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The following is an ongoing account for the year 2008 regarding what is happening on each of
our 3 salvage vessels: The Magruder and The DARE on the Atocha wreck site and our sub-contractor
on the Margarita wreck site, The Blue Water Rose. Check back to see what the crews recover each
trip and what they are up to when they are stuck in port due to repairs or inclement weather.
For photos and more detailed information on items recovered visit our extensive artifact database.
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12/20/08 - 12/22/08
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The Magruder
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The crew is still working on the boat and will be for a few months. Please check the next Investor Newsletter for a story on the work being done!
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12/20/08 - 12/22/08
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The Dare
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The Dare headed out for a brief trip before the holidays and found a silver coin and an EO and uncovered 5 empty holes.
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12/19/08 - 12/21/08
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The Blue Water Rose
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The crew found 52 olive jar sherds, 2 musket balls, 55 pieces of lead sheathing, 150 ballast stones, 14 barrel hoop fragments, 5 animal bones, 2 spikes, 2 EOs, 1 tack, 1 blade fragment, 1 musket ball, 3 silver coins, 1 animal tooth and uncovered 18 empty holes. We're looking forward to seeing what they find in the new year!
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12/5/08 - 12/7/08
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The Magruder
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The Magruder will be receiving many much needed repairs at the docks and will ultimately be pulled out of the water into the dry docks. Though the crew would rather be treasure hunting they know the work needs to be done to keep the vessel in safe working order.
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12/5/08 - 12/7/08
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The Dare
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The crew is patiently waiting for calm winds so they can head out to sea. |
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12/5/08 - 12/7/08
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The Blue Water Rose
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The crew snuck out for a two day trip and it paid off! They found 25 silver coins, 7 spikes, 250 ballast stones, 53 olive jar sherds, 1 animal jaw bone and another animal jaw bone with teeth, 13 barrel hoop fragments, 1 possible flint, 1 cargo hook, 1 animal bone, 1 blade fragment, 28 pieces of lead sheathing, 1 bowl rim sherd, 1 ceramic sherd, 1 tooth, 2 tacks, 1 EO (possibly a key), 1 conglomerate and 1 glass sherd along with 3 empty holes. Let's pray for calm winds so they can head out again!
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11/5/08 - 11/8/08
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The Magruder
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The Magruder also made it out for a few days and uncovered an amazing 492 musket balls!, 1 pottery sherd, 2 EOs, 1 square spike and 9 empty holes.
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11/4/08 - 11/6/08
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The Dare
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The Dare headed out for a brief trip to uncover 1 Silver coin fragment, 6 EOs, 1 barrel hoop fragment, 2 pottery sherds and 5 empty holes.
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10/11/08 - 10/28/08
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All Vessels
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Due to a series of cold fronts and high winds all of the boats have been in port. We are hoping for a break in this pattern so we can head out to sea!
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10/4/08 - 10/11/08
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The Magruder
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The Magruder was out for about a week this trip and they found a claw hammer, square spike, 3 pottery sherds, 5 musket balls, 2 Eos, 2 spikes, an axe head with wood and wedges and they uncovered 20 empty holes.
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10/4/08 - 10/10/08
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The Dare
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Crewmembers found 16 EOs, 8 pottery sherds, 4 silver coins and searched 3 empty holes.
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9/26/08 - 10/03/08
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Blue Water Rose
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The Crew found 1 silver candle stick holder, 1 silver coin, 195 olive jar sherds, 212 pieces of lead sheathing, 940 ballast stones, 101 barrel hoop fragments, 2 musket balls, 22 spikes, 27 EOs, 9 blade fragments, 1 tack, 1 gold ring, 1 unique EO, 1 animal bone, 4 cinder blocks, 1 hammer, 1 silver object, 1 key, 1 sword handle, 1 silver candlestick fragment, 3 spike fragments and searched 13 empty holes.
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9/17/08 - 9/29/08
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The Magruder
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This trip the guys found 5 pieces of pottery, 3 EOs, 3 bomb fragments, 4 musket balls, 1 square spike, 1 iron washer, 1 bone, 1 tool and searched 21 holes which came up empty.
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9/16/08 - 9/28/08
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The Dare
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The guys found 2 bomb fragments, 1 missile, 2 pottery sherds, 1 stone ball, 1 spike and 72 emeralds along with searching 4 empty holes.
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9/15/08 - 9/23/08
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Blue Water Rose
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This trip the crew found 98 olive jar pieces, 5 ballast stones, 16 spikes, 9 barrel hoop fragments, 5 pieces of lead sheathing, 2 tacks, 3 pieces of copper, 3 ship's pins, 1 blade fragment, 2 animal bones, 3 conglomerates, 5 EOs, a clump of 4 silver coins, 2 loose silver coins, 1 pewter fragment, one iron ring and searched 64 empty holes.
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9/9/08 - 9/10/08
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Blue Water Rose
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The crew found 15 olive jar pieces and searched 21 empty holes.
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8/23/08 - 8/28/08
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The Magruder
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The crew found 17 pieces of pottery, 1 olive jar piece, 1 iron drift pin, 2 spikes, 1 square spike, 1 drift pin and uncovered 13 empty holes.
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8/06/08 - 8/15/08
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The Dare
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The Dare crew found 9 EOs, 6 pottery sherds, 1 spike, 1 musketball and 1 artifact that is possibly a stamp. They also uncovered 46 empty holes before returning to port due to the threat of Tropical Storm Fay.
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8/06/08 - 8/15/08
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The Magruder
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The Magruder has been working in an area with very deep sand recently and thus takes much more time to excavate an area of the site. The crew found 4 pottery sherds, 1 spike, 5 EOs, 2 nails, 1 square spike and also uncovered 32 empty holes before heading back to port due to Tropical Storm Fay.
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8/09/08
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Blue Water Rose
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The Blue Water Rose crew found 15 olive jar sherds and uncovered 21 empty holes before heading back to port. They were having some difficulty with the whalers on both the Blue Water Rose as well as the Southern Rose but are expected to complete repairs by tomorrow. Good luck!
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7/25/08 - 8/03/08
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Blue Water Rose
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The Blue Water crew found 453 pottery sherds, 11 animal bones, 23 barrel hoop fragments, one glazed olive jar sherd, 3 ship's pins, 3 pieces of wood with spike holes, 1 brass object with EO, 2 ceramic sherds, 2 bottom sherds, 11 EOs, 4 pieces of majolica, 15 spikes, 1 key fragment, 3 pieces of alababa, 1 ceramic bowl attached to a conglomerate, 12 ballast stones 2 blade fragments, 1 piece of coal along with uncovering 26 empty holes.
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7/23/08 - 7/31/08
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The Magruder
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The crew found 2 spikes, one square spike, one pottery sherd, one EO, 4 pieces of modern material, one bomb fragment, and uncovered 47 empty holes.
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7/23/08 - 7/30/08
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The Dare
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The Dare found 5 pottery sherds, 3 EOs, 1 silver coin, and one silver plate. Pictures of the plate will be available as soon as we have completed the conservation process, it is currently quite encrusted. They also uncovered 41 empty holes.
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7/12/08 - 7/15/08
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Blue Water Rose
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Battling some windy weather themselves, the crew of the Blue Water Rose dealt with dragging anchors to fin 100 pieces of pottery, 6 animal bones, 1 bowl bottom, 2 ballast stones, one barrel hoop fragment, 1/2 of a ceramic cup, 1 EO, 8 pieces of lead sheathing, 1 majolica sherd, 2 teeth, one spike, one unidentified brass object, one unidentified possibly silver object shaped like a horse shoe which is 3", one alababa sherd in addition to excavating 66 empty holes.
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7/11/08 - 7/17/08
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The Magruder
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The Magruder guys were at Emerald City the week leading up to Mel Fisher Days this year. They found a total of 34 emeralds along with one nail. Thanks for all of your hard work in some windy weather guys, and congratulations to our investors on all of the emeralds they helped find!
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7/11/08 - 7/17/08
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The Dare
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The crew found 5 silver coins, 7 pieces of pottery, one ballast stone, 2 EOs, one barrel hoop fragment, one spike and uncovered 18 empty holes with the help of our investors during the week leading up to Mel Fisher Days, congratulations!
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6/29/08 - 7/7/08
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The Magruder
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The crew found 4 pieces of pottery, one silver coin, 2 EOs, 2 square spikes and uncovered 51 empty holes this trip.
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7/25/08
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The Huntress & Aquasurvey Atocha Site Electro-Magnetic Sled Survey
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In 2007 Mel Fisher’s Treasures began work with Aquasurvey, Inc. www.AquaSurvey.com to design and build a sled mounted electro-magnetic detector. This detector can pinpoint targets deeper and more accurately than any other detector on the market today. This summer we have been testing this new system and recently deployed it to the Atocha site to survey the area between the Atocha “Motherlode” and an area 4.25nm up the trail where the 9 bronze cannons were recovered. This area has great potential for having more silver coin chests; silver and gold bars and bronze cannons that have been buried deep in the hard packed mud and lay undiscovered. The bottom topography along this section of the trail is perfect for our new EM sled due to its very flat terrain and lack of coral heads or any other obstructions.
Read the entire story and view pictures here...
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6/30/08 - 7/05/08
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Blue Water Rose
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The crew found 271 olive jar sherds, 59 empty holes, 2 tacs, 4 ceramic sherds with glaze, 19 pieces of lead sheathing, 11 barrel hoop fragments, 2 ballast stones, 12 EOs, 1 blade fragment, 1 musketball, 6 spikes, 3 animal bones, 11 barrel hoop fragments, 2 alababa neck fragments and one tooth.
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6/30/08 - 7/04/08
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The Dare
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The DARE found 3 pottery sherds, 2 EOs, 1 barrel hoop fragments, and 14 empty holes.
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6/22/08 - 6/26/08
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Blue Water Rose
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This trip the crew of the Rose found 360 olive jar sherds, 9 spikes, 2 ceramic bowl sherds, 13 barrel hoop fragments, 5 pieces of lead sheathing, 1 animal tooth, 7 EOs, 4 ballast stones, 1 ship's pin, 7 animal bones, 13 empty holes, 1 unidentified metal ring, one fire brick, one alababa, one animal tooth, and the amazing gold chalice.
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6/17/08 - 6/24/08
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The Dare
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The Dare found 3 pieces of pottery, one stone cannon ball 2 EOs, 2 silver coins and 2 musket balls this trip along
with excavating an additional 30 empty holes.
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6/11/08 - 6/24/08
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The Magruder
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On this extended trip the crew found 4 silver coins, 2 EOs, 2 pieces of pottery (one of which was an in tact
bowl rim bearing a maker's mark), and also uncovered 50 empty holes. Keep up the diligent work guys, the treasure
will come!
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6/11/08 - 6/13/08
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The Dare
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The DARE headed to sea and brought back a pottery sherd and a sword fragment while digging an
additional 9 holes which turned up empty.
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6/10/08 - 6/19/08
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Blue Water Rose
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The Blue Water crew found 614 olive jar sherds, 2 olive jar necks, 11 ballast stones, 55 empty holes, 1 bull horn, 27
spikes, 3 barrel hoop fragments, 42 EOs, 1 spike attached to wood, 1 alababa neck, 50 barrel hoops frags, 15 animal
bones, 2 silver coins, one musket ball, 4 ships pins, 1 tac head, 1 mahalika, 4 animal teeth, 2 blade fragments, 1
ceramic handle with glaze, 1 brick, 18 musket balls, 1 arquebus, 1 unidentified copper artifact, 1 dagger handle, 1
possible anchor, 1 sword handle, 1 piece of majolica, 1/2 of a split shot, 2 pieces of unidentified brass, 2 possible
silver objects and one in tact bowl. Wow, that is quite a collection of artifacts, keep up the hard work!
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6/2/08 - 6/4/08
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Southern Rose
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The Southern Rose is a Blue Water Ventures boat that is used on the Margarita site for magnetometer work. While magging one day they decided to dive a hit and found a horse shoe! Dive a few more of those mag hits and bring us back some gold!
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6/2/08 - 6/4/08
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Blue Water Rose
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This trip they brought in one cannon ball iron, one piece of coal, one olive jar sherd, one piece of lead sheathing, 2 bones, and uncovered 66 empty holes. Can't wait to see what you bring in next time!
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6/1/08 - 6/6/08
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The Magruder
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The guys on the Magruder brought in 61 pieces of pottery along with 4 EOs and excavated 13 empty holes. We're looking forward to your next trip in!
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5/24/08 - 5/25/08
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Blue Water Rose
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The Blue Water Rose made a short trip to the site finding 113 olive jar sherds, 9 EOs, 1 ornate rim sherd, 2 barrel hoop fragments, 12 ballast stones, 114 pieces of lead sheathing, 10 spikes, 1 jaw bone, 2 ceramic glazed sherds, 1 ceramic bowl, 2 ship pins, 4 bones, 1 key and 1 bowl rim sherd. Good luck next trip!
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5/15/08 - 5/20/08
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J.B. Magruder
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The crew found 88 pottery sherds, 3 silver coins, one key , 2 olive jar necks, one glazed pottery handle, one possible jade bar, one barrel hoop and 3 EOs. We can't wait to see what you find next trip!
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5/12/08 - 5/18/08
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The Blue Water Rose
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The Blue Water Rose is at it again, they struck gold this past trip! As you may have seen in the news they found a 3" Gold grooming too believed to be a combination of a toothpick on one end and an ear wax scoop on the other. They also found 20 spikes, 195 pieces of lead sheathing, 81 olive jar sherds, 8 ballast stones, 23 barrel hoop fragments, 17 EOs, 2 keys, 2 ceramic glazed sherds, 2 tacks, 2 musketballs and they searched through 10 more empty holes. Keep up the good work, this summer is going to be exciting!
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5/4/08 - 5/9/08
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The Magruder
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The Magruder was out at Emerald City this past week while our investors were in town to help on the trays. They were in a hot spot and spotted 35 beautiful, green emeralds. Also some unexpected items made their way up to the trays and 5 pottery sherds were found along with one possible silver coin. Great job guys and thanks to all of the investors who helped in the hunt!
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5/4/08 - 5/9/08
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The Dare
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The crew brought in 5 silver coins, 1 EO and uncovered 17 empty holes in their trip out on the newly renovated vessel. We're excited about the new boat and the summer months to come!
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5/3/08 - 5/8/08
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The Blue Water Rose
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The Blue Water Rose was out for about a week on the Margarita site and found 479 ballast stones, 13 barrel hoop fragments, 30 pieces of lead sheathing, 37 olive jar sherds, 10 Eos; 3 of which are likely spikes, 6 spikes, 3 animal bones, 1 musket ball, 1 alababa sherd, 1 glazed olive jar sherd, 1 sharpening stone, 1 fire brick and they excavated 61 empty holes. Keep up the diligent work.
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4/20/08 - 4/25/08
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The Magruder
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After repairing the winch the crew headed back to sea. They dug 23 empty holes, found 3 square spikes and 5 EOs. Then they moved over to emerald city to prepare for the division week trips. The dredge was set up and the sifting trays are working great according to Andy. While setting everything up they came across a beautiful emerald! It looks like this trip to emerald city will be great.
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4/20/08 - 4/24/08
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The Blue Water Rose
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The crew of the Blue Water Rose found many artifacts on their trip out to the Margarita site. They recovered 185 olive jar sherds, 30 pieces of lead sheathing, 15 spikes, 39 barrel hoop fragments, 3 olive jar bases, 2 tacs, 1 olive jar neck, 285 ballast stones, 3 silver coins, 11 EOs, 1 silver object 3" in diameter, 1 sword handle, 1 blade, 1 animal tooth, 2 glazed olive jar sherds, one large bomb fragment, 1 group of fused artifacts containing 1 tac, 1 spike, and 1 possible coin. Also recovered was an animal bone, a silver bottle stopper and a spike fragment. Congratulations guys we are looking forward to an exciting summer!
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4/8/08 - 4/9/08
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The Magruder
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The crew searched 5 empty holes before having to head back to the docks to repair the starboard winch.
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3/11/08 - 3/15/08
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The Magruder
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The Magruder made it out in between fronts to recover 7 square spikes, 3 EOs and searched 23 empty holes. Keep up the hard work guys!
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3/5/08 - 3/9/08
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The Magruder
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The Magruder crew was able to get out for a few days before the winds really picked up. They found one silver coin, 2 spikes, 5 EOs and uncovered 9 empty holes. We can't wait until you guys can make it back out!
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2/8/08 - 2/9/08
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The Blue Water Rose
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The Blue Water Rose made it out for a brief trip but managed to uncover 60 Olive Jar Sherds, 8 EOs, 25 Barrel Hoop Fragments, 295 Ballast Stones, 12 pieces of lead sheathing, 1 spike, 1 bone fragment, 1 tack, 1 blade and 1 piece of glazed ceramic.
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1/30/08 - 2/8/08
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The Magruder
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The Magruder uncovered 4 EOs and 19 empty holes and was forced to spend 3 days of this trip anchored at the Marquesas due to high winds.
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1/11/08 - 1/12/08
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The Blue Water Rose
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The crew made a brief trip to the Margarita site and found 62 Olive Jar Sherds, 3 pieces of lead sheathing, 1 olive jar neck, 12 EOs, 11 Barrel Hoop Fragments, 3 Ballast stones and one animal tooth.
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1/9/08 - 1/15/08
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The Magruder
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The guys made it out for a pretty good trip for this time of year. The brought in a silver coin, 7 musket balls, 5 encrusted objects (one is likely an Auger), one olive jar neck and they also uncovered 12 empty holes. Everyone hope for calm winds so they can head back out soon!
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1/1/08 - 1/8/08
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The Magruder
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The crew was stuck in port due to high winds.
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12/20/07 - 01/4/08
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The Magruder
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The Magruder has been in port along with the Blue Water Rose due to very high winds in recent
weeks. The crew of Blue Water Ventures has been able to get in some magging which is an integral
part of the search. Look for an update on the DARE's progress in the boat yard in the next investor
newsletter.
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Archive boat happenings information for 2007 can be viewed at: Boat Happenings 2007.
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Archive boat happenings information for 2006 can be viewed at: Boat Happenings 2006.
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