Tides and Currents

[Treasure Quest]

Does anyone believe that items lost in the water move with the current or tide? I have talked with several water detectorist and get different views on this subject. I understand it depends on the item, ring, coin or jewelry. Let me know what you think.

 

[gamiller]

my recent experience is not conclusive. One day i lose a hoop earring out of the scoop, i see it get swept away quickly heading to the east. next morning i find it a few hundred feet to the west to where i lost it.Sorry

 

[bigscoop]

It largely depends on the strength/force of those tides/currents. Case in point just today - yesterday as I was hunting a trough I was also keeping my eye on a section of beach about 1/4 mile north of me. What I was watching was the spray of surf as it crashed into the back side of the first sand bar. Clearly there was a lot of force being applied to the sand bar along that section of beach. Today I went to that same section of beach and I hunted the trough between the waterline and the effected sand bar - no big surprise that this section of the trough was loaded with targets that had been blasted out of the sand bar and then washed over it and into the section of trough I was hunting. No gold today but several pieces of silver jewelry that included two crusty .925 chains that are taking a bath as we speak. And this section of trough, my hunting partner and I had just hunted 2 days prior and it was pretty clean. So very clearly targets do move with the surf and currents when those elements have enough force.

Long currents along the lower beach, we tend to have them every month during the monthly high tide cycle. It is common here to locate the long washes where these currents are flowing and quite often the majority of the targets will be in either the hole at head of the wash or near the tail end of the wash. Usually the outer edges of these washes will be loaded with light objects like sunglasses and bottle caps, etc. But when the middle of these washes have a noticeable low area this low area can often be littered with heavier targets because they have been deposited there as they were being pushed along the wash by the stronger then usual currents. A good sign that you may have found one of these areas is when you start noticing a lot of larger, heaver shell pieces/chunks littering the bottom. Again, just another situation where targets can move with the currents.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Had couple stop me and ask me to look for ring son lost the day before.

Long story short I found it at least a hundred yards south of where son was when it was lost...

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

 

[bigscoop]

Here's a pic of some of the stuff that got washed into the section of through from that sand bar....one of the chains isn't cleaning too easily and I'm still not sure what a couple of the other items are yet? The ring is a junker stainless. Obviously some of these items have been in the drink for quite some time.

 

[Captain PopTop]

without a doubt, one day I go to a local beach and nothing, the next day same place I cant dig it all (targets), the next day nada again or medi - oaka, plus people tell me on a ruff day they lost something show me the area go back next day when its calm and no where to be found

 

[MBbeachrat]

Found copper coins 200 years old within a 1/4 mile of the shipwreck and right in front of the wreck. Same with some silver. Not moving to far for lite coins.

 

[bigscoop]

Does anyone believe that items lost in the water move with the current or tide? I have talked with several water detectorist and get different views on this subject. I understand it depends on the item, ring, coin or jewelry. Let me know what you think.

I guess we should have first asked; "what exactly do you mean when you say move with the tides & current?"

 

[seeker41]

I think you need to clarify "targets". I do not think gold rings move much unless they have a firm bottom to scoot across or are moved within large volumes of sand during very rough waves or hurricane conditions.

chuck.

 

[gaboynfla]

In one spot on the beach I hunt,one week I didn't dig but but three targets.Went back the next week to the same place and I couldn't walk five feet with out digging coins.Dug there for four hours that day looking for gold.All the coins I found looked like they had been sand blasted.Makes me think they had been out in the water along time, just hanging out all togather.Then some force just picked them up and put them on the beach.Went back the next week,same spot,and didn't find much of anything. That was in January.The beach is a strange place. Good luck everyone!

 

[DrJoePrime]

A lot of the targets were there all along but the depth of sand covering them varied.

I've seen coins flipped up by the surf to land on top of a small 10" tall cut and I've seen coins rolling down slopes under water ... but I believe there is not a lot of lateral movement of low surface area gold (like gold bands).....however...

I have found pockets of coins and jewelry so there must have been some accumulation pressure by current and surf.

My strongest belief is that a gold ring dropped in the water will just tend to sink deeper and deeper into the sand ...especially with surf action.

though I would like to experiment with a gold ring tied to a thin fishing line and observe the ring's movement to verify this.

 

[bigscoop]

Entire beaches change shape during periods of heavier then normal surf & currents. Shipwrecks lay offshore yet many a treasure from them has been found scattered on nearby beaches by the surf and currents. So it's simply a matter of enough force....if there's enough force things are going to move.

 

[sponge]

May the force help us all. Amend

 

[lookindown]

Me and the guys I hunt with have heated discussions about ring movement. They don't believe rings gather in pockets. When I say what about the stories of people finding numerous rings in a small area, they say that's what they are...Just a STORY...because they have never found one of these pockets in 15 years of water detecting. They say the rings go down to the hardpan and when someone finds one of these "pockets" its just where the sand has been moved. They say there are just as many rings on either side of the "pocket"...they are just covered with sand. I believe rings get moved around but I don't know if they gather in pockets. We agree that every beach is different and there are no set rules on what happens to something dropped in the water.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I have seen first hand, coins slip out of my scoop at the wrong moment and get carried many feet with the outgoing wave. If those waves are coming in at an angle, then it will take them down the beach, not just out. Rings, especially gold rings are much different. They don't have the surface area that coins do and it's much harder to get them moved. If you are talking hurricane type forces, then I see no reason why coins, gold and silver wouldn't behave like gold flakes in a river. They will wash along the hardpan until they find low spots, holes, cracks, etc. to fall into and then get covered by more sand.

 

[lookindown]

I know coins move because about three feet of sand came in to a sea wall in a couple of weeks. The sand had been moved out by a tropical storm but it came back in under normal conditions. That new sand was full of crusty coins so I know they came in with that sand and weren't dropped.

 

[bigscoop]

I find a fair amount of heavier chains, mostly silver, when wave and current action has created favorable conditions. Once they are freed from their hiding places these chains have a tendency to roll/tumble/scoot along with the force of the current and other debris when the current is strong enough. This is why they're usually all balled up in those irritating knots when they're eventually recovered.

 

[sponge]

We ned some wave action. Went out today picked up some big chunks of iron. That was cool cleaning it now. Soaking in fresh water while I soak a silver bullet in my liver. It was lake Atlantic today. Cant wait to get some beach shaving