Author Douglas R. Armstrong has published yet another wonderful book that is a must read for all 1715 Fleet historians. “The Winter Beach Salvage Camp” outlines the report prepared by Mr. Armstrong for Florida’s Bureau of Archaeological Research regarding a salvage camp which he located and cataloged. The book is illustrated and is extremely interesting. We highly recommend it. What follows is a brief description of the book along with a picture of the cover. The book is available at Amazon.com
Following the destruction of the 1715 Plate Fleet along the east coast of Florida the Spaniards constructed several camps along the fifty miles of coast where the ships sank, the primary one being at the McLarty Museum site on the northern extent of the wreckage trail. However, Douglas R. Armstrong located another salvage camp, miles to the south near Wabasso where he performed an archaeological rescue survey in the late 1980s just as the site was being destroyed by homebuilders. “The Winter Beach Salvage Camp” is the report Douglas R. Armstrong prepared for Florida’s Bureau of Archaeological Research in regards to his findings at that location. The book contains a complete recount of his discoveries, by item, along with photos and maps.
As a bonus, this edition also contains the first-ever publication of Douglas Armstrong’s 1990 annual report to the state for the Cannon WreckLocated about 2.3 miles south of the “Cabin Wreck”. At this site in August 1992 Captain Steve Shouppe of Galleon Research Incorporated, found 39 gold coins dated 1697 – 1714. The coins were obvi... site, as it was being excavated by Steve Shouppe’s group, Galleon Research. This addendum is a photocopy of the daily log sheets, along with the site files and drawings of recovered artifacts. The addendum also contains the site map as prepared by Armstrong along with a rectified section set in geographic grid coordinates suitable for use with GPS receivers.
