THEY FOUND TREASURE by Robert F. Burgess

THEY FOUND TREASURE
ISBN 0595094988

MORE TREASURE SALVORS' SECRETS! In this book are interviews with some of the world's best and more successful treasure salvors. In their own words you hear them tell what it's like and how they are doing it successfully. Here is a wealth of information for the curious reader lured by the idea of hunting for and discovering sunken treasure. This material provides a wealth of information for the curious reader lured by the idea of hunting for and discovering sunken treasure. The best of the best treasure salvors in the world reveal their secrets: how and why they began. Their methods of research, their search and salvage techniques. It's all here as they tell it, the truths as well as the lies. Nothing has been changed. What these treasure hunters say and the way they say it typifies the character of the treasure hunter. 243 pages. Paperback 6 x 9 © 1977/2000 Published by iUniverse.com

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Among those interviewed are:

Art McKee, the father of Florida treasure hunting who found a Spanish galleon in his backyard off Florida's Plantation Key, then fought "pirates" to salvage its treasure.

Kip Wagner, whose search for old coins on a Florida beach with a surplus metal detector turned up clues that led him to the wrecks of the Spanish 1715 Fleet loaded with literally tons of silver — all of it scattered in shallow water just off shore.

Mel Fisher, whose secret excavating device enabled him to discover a "carpet of gold coins" on the ocean bottom, including perfectly struck golden "Royals" valued today at over $30,000 apiece!

Robert Stenuit, whose eight-year search in libraries and archives uncovered a maze of clues that led him directly to the treasure-laden wreck of the Girona.

Tom Gurr, whose discovery of a 1733 Spanish galleon catapulted him to fame and fortune. Then came the strange ending to the good-luck story, with Gurr throwing the treasure back into the sea...or did he?

The adventures of these and many others provide a surprisingly complete picture of modern treasure hunting.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Art McKee: The Treasure Hunter's Treasure Hunter
2. Kip Wagner: Dragon on the Beach
3. Mel Fisher: A Carpet of Gold
4. The Trouble With Treasure
5. Tom Gurr: Curse of the San José
6. John Baker: Statues in a Spring
7. Robert F. Marx: My Phantom Wreck
8. Robert Stenuit: Going for the Girona
9. Robert Stenuit: Silver of the Slot ter Hooge
10. Treasure Salvors: Search for the Atocha, Part 1
11. Search for the Atocha, Part 2
12. Eugene Lyon: Nuggets in the Archives
13. C. Duncan Mathewson: The Shark Cannon
Index

FROM THE BOOK:

    "I looked over the wreck and saw that the cannons and the marker were gone. Then, before I could notice anything else, here were five scuba divers coming down on me — the whole crew of the Buccaneer!...
    "As they started to come in on me I put my hand up like a traffic cop and they stopped. I didn't want to use that bangstick on any of them but I patted it. Then I turned around and like a damned fool, instead of getting six feet away, I choked the pole down to three feet and hit that damn timber and it went whoom!
    "I looked around and, hell, there was just one guy left. All I saw was the fins of the others heading back to the boat. I looked back at this guy and he was still there, crouched down like this, see, and I could see the big question mark over his head, you might say, wondering...
    Maybe he was praying.
    "Yeah, he was down on his knees, looking at me, see. So I patted this thing, I only had one shot but I started toward him and he took off fast. Boy, if I had a picture of that! He took off and there I was. Boy, I had all the confidence in the world then, see, walking on down that wreck."

    'We got a rope on it and hauled it topside. I came right up behind it, and when I got on the ladder I took the bar to keep it from hitting the boat. The bar weighed sixty pounds, by the way; I weighed one hundred and eighty-five at that time, and my helmet weighed seventy-two pounds—all of that on a ladder only meant to support a swimmer.
    "So the rung broke from under me, but I managed to grab the bottom rung with the bar cradled in my arms before they finally hauled it up. Then I came aboard and they took off my helmet.
    "By then the guys were hammering at the bar and I heard one of them say, 'This has got to be silver!' Then we saw the cross of Spain on it and all the other markings. One of the other fellows said, 'Good God, it is silver! We’re rich!' Boy, we turned around and beat each other on the back, slapped each other around like a bunch of guys that had just won their first football game in high school. Oh, we were excited!"

    "Mo was the same as me. He said, 'I’m not afraid of sharks either.' (He came to my aid several times with sharks.)
    "He jumped in and went down and all the sharks followed him. His bubbles were coming up fine, and it looked like he was all right. Then George jumped in and there I was, on the skiff by myself. I thought, 'Well, I guess old Fearless Fisher has to go in, too.' I jumped in, sank down, and immediately a couple dozen of them came up to look at me.
    "I backed up against the coral ledge and sank deeper. When we got down deep, they didn’t seem to come close to us, but they did keep darting in."

SOME READER REVIEWS:

"Readers will welcome this new book with its gripping interviews of treasure hunters that make dramatic reading."
—Publishers Weekly

"Burgess has told fascinating yarns before and does so masterfully again in this exciting roundup."
—Fort Worth Star Telegram

"Burgess is lively and has prickly moments of sudden discovery and hair-raising danger."
—Kirkus Reviews

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They Found Treasure