla]

Hi Jack,

Did you get the detailed results of the research of my man in Paris about the two buttons from La Viette site? I sent them to Rick and to Jason and I sent them the additional information today as well. I am proud to say that it matches perfectly the period and origin we thought!
Please, keep me informed about today's digging results!

Jack, I would like to meet you as soon as possible to finish some work we have started.....

Best regards,
Lobo

 

[TheMuseumGuy]

Bobadilla! The weather is here, I wish you were beautiful! Uh, I mean, the weather is beautiful, I wish you were here!

Christopher just called and said they had perfect conditions out there and tomorrow they swear they will have a huge hole all the way down to bedrock so we have an excellent chance of finding something tomorrow...WHOOHOO!

I indeed got the research from Paris you sent on the buttons from Napoleon's ship and that is incredibly great news! 125,000 one ounce Louis the XV gold coins just waiting for us! Louis D'or...the stuff that dreams are made of...

We now have wrecks that are almost 100 miles apart and a pirate ship in between and we are working out of pinchy little 30 ft plastic boats with home-made equipment but we are going to do this if it kills us all! (Well, not kill, but you know what I mean.) If it wasn't so frustrating I would be laughing at the shear insanity of it all! I hope Rick can up our budget from some of these investors he is meeting with and get us working on several sites at once...24 hours a day. Of course if we find a couple gold coins with the right date tomorrow, all offers will be immediately pulled...why give away a huge chunk of treasure when we can just go to any bank for funding with gold coins as collateral? There will be a few people smacking their foreheads on that one huh? How many people have told us they "almost" invested in Mel Fisher? TOO late to invest AFTER he found it...DOH!

The La Viete should be worth around $300 million to $600 million I bet all told and add that to the other 5 sites that should be worth $750 million all told and that is...DANG! My calculator just burst into flames! I can't even say that number...that's insane! WOW! I'll just stick with "a lot"!

Can you come up this weekend and dive and you and I can work on your "project" some more? (Which is going to take this forum by storm when everyone hears it by the way! It is one great idea you have had my friend and I am honored to be a part of it and able to help. Sheer genius and it will be WAY too much fun for anyone that participates in it...once again, the stuff that dreams are made of!)

Let me know my friend! (I have read your book several times now and almost every night I read the chapter on our pirate ship and the pirate Cofresi just before I go to sleep and have the best dreams of being a pirate and living the life! Great book! I can't wait to bring the "Black Eagle" up my friend and see what's on her and hold something from her in my hand!)

Goldust, Once again thank you for your offers of help, the links you have sent me and all of your encouragement and best wishes! I should know soon if either we A. Got the funding or B. We found something that will change everything and I will post a PM to you before I post on here to give you the heads up! Thanks again!

Where did you go Seahunter? We were flying on the PM's and you suddenly disappeared? Did you get my last one? You OK? You having way too much fun?

WOW! Let's see what tomorrow brings!
Jack

 

[Trond]

I believe you guys will find what you are looking for down there, if not tomorrow, then in the near future for sure.