Wrecking history of the Bahamas

[WRECKING]

Over the years, I anchored a few times near that spot. Under the ledges it is not uncommon to find a snapper or Nassau grouper. While looking for our dinner under one of the ledges, once I looked up and saw the radio mast just above. Immediately I remembered Mr. Engels description of the radio mast above when looking up. There was the huge fire coral block like the one that Mr. Engels had said he had burned his hands on. Kind of a wall closing the ledge. Only open on the South side. When I stuck my head in and my eyes got used to the darkness I saw this mutton snapper. A target I could not miss. My brain must have computed the chances for a gold chain and a fine dinner within microseconds….. The mutton snapper made a great meal.
As you mention, there are some lemon sharks and white tip reef sharks in the area. Over night once we got an 8 ft tiger shark on the hook. When you got a fish on your spear, it is best to get it out of the water immediately.

No, this was not the place where Mr. Engels got bitten by a shark.

Sorry I lost my thread. I was talking about the radio mast. There are, or were, when I was there the last time 2 similar radio masts. One on Gun? Key and the other one on South Bimini. There are quite a few spots within these rocks where one can look up and see a radio mast in front.
How good is my memory? I would think an area of 100x 100 feet maybe where the gold chain was or still is.
What could the origin of the gold chain be? A piece of luggage? Or a chest? Swept under the ledge at the time of the shipwreck? Maybe even a person attached to the gold chain?
Just one tiny secret among thousands of secrets among tens of thousands of shipwrecks.

 

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[WRECKING]

A slave shackle

A slave shackle from the Bahamas.

 

[WRECKING]

A slave shackle from the Bahamas

What is a slave shackle?
A slave shackle is a symbol of slavery.

 

[WRECKING]

Here is another slave shackle. this time from a Caribbean island. this was found at a location where 2 pirate ships lie. One of the pirates specialized in capturing slave ships.

 

[Magoopeter]

3 months ago I had some great digging and found some treasure at a spot where salvors/wreckers had come ashore and set up a camp for the salvage of the 1733 fleet. I timed my search to coincide with a major construction project taking place at the site. As they dug with heavy equipment I would scan the spoils before it was loaded into trucks and carried off. I was in contact with the company that hauled all the sand and spoils away. I found 6 treasure fleet coins, but we thought the rest was gone. Well yesterday the company called me and they have found a 1733 pillar dollar in some of the sand that they hauled out of the spot. So after 3 months ill go 100 miles from where the sand was moved and search for more treasure !! View attachment 1931135 View attachment 1931136

1733 8 reales assayers mark F is rare? great find,

https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/...8-duid-1426686

 

[whydahdiver]

The Whydah was a slave ship when Bellamy captured her in 1717. She had just sold a cargo of slaves in Jamaica and was headed back to England.



WD

 

[WRECKING]

The Whydah was a slave ship when Bellamy captured her in 1717. She had just sold a cargo of slaves in Jamaica and was headed back to England.



WD

Did you find many slave shackles?

 

[Blak bart]

Magoopeter....its been a good season for me, I found another one like this in February.....im already wearing it around my neck !!....I've managed to track down a couple survivor/salvage/wrecker camps for the 1733 fleet that no one else got to before me....hopefully there will be more coins in my future...or maybe some church gold or personal belongings of the survivors. its taken me years to zero in on these spots.....the treasure was gathered from the wrecks and brought ashore in the keys by spanish wreckers....they fortified some sites and kept patrol of the wrecks to keep the bahamian wreckers/pirates away....they had learned alot from there 1715 experience !! The silver was washed dried and repacked for the voyage back to the havana. So we have a tremendous treasure of 12-14 million pesos that actually came ashore at various locations up and down the keys. Now I'm finding out through my own exploration, and oral tradition that there are at least 3 more camps that were not known to the generation of treasure hunters before me....McKee, meylach, fisher, fismar,etc etc. The most recent story is from a lesser known and aging local treasure hunter....in the 80s they found the remains(scattered bones) of a Spanish survivor. The bones and many gold escudo were found on the spine of the island while clearing a lot for development. The old construction guys down here are giving me the secrets of what they dug while working. Waiting to go to a site where a Spanish sword was found also....owner still has the sword in his possession. Still exciting stuff going on down here in the keys....mother nature hides the secrets still !!

 

[WRECKING]

Here is another slave shackle. this time from a Caribbean island. this was found at a location where 2 pirate ships lie. One of the pirates specialized in capturing slave ships.

While we are talking about slave ships, we might also mention the "Henrietta Marie"

 

[WRECKING]

Magoopeter....its been a good season for me, I found another one like this in February.....im already wearing it around my neck !!....I've managed to track down a couple survivor/salvage/wrecker camps for the 1733 fleet that no one else got to before me....hopefully there will be more coins in my future...or maybe some church gold or personal belongings of the survivors. View attachment 1932430 its taken me years to zero in on these spots.....the treasure was gathered from the wrecks and brought ashore in the keys by spanish wreckers....they fortified some sites and kept patrol of the wrecks to keep the bahamian wreckers/pirates away....they had learned alot from there 1715 experience !! The silver was washed dried and repacked for the voyage back to the havana. So we have a tremendous treasure of 12-14 million pesos that actually came ashore at various locations up and down the keys. Now I'm finding out through my own exploration, and oral tradition that there are at least 3 more camps that were not known to the generation of treasure hunters before me....McKee, meylach, fisher, fismar,etc etc. The most recent story is from a lesser known and aging local treasure hunter....in the 80s they found the remains(scattered bones) of a Spanish survivor. The bones and many gold escudo were found on the spine of the island while clearing a lot for development. The old construction guys down here are giving me the secrets of what they dug while working. Waiting to go to a site where a Spanish sword was found also....owner still has the sword in his possession. Still exciting stuff going on down here in the keys....mother nature hides the secrets still !!

Are you using the new Fisher Impulse II metal detector for that? I hear it goes real deep for gold.

 

[Blak bart]

Are you using the new Fisher Impulse II metal detector for that? I hear it goes real deep for gold.

For the beach and chest deep ...mine lab equinox 600, for deeper than chest deep minelab excal 2.

 

[WaveJunky757]

BlackBart Im sure you have some amazing locations you’ve researched hard over the years. I feel like beach hunting certain 1733 beaches is someone’s best bet of finding something wonderful. More so than the 1715 beaches. Just have to do your homework. Are you allowed to use a detector off the beaches in the water in the keys?

 

[WRECKING]

The news still talk about slavery, so I have to add my contribution too.

 

[WRECKING]

This exploration sled was very useful for covering large areas of seafloor visually.
It was built of light aluminum profiles.
Nowadays If I were needing something of the kind, I would build it of PVC pipes, without any metal, so that I could add a large metal detector search coil in front of it. It would give up to 10 feet detection depth.
The metal detector could also be interchangeable with a magnetometer.

Sweeping the magnetometer within a few feet of the ground, with instant target feedback would be excellent for small targets like a spike concentration or cannon balls.

 

[Jolly Mon]

Magoopeter....its been a good season for me, I found another one like this in February.....im already wearing it around my neck !!....I've managed to track down a couple survivor/salvage/wrecker camps for the 1733 fleet that no one else got to before me....hopefully there will be more coins in my future...or maybe some church gold or personal belongings of the survivors. View attachment 1932430 its taken me years to zero in on these spots.....the treasure was gathered from the wrecks and brought ashore in the keys by spanish wreckers....they fortified some sites and kept patrol of the wrecks to keep the bahamian wreckers/pirates away....they had learned alot from there 1715 experience !! The silver was washed dried and repacked for the voyage back to the havana. So we have a tremendous treasure of 12-14 million pesos that actually came ashore at various locations up and down the keys. Now I'm finding out through my own exploration, and oral tradition that there are at least 3 more camps that were not known to the generation of treasure hunters before me....McKee, meylach, fisher, fismar,etc etc. The most recent story is from a lesser known and aging local treasure hunter....in the 80s they found the remains(scattered bones) of a Spanish survivor. The bones and many gold escudo were found on the spine of the island while clearing a lot for development. The old construction guys down here are giving me the secrets of what they dug while working. Waiting to go to a site where a Spanish sword was found also....owner still has the sword in his possession. Still exciting stuff going on down here in the keys....mother nature hides the secrets still !!

Great stuff, Man!!!!

 

[SADS 669]

This exploration sled was very useful for covering large areas of seafloor visually.
It was built of light aluminum profiles.
Nowadays If I were needing something of the kind, I would build it of PVC pipes, without any metal, so that I could add a large metal detector search coil in front of it. It would give up to 10 feet detection depth.
The metal detector could also be interchangeable with a magnetometer.

Sweeping the magnetometer within a few feet of the ground, with instant target feedback would be excellent for small targets like a spike concentration or cannon balls.

Please forgive the negative tone to this reply but adding electronics to a sled I think is a bit like mixing apples with oranges

You are on the sled to place the human eyeball close to the seabed in order to spot things above the sand or within the coral, straight lines, circles or of course cannons and anchors. That way you can cover huge areas of seabed that will probably have wreckage on or above it. Then you can drop off the sled ( after communicating your action topside somehow), and have a root around before deploying a small marker for a gps grab.

Electronics are only useful for looking below the seabed to what you cant see, then you can come back another day for a look see and a bit of excavation. To my mind there is no point wasting time dropping off the sled to check an electronic hit that the mag or pulse star type device should record by being tied into gps topside anyway.

You would not get as much seabed checked with electronics and a diver on the sled, i dont believe the two sensibly mix unless the diver is instructed to only drop off for a good solid visual hit and not for every bleep from the electronics.

 

[Magoopeter]

Great example. in amazing condition, you certainly have fascinating approach to find treasure. On land or on a wreck once you hit the spot it usually pays great dividends, 960 coins in thirty minutes, 28000, in total, addictive!

 

[SADS 669]

Great example. in amazing condition, you certainly have fascinating approach to find treasure. On land or on a wreck once you hit the spot it usually pays great dividends, 960 coins in thirty minutes, 28000, in total, addictive!

View attachment 1932550

Just goes to show Magoo, that even blind Irish squirrels find some acorns too……ha ha

 

[Blak bart]

Great example. in amazing condition, you certainly have fascinating approach to find treasure. On land or on a wreck once you hit the spot it usually pays great dividends, 960 coins in thirty minutes, 28000, in total, addictive!

View attachment 1932550

WOW !! Thats what im looking for !! Clumps, pockets, spills !! Tracking every oral tradition and story to totality !! That means latching on to a story and actually tracking down the people involved !! And if there dead finding there kids and asking them about there grandpas stories. Some are true and some aren't or go cold....once in awhile a cold lead will heat up again with new info. There are so many stories and so many leads here in the keys and bahamas that I keep yellow note pads with the stories on them as they unfold. I now realize that my first instincts of years ago are right !! Go pick an isolated stretch of coast and randomly search it and there will be evidence of shipwrecks, and artifacts. As we have been discussing almost every rock on the bank has mixed wreckage from 1500s to yesterday !! Live through a couple hurricanes and then you really understand the power....when a boat bilges, and loses its ballast.....the rest of the wreck may carry on for miles....and miles. Such is the case of the atocha !! Shaking out treasures for miles and miles. So many ships have smashed apart in the keys and bahamas that wreckage on the shorelines here covers every mile of coast !! Im very blessed to live where all this crazy undersea treasurehunting started !! The bahamas and keys are still the most incredible places on the planet to beach combing and treasurehunt !! Just epic !! Might be time for me to go wrecking....see what the ocean has coughed up !!

 

[Blak bart]

Great example. in amazing condition, you certainly have fascinating approach to find treasure. On land or on a wreck once you hit the spot it usually pays great dividends, 960 coins in thirty minutes, 28000, in total, addictive!

View attachment 1932550

Mag....is that a coconut in your hand.....dosent look like a cannon ball ??