Isla de Mona - Las busquedas de botines de Piratas.

En 1879, el gobierno español en Puerto Rico encomendó al Teniente de Navío Indalecio Núñez Zuloaga, el ir a examinar los depósitos de guanos existente en aquella época en isla de Mona. Él estudió los pescadores de aquel litoral de la Mona, en como pescaban el carey y otros peces.

Entre las actividades que vio de la gente que estaba en esa isla, cuando él estuvo, fue la llegada temporera de un capitán de la Marina Mercante Francesa, buscando el lugar donde unos piratas habían guardado un valioso botín.

Según Núñez, este capitán trato de atravesar la meseta superior o llanura, como Él lo describe, pero desistió de la idea por la diversidad de peligros al que Él se enfrentó.
(Diccionario Enciclopédico Hispanoamericano, William M. Jackson, pág. 291)


Un paraíso con sus peligros

Para los que no conocen de la Mona, esta isla posee diversidad de bellezas naturales, así como, peligros que cualquier explorador puede enfrentar si no toma las debidas precauciones antes de salir a explorar. Uno de esos exploradores que encontró esos peligros, según Núñez, fue este capitán de la marina francesa.

Según esta historia, el capitán trato de atravesar la meseta superior o llanura buscando el tesoro. Los peligros que los exploradores, cazadores y público en general han enfrentado en esa área de la isla es la maleza. Bien se sabe, la maleza silvestre que existe en esa llanura, muchas veces crece hasta llegar a una altura por encima de un ser humano normal en estatura, imposibilitando el flujo natural y refrescante de la brisa que fluye libremente del mar, haciendo que la persona que se encuentra en medio de esa maleza, sufra de deshidratación.

Otro peligro que se combina con el primero es el ardiente sol. En la Mona se han registrado temperatura de hasta 110 grado F. Si se combina esto con la falta de brisa, puedes, fácilmente, sufrir de un desmayo y morir de deshidratación, como ha pasado en el pasado con un niño Boy Scout y un psicólogo.


Otro peligro que existe en esta llanura es la falta de orientación. Debido a que es una meseta totalmente plana, sin lomas o zonas montañosas, es fácil desorientarse si no se tiene a la mano un GPS o brújula.

Uno de los peligros más numerosos son los arboles venenosos, que producen alergias, vómitos, mareos y a veces la muerte con tan solo tocarlos. Mucha gente los desconoce y se detienen a tomar sombra debajo de uno de ellos y se encuentran con un peligro eminente.

El suelo de esta llanura es totalmente de roca caliza y cortante. Si no se tiene cuidado al caminar, se puede caer, romperse una pierna o encontrar la muerte.



Claves para esconder el Tesoro

Cabe la posibilidad que la localización de este supuesto botín o tesoro guardado por los piratas se encuentre en el centro de la isla. Hipotéticamente es posible debido a que los piratas enterraban un botín dejándose llevar por varias claves, una de esas era el enterrar el tesoro en un lugar que estuviera por encima del nivel del mar. Otra clave es esconderlo en un lugar donde fuera imposible de cambiar de panorama cuando vinieran a buscarlo. El centro de la isla tiene dos lugares que no han cambiado de geografía, ni de apariencia debido a su naturaleza y por la conservación que se le dio en un pasado.


Posibles lugares donde puede estar el tesoro

La historia sobre este capitán no dice la ruta que el tomo o si tenía en mano un mapa o ruta a tomar pero posiblemente él se dirigió a buscar el tesoro en las cuevas del centro. Debido a que Él trato de atravesar la llanura, se puede asumir que el posible botín se encontraba en algún punto del centro de la isla. Estas cuevas se encuentran en el centro de la isla pero más localizada hacia el este de la misma. Para llegar a estas cuevas existe un camino que empieza en las ruinas del antiguo y primer faro de la Mona, exactamente frente a los caminos de cemento que llevan al faro.

Bien se sabe que los piratas le encantaban esconderse y enterrar sus botines dentro de las cuevas por la seguridad que las mismas ofrecían. Con la diversidad de recamaras, la posibilidad de construir una pared falsa, la temperatura ambiente tan fresca y el acomodo para resguardarse por temporadas, las cuevas era un lugar perfecto.

Otro lugar que pudiera ser es el parque Taino mejor conocido por bajuras de los cerezos. El mismo se encuentra en el centro de la isla. Existe un camino casi abandonado en mantenimiento, que empieza desde cueva Doña Geña, atraviesa todo el centro hasta que hace un intercepción con otro camino que viene de cueva esqueleto, luego se toma ese otro camino hacia la derecha, con referencia hacia el norte y al final se llega al parque.

Los piratas, también, acostumbraban enterrar y guardar sus botines en lugares cerca donde los Tainos se reunían y marcaban el lugar. Ellos, usualmente, lo enterraban en donde existieran petroglifos para poder usarse como referencia y luego, venir a buscarlo.

Este parque Taino está abandonado por el Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueño ya que no se le da mantenimiento arqueológico que merece, ni publicidad al público. El mismo contiene diversidad de piedras talladas y bien puestas, que bien, pudieron ser usadas como referencias por piratas para enterrar algo de valor.


La búsqueda continúa

La búsqueda de tesoros en la Mona se remonta desde 1874 cuando el mismo gobierno español de Puerto Rico mando una expedición a buscar otro posible tesoro de piratas escondido o enterrado en esa isla. Hoy día, existen personas interesadas en seguir buscando estos entierros, que sí, existen (a menos que alguien no haya venido y lo ha encontrado primero) en la Mona y están registrado, mayormente, en las cuevas de la costa.

Para los que no saben, Mona está protegida por leyes que prohíben excavar dentro de las cuevas sin la debida autorización del Gobierno (Ley 112)

http://www.icp.gobierno.pr/icp/PDF/CARQT_doc_ley112.pdf..

El detectar en las playas de la Mona no está prohibido pero se te puede restringir el usarlo si eres una amenaza en contra de la flora, fauna y lugares arqueológicos.

archi blogger

5 Legendary Treasures Islands from around the World

By Florin Nedelcu

There’s something about pirates and their adventures that has always fascinated us and if you’re looking for more than pirate movies or books, how about a real pirate treasure hunt? We’ve got the perfect locations for you.

Mona Island, Puerto Rico

An island in the archipelago of Puerto Rico, La Isla de Mona, as the Spanish call it, is a natural paradise with no native inhabitants. At just 11 km by 7 km, you might not think much of it but little Mona Island has quite a history of pirating.

This is in fact the location where the infamous English pirate Henry Jennings, known not only for his cruelty but also for his knowledge and good manners, hid his treasure. An expedition in 1939 discovered the doubloon-filled chest and was auctioned in Chicago for a fabulous sum back then – 1 million dollars.

But that wasn’t the only treasure Mona Island kept hidden, every once in a while gold coins are washed ashore by the tide, so who knows, maybe you will get lucky and find another pirate treasure. And since the island isn’t inhabited you can keep it all to yourself.

Roatan, Honduras

Just so you can get an idea of how important Roatan was in the pirate era, you should know that this island was the headquarters of the famous pirate Henry Morgan, during the XVII century.

Roatan was a safe haven for English, French and Danish pirates and to this day, the natives of Roatan believe many treasures of these corsairs still lay hidden around the island. And the discovery of a certain archeologist, Mitchell Hedges, back in the 1930s proved them right. Hedges was just walking down the beach holding a compass when the needle just started spinning. After investigating his surroundings he discovered four chests filled with gold doubloons.

He only presented one of them to the authorities, using the remaining three to buy a castle in England, where he lived until his death. Since then there has been no record of another discovered treasure, but if you found it, would you report it? I didn’t think so.

Isla de la Juventud, Cuba

This Island of Youth offers its visitors priceless natural treasures, lush vegetation, sun-bathed beaches and crystal-blue waters, but there might also be some gold and jewels in it for you.

Back when pirates were feared and respected for their power and influence, La Isla de la Juventud was a shelter for pirates the likes of Francis Drake, Henry Morgan, John Hawkins or Edward Tich. As a curiosity, the pirates of Isla de la Juventud sailed around coastal waters in huge canoes, inherited from the native tribes.

Isla de la Juventud was also a prison throughout the years, even Fidel Castro served time here, so if you’re not into treasure hunting, you might want to visit the prison.

Norman Island, British Virgin Islands

The very name of Norman Island is said to have belonged to a pirate who, upon discovering it, sought to claim it as his own. And if we are to believe to historical records there is treasure to be found in this place.

According to some old chronicles, in August 1750, the Spanish galleon “Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe” crashed off the coast of North America, the crew mutinied and two small boats carrying 55 chests full of silver sailed for the island of Norman. One of them reached its destination and unloaded the cargo on the island, but the other never arrived. The Governor of the British Virgin Islands sent some officers to search for it but the boat was never found.

There are tales about fishermen hiding from rains and storms in caves around the islands and stumbling-upon chests of old doubloons, but nothing official. Still if visitors don’t discover the lost treasure, at least they can enjoy the sun and the clear waters.

Cozumel, Mexico

The ancient Mayan believed Cozumel to be a sacred place home of Ischtel, goddess of fertility, so they constructed several temples and a sacred burial ground here. Set off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula, Cozumel is a great place to see the second largest Barrier Reef in the world and enjoy the incredible underwater world.

After the Spanish ultimately destroyed the Mayan people on Cozumel, the island of Cozumel remained uninhabited and eventually became a shelter for pirates running away from the law, a perfect place to stash treasures. Many say the ancient Mayan catacombs still hide pirate treasures.

http://blog.hotelclub.com/5-legendary-treasures-islands-from-around-the-world/

18th-Century Ship Found at Trade Center Site

By David W. Dunlap


In the middle of tomorrow, a great ribbed ghost has emerged from a distant yesterday.

On Tuesday morning, workers excavating the site of the underground vehicle security center for the future World Trade Center hit a row of sturdy, upright wood timbers, regularly spaced, sticking out of a briny gray muck flecked with oyster shells.

Obviously, these were more than just remnants of the wooden cribbing used in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to extend the shoreline of Manhattan Island ever farther into the Hudson River. (Lower Manhattan real estate was a precious commodity even then.)

“They were so perfectly contoured that they were clearly part of a ship,” said A. Michael Pappalardo, an archaeologist with the firm AKRF, which is working for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to document historical material uncovered during construction.

By Wednesday, the outlines made it plain: a 30-foot length of a wood-hulled vessel had been discovered about 20 to 30 feet below street level on the World Trade Center site, the first such large-scale archaeological find along the Manhattan waterfront since 1982, when an 18th-century cargo ship came to light at 175 Water Street.

The area under excavation, between Liberty and Cedar Streets, had not been dug out for the original trade center. The vessel, presumably dating from the mid- to late 1700s, was evidently undisturbed more than 200 years.

News of the find spread quickly. Archaeologists and officials hurried to the site, not only because of the magnitude of the discovery but because construction work could not be interrupted and because the timber, no longer safe in its cocoon of ooze, began deteriorating as soon as it was exposed to air.

For that reason, Doug Mackey, the chief regional archaeologist for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, was grateful for the rainfall. “If the sun had been out,” he said, “the wood would already have started to fall apart.”

As other archaeologists scrambled with tape measures over what appeared to be the floor planks of the ship’s lowermost deck, Mr. Mackey said, “We’re trying to record it as quickly as possible and do the analysis later.” All around the skeletal hull, excavation for the security center proceeded, changing the muddy terrain every few minutes.

Romantics may conjure the picture of an elegant schooner passing in sight of the spire of Trinity Church. Professional archaeologists are much more reserved.

They were even careful not to say for certain whether they were looking at the prow or the stern of the vessel, though the fanlike array of beams seemed to suggest that the aft (rear) portion of the ship was exposed. Mr. Pappalardo said the whole vessel may have been two or three times longer than the portion found.

Perhaps the most puzzling and intriguing find was a semicircular metal collar, several feet across, apparently supported on a brick base, built into the hull. Perhaps it was some sort of an oven or steam contraption.

About the farthest Mr. Mackey and Mr. Pappalardo would go in conjecture was to say that the sawed-off beams seemed to indicate that the hull had deliberately been truncated, most likely to be used as landfill material.

A 1797 map shows that the excavation site is close to where Lindsey’s Wharf and Lake’s Wharf once projected into the Hudson. So, no matter how many mysteries now surround the vessel, it may turn out that the ghost even has a name.

Readers who know a thing or two about boat-building or maritime history are encouraged to look through the slide show and offer their interpretations.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/18th-century-ship-found-at-trade-center-site&no_interstitial/

52,000 Roman coins discovered in England

Monday, July 12, 2010 6:10:48 AM by Aishwarya Bhatt

Somerset, July 12 (THAINDIAN NEWS) Over 52,000 Roman coins worth about $1 million have been discovered by an amateur treasure hunter. He found the coins buried at a field using a metal detector.

The treasure hunter - Dave Crisp, accidentally found the coins in a field near Somerset in England. Dave was searching for “metal objects” at the field with his metal detector, when he chanced upon the coins.

Dave initially discovered only 21 coins, but he felt that there might be more. He got the help of archaeologists and they later found more coins after the excavation. The huge cache contains 766 coins that bear the image of Marcus Aurelius Carausius, who was Roman general who ruled Britain between AD 286 to AD 293. He is regarded as the first Roman emperor to make coins in Britain.

After the excavation, the coins were transferred to the renowned British Museum in London for cleaning and recording. According to the museum officials, the coins date between AD 253 and AD 293. Most of the coins are made of debased silver and bronze.

Museum officials called the find as the biggest in a single shot in UK and the second largest ever find of Roman coins.

Dave said that he would split the value of the coins into two, and share it with farmer in whose field he found the coins.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/52000-roman-coins-discovered-in-england_100394722.html

Corsario, última voluntad del pirata Cofresí | Luis Asencio Cama

En marzo de 1825, Roberto Cofresí, de 33 años de edad, fue atrapado mediante un ardid perfilado por la Corona española y el gobierno estadounidense en su esfuerzo por erradicar la piratería en el Caribe.

Cofresí, durante su breve estadía en una cárcel en San Juan, registró sus vivencias en un relato que sencillamente llamó «Última voluntad y testamento para la posteridad» y en el que no fi gura benefi ciario alguno. Si acaso, sus palabras iniciales, «Vieja conocida mía has sido» —obviamente dirigidas a la Muerte—, son el único vislumbre que tenemos en cuanto a la identidad del destinatario.

El Testamento de Roberto Cofresí representa el relato testimonial más fascinante de la historia puertorriqueña moderna, siendo, hasta la fecha, el único documento atribuido a la autoría del celebrérrimo personaje caborrojeño. Publicado por primera vez desde su fortuito descubrimiento en una cueva submarina en Isla de Mona a mediados de la década de 1990, representa una invitación a un asiento de primera fila a la mente del pirata horas antes de su ejecución.

Todo el descubrimiento se nos da en la pluma de un novelista: Luis Asencio Camacho, quien confronta la ficción de la historia con una historia de ficción.

http://terranovaeditores.com/inicio/comprar.html?page=shop.product_details&product_id=31&flypage=flypage.tpl&pop=0&vmcchk=1

Metal detector hobbyist starts second career as treasure hunter

By Ruth Thompson

GateHouse News Service

Posted Sep 22, 2009 @ 09:51 AM

WAREHAM —

There are untold treasures beneath the waves of the world’s oceans. Yet once lost to a watery grave, these riches are often gone forever.

Or are they?

“Treasure hunter” David Stone has had great luck plucking a wide variety of items from the waters off Wareham, as well as the Caribbean, with an underwater metal detector.

“I’ve found everything from men’s jewelry and women’s jewelry to coins and small toys and trash,” he said. “You never know what you’ll find out there. It’s something new every time you go out.”

Stone, who divides his time between Onset and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the West Indies, said he took up his lucrative hobby about six years ago.

“I was never one to just lay around on a beach,” he said.

A self-admitted Type A personality, Stone had been a nature and wildlife photographer before developing products that clean the digital sensors of cameras. His company, Photographic Solutions, Inc., became hugely successful, but success only drove him harder.

“I was taking calls on Sundays and on Christmas,” he said. “That was how you made it in business.”

As a way to try and keep himself occupied while his wife relaxed on the beach, Stone said he rented a metal detector and “got hooked.”

“I wanted one that could go in the water,” he said. “I had a lot of fun.”

He eventually bought his own metal detector and began hitting the water.

“I found a lady’s ring about 14 inches down, and I can find lost moorings several feet down,” he said. “It has a nice range of sensitivity.”

His most interesting find to date is an unexploded AK47 bullet.

“I found that in front of the Beaches Resort in knee deep water,” he said. “It’s pretty bizarre.”

He found a rare standing liberty quarter at Onset Beach.

“They don’t make those anymore,” he said.

He also came upon a 1910 dime at Onset Beach, as well as buffalo nickels and mercury dimes.

And because people from all over the world visit the Caribbean, he’s found coins from “just about everywhere” in the water there.

“I’m not talking about valuable collectable coins,” he said. “Just old coins you don’t see much anymore like wheat pennies.”

He’s also found a lot of religious items in Onset such as crucifixes and St. Christopher medals.

His cache includes key chains, hair barrettes and a nitroglycerin container.

“It was silver and the tablets were still in it,” he said.

“And I found this little hummingbird made out of stained glass,” he continued. “I don’t think it’s a piece of jewelry.”

Not everything is worth keeping, however,

“I do find a lot of junk,” he said. “Nails, bottle tops. I have a pouch I put that stuff into and then throw it out when I get back onto the beach. It helps the environment, and also it means I won’t be looking at the same stuff again.”

Stone, whose family has been living in the Onset area for over 50 years, said that every day out in the water is like a new adventure.

“I like to go out to Onset Beach right after bad weather. The waves will have churned up the sand, and you never know what you’ll find.”

What probably brings the most sentiment, however, is the jewelry he finds.

“I come across a lot of jewelry,” he said. “It amazes me what people will wear into the water.”

A lot of the jewelry is inexpensive costume jewelry, but that’s not to say someone didn’t love it and will be sorry it’s gone.

“Most of this stuff isn’t worth any money,” he said. “It’s the sentimental value behind it that matters.”

Sometimes, however, he’ll find something awe-inspiring.

“I have some pieces that are worth something,” he said. “They’ll have precious stones and be made of gold or platinum. You know someone is missing that.”

Surprisingly, or maybe not, he said about 90 percent of the jewelry he finds are men’s wedding bands.

And it’s these personal items that he longs to reunite with their owners.

“A lot of the wedding bands will have engravings and dates,” he said. “And I’ll think, ‘I know how important this ring is to someone.’”

Stone mentioned an engraved platinum wedding ring found at Parkwood Beach, where he used to lifeguard in his youth.

“I’d really like to reunite someone with this long lost ring,” he said.

He also found a very old silver ring in the same Parkwood Beach area with initials on it.

“The ring was made by one of the first women silversmiths in the country,” he said, “Boston-based modernist jeweler Ella L. Cone, designer for and proprietor of The Silversmith's Shop which resided at 342 Boylston St. during the 1950s and 1960s. She had a very successful business with stores in both Boston and on the Cape.”

Stone is so determined to reunite people with their jewelry that he has set up a Web page showcasing some of the items he’s found over the years.

He said he was prompted to start the site after finding three high-quality rings in about 15 minutes while at the Atlantis Paradise Island. He said he tried to work with the resort’s security to match the rings up with the owners.

“But they didn’t have the time,” Stone said. “They said to leave the rings, but I didn’t want to just leave them.”

He realized there was really no way someone could search for his or her lost jewelry.

He said he takes the jewelry he finds and polishes it up and gets it looking nearly as good as new.

“Silver turns completely black,” he said. “Gold and platinum don’t corrode at all.”

Of course he has a method for deterring false claims.

“I’ll have a picture of the piece, but I’ll have it turned a certain way so not everything is visible. Or if there are engravings or initials on the piece, it always helps to be able to use that as another source of identification. Claimants have to show proof in a lot of different ways.”

Simple generic jewelry like bracelets and necklaces and certain rings will be sold off after awhile. He doesn’t part with more valuable pieces and items that are engraved.

“I still hope they’ll be reunited with their owners someday,” he said.

In the meantime, he keeps his treasure trove under tight lock and key. His Buzzards Bay office was once a bank and boasts a vault that is impenetrable.

“It’s all very safe here,” he said, “between the alarm system and the vault.”

As for the coins, he’ll bring the more recent ones to the bank and have them rolled up, and then he’ll chose a charity to donate the money to.

“It’s never really a lot of money,” he said.

For something that started out as a means to help him relax, treasure hunting via water metal detector has almost turned into a second career.

This fall he’ll be working with an archeological expedition doing work in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

“They just found six submerged cannons in six feet of water,” he said. “The scientists think the sea-level is rising. I’ll go out with my metal detector and try to find smaller anomalies.”

He said it’s believed the cannons are several hundred years old.

“It’s fascinating,” he said.

And fun.

“Initially my wife thought I was nuts, but now she’s thrilled,” he said. “It keeps me occupied.”

Visit his Web site at www.ilostmyjewelry.com

Caribbean Gold

By: Whitney Stringfield
From: http://www.treasurenet.com/treasures/feature/200206.htm

This past December my family and I were given the opportunity to spend Christmas in the Caribbean. My wife's college roommate from France had accepted a teaching position two years earlier on the French island of Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. She and her family wanted to visit the United States, and we welcomed the idea of an island vacation for Christmas, so we worked out a deal. We would simply swap houses and experience each other's way of life.

The first thing that I thought of when I realized that I would be spending Christmas on an island was, "Will I be able to metal detect there, and what might I find?" The weather in South Carolina allows me to hunt year round in one aspect of metal detecting or another. I have plenty of chances to metal detect along saltwater beaches, but for several reasons I have always hunted the freshwater beaches. Actually, I have tried saltwater beaches a few times but found them too frustrating. The high mineral content, the pounding waves, and the overwhelming size of the beach to cover were all factors that made searching less than enjoyable.

Even though I had been discouraged with saltwater beaches in South Carolina, I decided to take my metal detector along on our trip to Guadeloupe, in hopes that hunting conditions there might be more favorable. I use a Tesoro Stingray for water hunting, and it has found plenty of gold for me at freshwater lakes these past three years. I hunt only in the water, leaving the sand beaches to those landlovers who do not like to get their feet wet. I was hoping my Stingray would come through for me on this trip, too.

Upon arriving at Guadeloupe, I quickly reassembled my detector and headed straight for the closest beach. When I saw the beach, I could not believe my eyes. There was beautiful turquoise water with white, powdery sand as far as the eye could see. The water extended out about 150 yards, until it came to a coral reef where people were snorkeling. The water was waist deep at the deepest spots, crystal clear, and had a sand bottom free of silt. It was going to be like hunting in a child's wading pool. The coral reef prevented waves from forming, which kept the water very calm and clear at all times.

I was curious as to how my detector would react in this salt water. Would there be a high mineral content, causing a lot of false signals? I was pleasantly surprised by an absence of the chatter and falsing that I encountered in the salt water along the South Carolina coast. In fact, I was able to hunt in this salt water in the same mode that I use for hunting freshwater lakes. This was great! Low mineralization, crystal-clear water, a clean, sandy bottom, and no waves... what more could I ask for except no competition? And I had that also. There wasn't another person with a metal detector in sight.

I began hunting the water and was quickly rewarded with a French 10 francs coin, equivalent to $1.45 U.S. It was easy to see that it wouldn't take many of these to make my effort worthwhile. I continued searching for several hours and found many more French coins and very little trash, only a pulltab every now and then. While I had a lot of fun wading in the turquoise water and soaking up the Caribbean sun, I was a bit disappointed not to have found any jewelry, either "junk" or gold.

I decided that the next day I would explore the island and try my luck at another beach. This time I found one that was part of a resort- or rather, four separate beaches, each divided by long coral-and-rock jetties. I began hunting in the water at the beach that looked, in my mind, to be the busiest and hence, presumably most profitable. However, tons of pulltabs soon made it clear that this beach was only the trashiest. I found no jewelry, and not even a single coin.

One lady approached me and told me that she had lost a ring with five small diamonds earlier that day. She pointed to the general area where she had lost the ring in and I hunted there for about 30 minutes in hopes of finding it for her, but I had no success. So, there is at least one diamond ring still in the water somewhere at this beach.

I moved over to the resort's next beach and started finding a few coins, including a few French franc coins and a couple of 5 and 10 francs coins. I then moved to the third beach at the resort and again found only a few French coins. The good thing about these two beaches was that the large quantity of pulltabs had almost disappeared.

I was beginning to tire and had little energy left to hunt the last beach at this resort. My hopes of finding a nice piece of jewelry were now fading, but I had to walk past this last beach in order to reach my car, so I decided to make one pass through the water on my way back. Maybe I'd get lucky.

My first signal turned out to be a man's 18K gold wedding band- more than enough to pique my interest in this area and make me want to search it more thoroughly. Hunting for another half-hour, I found a lot of French coins of high denominations and an 18K gold pendant before I had to leave because they were beginning to give windsurfing lessons in the area where I wanted to hunt. Since I didn't want to get hit in the head by a 10-year-old on a surfboard, I called it a day.

I returned early the next day, getting a good head start on the surfers. I was hunting waist deep, and 15 minutes into the hunt I got a strong blast through my headset. A sound that loud usually signals a soft drink can, but I bent down anyway and scooped up the biggest and heaviest gold ring I had ever seen! It was an 18K gold signet ring weighing 23 grams- almost an ounce.

With my adrenaline pumping, I continued hunting for several more hours and was rewarded with another man's 18K gold wedding band, a lady's 18K gold signet ring, an 18K gold angel charm, a heavy silver chain necklace with an unusual silver dragon pendant, and about $15 in change. Then, once again, the windsurfers arrived, and I had to vacate the water.

I returned to this beach one more time during my stay on the island. Although I did not find any more jewelry that I could keep, I was able to help out a fellow vacationer. An elderly gentleman had just lost his wedding band, and his wife asked if I could help him find it with the aid of my metal detector. It was only a matter of minutes before he had the ring back on his hand. He knew the precise area where it had come off, so locating it was easy.

Finding gold on a Caribbean island during Christmas was very thrilling. The jewelry that I found was indeed treasure, as was the opportunity to help a fellow traveler in distress. But the true treasure was experiencing the Caribbean way of life with my family for two weeks. It was a vacation that we will not forget.

WHITNEY STRINGFIELD is a hydrologist who loves the outdoors. He has been metal detecting for 12 years and collecting relics, bottles, and fossils for 30 years.

Relic hunting vs Archaeology?

by battleoffranklin.wordpress.com

I side more with supporting archaeological discovery of relics and artifacts as opposed to relic hunting through metal detecting. Archaeological discovery should be supported by the State, County or Town in an official capacity, not limited to public funding within reason, especially if the ground being explored is owned by the State or City.

If people want to relic hunt on private property then I think that is fine, so long as permission is granted by the owners. I think it is wrong of relic hunters who sneak on private or State property – without permission – and look for artifacts.

If human bones or remains are found – on private or public grounds – the City or State officials should be contacted so that proper care, recovery and commemoration can be afforded the person. I’d also encourage relic hunters on private property to volunteer to work closely with State archaeological officials so that the community can learn the most possible from important finds.

Important knowledge about the Civil War- and battles – can be gained from official archaeological projects. For example, when the H.L. Hunley submarine was discovered in 2000 in Charleston Harbor, it was a professionally sponsored archaeological project. One of the most important finds – one that might have been neglected by private relic hunters – was the exact location of the human remains inside the submarine.

The eight crewmen’s remains were in the exact position they had while working at their station as death took place. This allowed scientists to better understand what happened on that ill-faited cruise in February 1864. Had several of the crew members’ bones been piled in one spot – under the hatch – it would have been evidence that the crew fought for air in the last few seconds as they clamored to escape the chamber of death.

Because so much personal relic hunting for Civil War artifacts takes place outside public scrutiny, we will never know what important facts are lost forever about how a battle was won-lost, the nature of casualties, the original lay of the topography, etc.

Private relic hunters are interested in private benefits, whether they be financial or for personal ego. Publicly-sponsored archaeological projects insure the entire community will benefit from the knowledge we can gain from uncovering priceless Civil War artifacts that have remained hidden for over 140+ years. They might rarely be priceless in terms of monetary value, but they are priceless in terms of what we can better understand why and what happened on these hallowed grounds.

Where do you stand? Relic hunting or archaeology?




http://battleoffranklin.wordpress.com/2009/11/