You said your find was in a 40 foot hole that you blew away down to bedrock and found all those coins scattered in a more or less circle with a 40 ft diameter. You have way more experience at finding and retrieving gold coins from a 1715 wreck. I have no such experience and have never found a gold coin anywhere.
I went back to the interview of Terry Shannon. THe object that moved 300 yards up the beach in 3 days was a mans wedding ring. Probably 10k maybe 14k. That is pretty light compared to a gold coin which was probably 22k or better and heavy. So comparing gold coins to a 14k wedding ring is comparing apples to oranges. Yes I think most of us know gold jewelry does move quite a bit in all directions.
But there are still many reports on the beach of beachcombers retrieving gold and silver coins on the beach from nearby offshore 1715 fleet wrecks. The Corrigan (
Santo Cristo de San Roman) wreck was named after the beachcomber who found gold coins on the beach near the wreck site.
scoundrel were you part of this treasure recovery? If not what 1715 fleet wrecks did you dive on and recover treasure? It is rare to be able to converse with members of 1715 wreck teams.