Treasure Coast Diggers... how old is this anchor?

[mad4wrecks]

Chagy, yes I remember our trip quite well.
The article relating to Art Hempstead had to do with bronze cannon I believe from Bethel Shoal. I don't think it had anything to do with the San Martin. I'll look for it when I have time.

But that was not the first time I came across his name. I have several other articles, including 1 from the Ft Pierce library that I found in the mid 80's.

The "pre-Google" reference was not for you. You are one of the best researchers I know.

 

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[Chagy]

A lot could be learned if we were able to find those guns. I wonder if they are still somewhere in Florida. It shouldn’t be too hard to trace down Mr. Hempstead or a family member……

 

[Chagy]

Chagy, yes I remember our trip quite well.
The article relating to Art Hempstead had to do with bronze cannon I believe from Bethel Shoal. I don't think it had anything to do with the San Martin. I'll look for it when I have time.

But that was not the first time I came across his name. I have several other articles, including 1 from the Ft Pierce library that I found in the mid 80's.

The "pre-Google" reference was not for you. You are one of the best researchers I know.

By the way we need to go back to that place....

Tom I know that the article says Bethel Shoal....but what I am trying to tell you is that I am almost 99% sure that I found more information about Mr.Hempstead and the bronze guns and it said that he found them in the San Martin

 

[mad4wrecks]

That would be interesting to see Luis.

With Hempstead claiming to have pulled bronze guns off that wreck, and McKee, King and Carr pulling off some as well, it's adding up to more than 5 guns.

One of the San Martin guns was in someone's yard off Jungle Trail in the John's Island/Wabasso area. The last time I saw it was several years ago, before the hurricanes. Terry may be aware of this as well.

 

[signumops]

Chagy, Tom:
Pretty sure the bronze guns I am always whining about came off the San Martin. Also pretty sure that there may be more. McKee took a good load of iron guns off the San Martin, but, I can almost swear on my bucket list that he did not find all of them, so, why think that there are not more of the bronze guns in the area. You both know, as well as I do that back in the fifties, there could not have been that many people equipped with snorkels and face masks in the area, with the exception of the UDT guys along the coastal camps north of the Fort Pierce Inlet. They, I am sure, must have found wreckage while training there... it would be almost impossible the put a bunch of divers in the surf there without finding stuff. Imagine... one of the three guys in the King/Carr/McKee syndicate being home on leave from the military (and all the way from Alaska at that!). None the less, I am not one to throw away money and always prefer to bet with the statistics. Statistically, the number of educated eyes in the water on a really good visibility day in the Treasurecoast area are close to zero, giving all of us the statistically superior odds of finding something over time... far better odds than elsewhere farther south where visibility is so much better, more often than not. People see stuff and don't know what it is they are looking at, or, they only see the really big stuff. Sort of like the 1000-monkeys-typing-a-best-selling-book-by-accident theory.

One of the guns is on a concrete stand, somewhere in the Indian River area, but I don't know where for sure. It would be worth seeing again. I will have to take a drive down Jungle Trail. Maybe it's on Corrigan's place (Orchid Island).

The San Martin had a companion vessel. Did it crash too? Dunno. But, the area between Mickey Mouse and the Cannon Wreck has some pretty intense shelving about 1400 feet out, and is a consistent haunt for those lobster divers, some of which I think are not lobster divers at all if you get my drift.

Everybody is in the same boat (maybe NOT in a boat) with the comedians running things on Wall Street this year, including my own crew(s). You're not alone.