Is it ballast?

[signumops]

This was found on a remote ranch this week in Holopaw. It was lying next to a small creek. The ranch has been just that for generations. Holopaw is a little northwest of Sebastian.

Looks identical to the rosy ballast we find on the Cabin Wreck and others of the 1715 fleet, but, I am not a rockhound. Anybody out there know what kind of stone this is?

If it is a ballast stone, what's it doing 30 miles from shore, and who would drag it over there? I re-state... it was out in the middle of nowhere... only the cows would trip over it.

 

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[rgecy]

I would say it is probably just a smooth river rock, which is all ballast is anyway (I should say most of the time! I have seen some that were jagged)!

Only a geologist could tell you definitively if the rock is native to the area. Were there others similar to it in the area?

Robert

 

[Ascholten]

Maybe it's a big petrified cow pile?

Probably just a river rock. Either way, it could have washed ashore, someone seen it just like you did right now, said oh look at the pretty stone, and took it home with them... or kids.... there's no telling how it could have moved from waterfront to where it is now, if that is indeed what happened with it. Hell... maybe there was an ancient trailer park there, and a tornader whupped it on by

Aaron

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

I would say it is probably just a smooth river rock, which is all ballast is anyway (I should say most of the time! I have seen some that were jagged)!

Only a geologist could tell you definitively if the rock is native to the area. Were there others similar to it in the area?

Robert

No it is not native. Someone must have carried it there, like Aaron said.

 

[signumops]

There was another gray stone the same size nearby. I will post a picture on Sunday. Found out that the red stone could possibly be a clay in the panhandle... still, why here? Whatever... attached a pic of a rosy ballast stone from the Cabin Wreck and another with ballast from different wrecks along the Treasure Coast. The stone marked with an X is simple reef limestone.

My thought was that ballast might be used to counterweight a plow maybe, but the Ays had no part of that. Maybe Micosoukees or Freedmen could have used it that way a little later on.

 

[signumops]

OK, just got these by email from Travis Tinney. All these stones were lying together. The red one is the one shown in the original posting.

 

[rgecy]

Not trying to be pessimistic, but it looks more and more like a clay rock! And how can you say it is or isn't ballast? I pick up rocks all the time miles form the coast that look like ballast. Even my son ask me if some of the stones he finds are ballast! Just because its a smooth rock doesn't mean its ballast.

Maybe if it had a few shells encrusted to it or something I would have to say yes. Again, not trying to be negative, and just thinking logically, (I get it from Mr. Spoc ) I just don't see how you can definitively say its ballast. OK, with that said!

Now , going with the conversation, and trying to stay on the positive side here, I would think that it is certainly plausible that a ship was loading some cargo, had to offload some ballast and some farmers needed some stones for building a fence or something of the sort and carried it back. Or a ship sinks near shore and they take what they can. Or even a kid visiting the beach thinks its a nice souvenir. Its not unrealistic and certainly a good source for rocks.

So how did they get there? And why?

It certainly makes for an interesting post!

 

[Darren in NC]

Good points, Robert. I think in this case you have to get away from thinking ballast stones and start thinking smooth river rocks. They're everywhere...hundreds of miles inland. Instead of wondering how ballast stones came so far inland, I would just recognize that common river rocks happen to be used as ballast stones.

 

[signumops]

You guys in the Carolinas have rocks inland. We have sand, some dolomite, occasional sandstone and lots of limestone. Limestone makes lousy ballast... weight by volume ratio is terrible compared to true minerals.
I have not heard anything from any of the locals on this posting except for BigCypressHunter and he recognized the un-natrual circumstance too.

It would not seem strange for Carolinians to find lots of rocks. Pretty weird here. People import them for building structures, the railroad uses granite for rail beds, Kip Wagner used ballast stones to build his chimmney, flagstone is still used in building construction here, but, river rocks ... nope. I have dove in many of the spring runs here, all over the Suwannee, the Sebastian river, the esturine lagoons and other sinkholes or plugged sinks and never found anything that looks remotely like these stones. You have to go way out of your way to get river rocks here... perhaps a vessel blown ashore, or wading in the shallows where a wreck laid early on.

The State has found ballast like this in the St. Johns near Palatka, but they were from an obviously very old wreck there, dated by the glass amid the stones.

I am going to the site today and I will get some pictures of the surroundings.

BTW, the closest old rail bed is more than half mile away.

 

[pcolaboy]

Here in Pensacola, FL there are no natural rocks available anywhere nearby - just sand, clay, and occassional limestone. Therefore, ballast stones were quite prized by people building their homes, rock walls, foundation piers, etc.

A good example would be the farm my grandfather grew up on about 20 miles inland. Every foundation pier for the home was built with small-medium sized ballast stone that my great-grandfather purchased from the port for $1 per ton and hauled with ox carts.

You never know....but like RGECY said, odds are they were just river rock or quarried stone unless you get some specific history on them.

Cool post though !

Pcolaboy

 

[Bigcypresshunter]

it looks like a river rock from up north that was picked up by a glacier and dropped in you location when the glacier receded...

I dont believe the glaciers reached Central Florida. It was a hunters paradise here in those days. There are no river rocks in this area. They were brought here from afar. The beach probably being the closest available location to find river rock. They certainly could have been brought here from up north, but not by a glacier. Keep us posted.

 

[Bobadilla]

Hello,

River stones were used as a ballast before some ships started to use bricks later. It is well-known fact. I am not familiar with the general area where these stones were found but it seems to me logical that if there are no such stones in the neighborhood, they should have been brought there from somewhere. Only one place comes to mind in this particular case - some old shipwreck ballast piles in the surf. There could be many reasons why somebody needed these stones there and probably never will be confirmed for 100% that these stones belonged to a shipwreck ballast.

Just my opinion, my TH friends. I am relatively far from you, in the hot Caribbean, but I always enjoy to participate in your forum topics, though it has nothing to do with the Dominican Republic......

Lobo