A Fresh Approach to the Jupiter Shipwreck Site

[capt dom]

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We are gearing up to do something unique to our treasure site at Jupiter Inlet!

We are planning on assembling an aluminum coffer dam approximately 10' by 10' by 10' square. We are going to place this cofferdam in a bridle with two steel pontoons fabricated from older steel 500 gallon propane tanks. We will then float it out to the site and with our existing deflectors - dig a pilot hole 8 to 10 feet in depth - right along the defined scatter pattern in the center of what we call - solution hole number 1.

After removing this first - picked over sterile overburden, with the deflectors - we shouild then be at a excavated depth of 18 to 22 feet. Here's the trick...

We then are going to flood the propane tanks and sink the cofferdam into the hole! With the cofferdam anchored in place with the flooded steel tanks we then will drop our hydraulic submersible pumps into the coffer dam and start to diver excate this area the coffer dam should drop into the hole and we can surgically excavate to another 10 feet or 32 feet overall.

If bad weather comes... which it will. we can leave the contraption of the bottom without any worry of it moving because of the mass steel and volumn of the flooded propane tanks.

If we need to dig deeper.... which we should we can adapt extentions to tne coofer dam and then just suck out more sand... Placing the sand - down stream from the existing inlet where natural littoral forces can nourish down stream beaches.

If we get into a primary layer of shipwreck scatter we can then document it using a grid like excavation pattern - so that nothing is missed! As we have encountered placer gold on this site - if this system works.... nothing will be missed.

What do you all think of this approach and who wants to take part in it?

Capt Dom

 

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[Peg Leg]

You say that you have recoved PLACER GOLD.
Please explain because I have a gold mine in Oregon and I recover Placer gold. Do mean that the ship was carrying raw gold.
Peg Leg

 

[GorskiDvr]

I have a little experience doing exactly what your doing (for something other than coins) I remember what we were using & how we did it . Send me a E-mail & I'll get specific.That or I will give you my #.
Wade

 

[capt dom]

Placer gold.... little gold nuggets. Yes the Jupiter Shipwreck was carrying some bags of gold. Why do we assume this you may ask. Because we actually are finding flecks of gold! I got one in September. These certainly are not alluvial deposits! Here is a photo of it. You tell me...

Thanks for looking

 

[ScubaFinder]

Sounds like a fun project Dom, but are you sure that aluminum will hold up to the pressure that 10 feet of sand will apply? I'm sure you've thought about this, but it could turn ugly in a heartbeat if the coffer dam collapsed with divers in the hole...just a thought.

Another thought might be to use a PVC pipe in the same fashion as Bob Marx used in Port Royal using air to "bubble" the pipe down into the sand. This way you could drill some 16" pilot holes and check the contents to make sure the area where you launch the coffer dam is a good one. I would almost be inclined to try this first because you could validate your theory for sure before you even build the coffer dam, and your divers could do a pretty intensive survey in a day or two. Marx detailed the process (in "Sunken Treasure and How To Find It" I think) of getting basically a core sample using this method...this could tell you the depth of the artifacts too, which could come in handy when building your coffer dam.

Sounds like a good plan to me, when do you plan to start?

Jason

 

[capt dom]

Our underwater professional dredgers are building this contraption and I for one wouldn't be any other place other than
right beside them...

Arh... and remember we know RIGHT where we want to go....
The days are over for me moving a hole about aimlessly on the bottom...
After 20 years...arh...

Capt Dom, not to be confused with Capt Doom

 

[ScubaFinder]

Understood Dom, you know me, always full of ideas, some good, some old, some stupid...but never without ideas.

Jason

 

[ScubaDude]

Dom,
I was on the Rio Bravo that weekend everyone was there. My question is we we're encountering boulders, and solid hard pan. When ya'll we're doing your deeper excavation with the dredge pump did you not encounter the same thing? and what happens when your new caisson hits some of that type stuff?

I'd hate to see you go to the lengths your talking about only to hit a brick wall after all that expense and time. I understand about needing or wanting to dig below the limits of the blower. I also agree that artifacts are either getting blown away or driven deeper. Maybe you're on to something.

Sheet pile could accomplish the same thing as a retaining wall type deal. However you'd probably start drawing unwanted attention from the state and Fed's when a crane barge shows up on site one day.

We'll all keep racking our heads on this one and figure out a reasonable solution. I like your idea but I'd be fearful of it collapsing too.

Regards,
Brad

PS Welcome to TNet.

 

[capt dom]

Dear Brad,

Thank you for your reply...

Now Brad, it was you guys that were the new guys on the block that week end.
It just so happens that The Rio Bravo was instructed to anchor and start to dig right where the Enterprise had been working all summer. This is not to be meant as a a dispersion. When I called the Captain of the vessel he told me, "This was where one of the directors of the corporation, JWI told him to anchor.

I had one of my divers place a bouy on a spot just to the bow and port of the Rio Bravo and kindly asked the captain not to proceed north or north east of that bouyed spot as he was in our digging pattern.

He was kind enough to honor my request. And, I want to thank him for being a gentleman. But this was his first time on the site Brad. If you sak him, he will tell you, I even suggested he move forward about a boat length and he would start to have some significant finds. Then what happened Brad... you guys started to have some siginificant finds.

Go back and look at all of my postings. I know this bottom - it is sad to say, "better than most of the women's bottoms I have been with in the past 20 years"! I know where the holes are much better.

My guys on board my boat were livid - when they saw the Bravo right next to our spot but I calmed them down, stating "Look where they are and they were told to anchor there - Yes they will find some coins but they are going to be on the bottom at 22 to 24 feet." "Let's see how well their boat can dig"....

Look once more at the cross sectional map in the earlier posting. You guys were digging where I have it marked jetty rock. The solution hole is about 150 feet further out - in line with my anchoring pattern.

Look at our signature photo Brad. Abd look at the digging pattern.

You can rest assured, we won't place the cofferdam where in 22 to 24 feet it will be on rock. any half decent dig boat can dig that deep abet i was totally impressed with how wide the Rio Bravo actually was able to get the hole!!!!

I wish I could get them to work under charter with me but they appear to be too busy currently! so we keep moving forward.

Capt Dom, not to be considered Capt Doom

 

[mad4wrecks]

Capt Dom, I find your last post really interesting. Just to make sure I have things clear in my mind, the boulders we encountered while digging on the Rio Bravo that weekend were boulders from the old Jupiter Inlet jetty? These then were placed there purposely and were not natural formations? Would these be boulders be from the south or north side of the old inlet?

 

[capt dom]

Thanks for your interest!

Those boulders and the pie shaped rock pieces about a foot thick, half the size of a picnic table are called "pillow rock". They were used as early jetty material in 1921 and 1928. They were first quaried from a rock pit on Jupiter Island. The estate today is actually called, guess what, "The quarry!"

The pillow rock was actually blasted out of where the inlet was first cut in 1920! The reason the cocina rock in pie shaped is because it was shape charged and blown! Guys who work with dinamite are pretty good at what they do. They placed the chages so the rock could be handled by a derrick on a barge called, guess what again,... "The salvor" I actually have a phot of the guys sitting on the barge with rifles in 1920.

Now, why do you think they had the rifles

 

[capt dom]

The rock was dumped there to create a weir south of where they wanted the inlet to be maintained.

The bigger bloulders came off the jetties both north and south as a result of siginificantg storm events over the next few decades. They worked their way out to where the rock self is and with the movement of sand and time settled in a collection point controlled by the coast shelf.

Now, us dasterly treasure hunters are not supposed understand ocean engineering or the near shore coastal process! We are only suppose to be "scoundrels" driven by the "lust for gold" as K.C. an archeologist's wife discribed us in her children's book!

Capt Dom

 

[Chagy]

Dear Brad,

Thank you for your reply...

Now Brad, it was you guys that were the new guys on the block that week end.
It just so happens that The Rio Bravo was instructed to anchor and start to dig right where the Enterprise had been working all summer. This is not to be meant as a a dispersion. When I called the Captain of the vessel he told me, "This was where one of the directors of the corporation, JWI told him to anchor.

I had one of my divers place a bouy on a spot just to the bow and port of the Rio Bravo and kindly asked the captain not to proceed north or north east of that bouyed spot as he was in our digging pattern.

He was kind enough to honor my request. And, I want to thank him for being a gentleman. But this was his first time on the site Brad. If you sak him, he will tell you, I even suggested he move forward about a boat length and he would start to have some significant finds. Then what happened Brad... you guys started to have some siginificant finds.

Go back and look at all of my postings. I know this bottom - it is sad to say, "better than most of the women's bottoms I have been with in the past 20 years"! I know where the holes are much better.

My guys on board my boat were livid - when they saw the Bravo right next to our spot but I calmed them down, stating "Look where they are and they were told to anchor there - Yes they will find some coins but they are going to be on the bottom at 22 to 24 feet." "Let's see how well their boat can dig"....

Look once more at the cross sectional map in the earlier posting. You guys were digging where I have it marked jetty rock. The solution hole is about 150 feet further out - in line with my anchoring pattern.

Look at our signature photo Brad. Abd look at the digging pattern.

You can rest assured, we won't place the cofferdam where in 22 to 24 feet it will be on rock. any half decent dig boat can dig that deep abet i was totally impressed with how wide the Rio Bravo actually was able to get the hole!!!!

I wish I could get them to work under charter with me but they appear to be too busy currently! so we keep moving forward.

Capt Dom, not to be considered Capt Doom

Is it just me or did we just get a D M nickname "The new guys in the block"

Out of curiosity;

What do you think it would had happen if you were not able to calm down your so called "livid crew"

Well anyways, welcome to our forum,


Chagy............

 

[capt dom]

Chagy,

Subcontractors are suppose to stay at least 500 feet away from each others work area.

I wasn't attempting to posture but they {my crew} had every right to wonder what the hell was going on when a new boat shows up at the site and is working directly where we left off the other day... Think about it man...
There was a miss comunication amongst the directors of the company {JWI} and two of the three of us had no idea the Rio Bravo was actually going to show up that morning!

If I was a complete asshole... instead of just half assed... we could have moved you off the site. Plane and simple. Remember Chagy, it is our permitted site... We did discover the shipwreck site in 1987 and were awarded the original Admiratly Claim. But I figured after talking with the Captain of the Rio Bravo over the phone and fully realizing he was directed by one of the directors to anchor where he did that I didn't want to be like an Olger.... and remember.... I new right where you were - in relation to our mapped scatter pattern.

I as a JWI director was equally interested in any event to see just how well the boat would dig and beleive me - I was impressed!

 

[Peg Leg]

Capt Dom,
Yes that is a Placer nugget alrignt and a pretty good size one at that.
I do not need to tell you but these little nuggets do not more very far away but seem to go down deeper and deeper over time. I would sure spend some time at the base of thess rocks with a vacum.
Peg Leg

 

[GorskiDvr]

Did you get a handle on what it's going to take to get those "artifacts" up Capt. Dom ? (without driving them deeper).........
Man , I wish I had the time to come out on site & help ..........

 

[Trez]

Chagy,

Subcontractors are suppose to stay at least 500 feet away from each others work area.

I wasn't attempting to posture but they {my crew} had every right to wonder what the hell was going on when a new boat shows up at the site and is working directly where we left off the other day... Think about it man...
There was a miss comunication amongst the directors of the company {JWI} and two of the three of us had no idea the Rio Bravo was actually going to show up that morning!

If I was a complete #@!$%#@!... instead of just half assed... we could have moved you off the site. Plane and simple. Remember Chagy, it is our permitted site... We did discover the shipwreck site in 1987 and were awarded the original Admiratly Claim. But I figured after talking with the Captain of the Rio Bravo over the phone and fully realizing he was directed by one of the directors to anchor where he did that I didn't want to be like an Olger.... and remember.... I new right where you were - in relation to our mapped scatter pattern.

I as a JWI director was equally interested in any event to see just how well the boat would dig and beleive me - I was impressed!

Capt dom,

The more I read your posts the better I like them...and Capt'n I see nothing wrong with being "complete #@!$%#@!" if and when you need to be. I think I would have loved seeing you and your crew go "completely #@!$%#@!", actually it is a quite refreshing thought....Best of everything to you Capt dom and to your crew, may the treasure be with you.



This past month or so....from earlier postings.
It did surprise me to see how some easy become "instant crew members" and to work such a site with such ease.
Just simply had to say, I'll supply the beer/food and "boom" your there.
I guess the Jupiter site has a more "relaxed" work enviroment with the State than the 1715 sites.
What an amazing site, filled with more potential.


Trez

 

[Darren in NC]

The more I read your posts the better I like them...and Capt'n I see nothing wrong with being "complete #@!$%#@!" if and when you need to be. I think I would have loved seeing you and your crew go "completely #@!$%#@!", actually it is a quite refreshing thought....
It did surprise me to see how some easy become "instant crew members" and to work such a site with such ease.Just simply had to say, I'll supply the beer/food and "boom" your there.

Trez, I'm not sure I care for your tone. Are you saying you wish a fight would have happened between crews? That would be a refreshing thought to you? I didn't know about Dom's claim and I doubt the rest of the visiting Tnet crew knew, either.

As far as the ease of being a crew member, Joe was very professional when the Tnet guys showed up. For the record, no alcohol was allowed and orientation was given for safety purposes. No one except the staff on the Rio Bravo were allowed to operate controls. The rest of us were simply divers willing to help Scott as invited. Unlike your tone, everyone was very friendly. All egos were checked at the door and we all wanted each other to succeed. Sorry if it doesn't fancy you, but I'd go the distance with any of these guys!

 

[riobravo]

to whom it may concern,
brad is correct in his reply, as we steped on nobodys toes, and all was performed in a plus to min requirements.
if this is an issue, anyone please pm me for nessarry paperwork or copy of logs.
folks this is not my first rodeo and as a minimum i hope to bring more safety to the already organized project.

 

[capt dom]

This time its my chance to tell everyone to lighten up!

It was a GREAT weekend! I have nothing but good things to say about Joe the Captain of the Rio Bravo.
Brad, take no offense to Trez posting... I was never trying to remotely suggest some sort of violence would have broken out! When I get violent... I don't talk about it... its not a good thing... but arh.

What really was important was some good people had a GREAT time!
Scotty and I - {two old bulls} had a falling out some months ago over what really amounted to nothing but a difference of style} because of that we, have not been communicating as best as we should as directors of JWI. That is nobodies fault but mine and his.

He really wasnt attempting to "jump" our {Jupiter Coins planned} site. We just have been working closely in the same general area all summer and neither of us actually cared about the 500 foot rule. He had told both Earl and me Earlier he had no interest in my solution holes or hypothesis and that is fine!

He spends his money how he sees fit... I spend my money and resources put at my disposal as I see fit.
The little rinkle in this particular case was when the Rio Bravo showed up...
But again, Joe was a gentleman and once we talked all was understood

Capt Dom