ivan salis
Gold Member
- Feb 5, 2007
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wreck hunting "backwards" -- the 5 W's of logic
funny thing --most folks find a wrecksite and then go to the archives try to "find out about it" -- I like working "backwards" using the "logic process" of the 5 W's --- Who did What When Where and Why ---- I go to the archives -- and using them read up on lost wrecks sorting out only those with a good amount of lost treasure onboard -- thus you have your target group of really worthwhile "treasure" vessels to hunt and thus avoid wasting valuible time , effort and money working empty plain jane "everyday cargo" vessels as you would using the other method -- (leave those "plain jane" cargo vessels for the current and future archies to play with since theres no profeit to be made in em) -- using archive data properly --you can often know the Who (wrecked) and What (they were carrying) and When (did it occur) and sometimes roughly Where (at) to look for the wreck as well as Why (did it happen) --heres my exsample from info pulled out from a letter written on Oct 24th of 1715 from the govenor of virginia (spotswood) to the british home sec (stanhope)---from the PS section on the bottom of the letter the following was info was found (Who -W#1) "a (rescue and treasure recovery) barkalonga" was sent from havana.cuba to the spanish 1715 fleet wrecksite ---(What -W#2) to pick up VIP's that lived thru the wrecks and treasure ** (humm with the VIP's going on the vessel might they have also loaded valuible "royal" jewelry items to get them away from the area before the "treasure" raiders showed up? a very good chance of that I'd say)-- (When - W#3) she must have been lost between the fleets wreck and oct 24,1715 (Why- W#4) cause of loss is unknown at this time (Where- W#5) about 40 miles northward of st augustine (nassau sound -- by using the old inlet exit in use in 1715 (the harbors changed a lot since 1715) it is 40 miles northward to nassau sound from st augustine ) -----(note --- using an additional spanish document dated oct 19th ,1715 a letter from casa torres (cuba) to the viceroy of mexico also backs the english letter --- it tells of reports coming from st augustine of "wreckage of a vessel or vessels" found on the shoreline 15 leagues ( converts to 39 miles) to the leeward (north) of this port (st augustine) and that there was feared to be no survivors -- ****which is very important since the spanish had no way to know if it was just wreckage washed ashore from a ship that broke up at sea out in deep water or a local shallow water wreck -- since there was no survivors to say where the wreck occured ---they had no ideal of where to look at - thus no salvage could be done done --- the english knew of the wrecks rough "possible" general location thru the information their spy network gathered in st augustine ( heck the english report was only 5 days later than the cuban one was -- LOL)--- another big clue was an english 1769 map of about 54 years later showing a wreck site in the area -- the only wreck site "marked" on the map and the area did not have a lot of shipping in the area pre 1769 either --so it lines up rather nicely eh? ---- (you can hunt this way on a "shoestring" budget really) because until you actually phyiscally hunt her down no actual "salvage" vessels or big money "backer" types are needed -- and once needed the sound research you've done will be the key to funding the "project" and getting them "onboard" -- Ivan
funny thing --most folks find a wrecksite and then go to the archives try to "find out about it" -- I like working "backwards" using the "logic process" of the 5 W's --- Who did What When Where and Why ---- I go to the archives -- and using them read up on lost wrecks sorting out only those with a good amount of lost treasure onboard -- thus you have your target group of really worthwhile "treasure" vessels to hunt and thus avoid wasting valuible time , effort and money working empty plain jane "everyday cargo" vessels as you would using the other method -- (leave those "plain jane" cargo vessels for the current and future archies to play with since theres no profeit to be made in em) -- using archive data properly --you can often know the Who (wrecked) and What (they were carrying) and When (did it occur) and sometimes roughly Where (at) to look for the wreck as well as Why (did it happen) --heres my exsample from info pulled out from a letter written on Oct 24th of 1715 from the govenor of virginia (spotswood) to the british home sec (stanhope)---from the PS section on the bottom of the letter the following was info was found (Who -W#1) "a (rescue and treasure recovery) barkalonga" was sent from havana.cuba to the spanish 1715 fleet wrecksite ---(What -W#2) to pick up VIP's that lived thru the wrecks and treasure ** (humm with the VIP's going on the vessel might they have also loaded valuible "royal" jewelry items to get them away from the area before the "treasure" raiders showed up? a very good chance of that I'd say)-- (When - W#3) she must have been lost between the fleets wreck and oct 24,1715 (Why- W#4) cause of loss is unknown at this time (Where- W#5) about 40 miles northward of st augustine (nassau sound -- by using the old inlet exit in use in 1715 (the harbors changed a lot since 1715) it is 40 miles northward to nassau sound from st augustine ) -----(note --- using an additional spanish document dated oct 19th ,1715 a letter from casa torres (cuba) to the viceroy of mexico also backs the english letter --- it tells of reports coming from st augustine of "wreckage of a vessel or vessels" found on the shoreline 15 leagues ( converts to 39 miles) to the leeward (north) of this port (st augustine) and that there was feared to be no survivors -- ****which is very important since the spanish had no way to know if it was just wreckage washed ashore from a ship that broke up at sea out in deep water or a local shallow water wreck -- since there was no survivors to say where the wreck occured ---they had no ideal of where to look at - thus no salvage could be done done --- the english knew of the wrecks rough "possible" general location thru the information their spy network gathered in st augustine ( heck the english report was only 5 days later than the cuban one was -- LOL)--- another big clue was an english 1769 map of about 54 years later showing a wreck site in the area -- the only wreck site "marked" on the map and the area did not have a lot of shipping in the area pre 1769 either --so it lines up rather nicely eh? ---- (you can hunt this way on a "shoestring" budget really) because until you actually phyiscally hunt her down no actual "salvage" vessels or big money "backer" types are needed -- and once needed the sound research you've done will be the key to funding the "project" and getting them "onboard" -- Ivan
