The Treasure Hunter

[Old Bookaroo]

chirper97:

Just stumbled across your January 9th post. While it probably won't do any good, I'll try to correct a few things:

Charles Dean Miller used Karl von Mueller as one of this pen names. When he wrote with his wife Gladyce M. Miller they used the pen name "Deek Gladson."

You wrote: "...my impression was that Karl had a great imagination and writing ability, but that his 'facts' often were less than accurate. For example, the bloviation and misdirections by Karl regarding the Lue Treasure. I recall an online communication by Paul Tainter, who took over NPG/Exanimo/Research Unlimited that Karl was a 'good story teller' and care should be taken with stories and implications...."

Now you offer no facts to back that up. What do you know about the LUE that did not, directly or indirectly, come from KvonM's writings? And if you are going to believe someone, wouldn't it make sense to listen to the person who started the business and built it into a national firm - rather than the person who purchased it from the founder? I know Paul Tainter, have done business with him, and he always treated me right. But he was not a treasure hunter like KvonM - no knock there because there just hasn't been another KvonM. Period.

You never met him. I did. There wouldn't be a TreasureNet Forum without Karl von Mueller. There wouldn't be the 2009 hobby of treasure hunting without him. And that's a fact.

You wrote "I also recall that Charles Garrett was providing a lot of assistance with the publications by von Mueller, and that the Garrett line of detectors was always highly touted in NPG and other publications (to the exclusion of White's)." So? RAM Publishing did publish several books by KvonM. Compare the earlier editions of Sudden Wealth (Exanimo Press & The Gold Bug) - page 75, for example - with the RAM editions. The RAM editions include other books published by RAM. It's there in print for all to read.

Charles Garrett hired KvonM to write The Master Hunter Manual - not just the best metal detector instruction book ever written, but an excellent introduction to treasure finding. Try to purchase a copy today - the market price tells you it's value (unlike the numerous copies of The Treasure Hunter readily available for a buck or less).

As for your use of "Exanimo," i find it in remarkably poor taste.

Good luck to all,

~Fred Hollister
Publisher: The Encyclopedia of Buried Treasure Hunting, by Karl von Mueller (San Francisco: 1990) [unlike some "reprinters" - with the permission of the copyright holder!]

 

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[thompson]

Mr. Hollister
How is it different for an archeologist to "Excavate" a tomb but when some one without a degree starts digging it is considered stealing or looting? You say, "Indiana Jones would hate Howard Jennings - Mr. Jennings is a looter" well thank you for speaking on the behalf of Mr. Jones. But if you want to play that card I will play this one, maybe you should watch the first movie again when they accuse Indiana Jones of being a looter in south America- doesn’t that sound familiar?

 

[Old Bookaroo]

thompson:

Are you really asking "How is it different for an archeologist to "Excavate" a tomb but when some one without a degree starts digging it is considered stealing or looting?"

Seriously?

Wow!

It isn't a question of having a degree. It's an issue of how and why. Briefly, for an archaeologist a items in and of itself has relatively little value. What counts is where it is found relative to all the other objects recovered and data obtained. That is why professionals take such careful notes, sites are on a grid, etc.

Pothunters such as Mr. Jennings plunder tombs for gold trinkets they can sell. They destroy the historical value of the object when they remove it from the site.

As for Prof. Jones, why don't we let him speak for himself?

Good luck to all,

~Fred

 

[chirper97]

Here is a comprehensive bibliography for MANY discussions, articles, and books on the subject of "looting versus archeological digs"

http://wings.buffalo.edu/anthropology/Documents/lootbib.shtml

An example:
"Fagan, Brian M. (HOT!)
1995 Archaeology's dirty secret. Archaeology 48(4):14-17.
- Fagan notes how archaeologists frequently fail to publish their research and equates this failure to looting."

There are many links within this bibliography.

 

[Old Bookaroo]

chirper97:

If an international pharmaceutical firm abuses the public trust, does that give street dealers free license to peddle crack?

That is the argument you are making, and I simply cannot agree with it.

Once graves are looted, the potential archaeological information is lost forever. It cannot be recovered.

If an archaeologist properly excavates yet fails to publish, the information has still been preserved – but not disseminated.

When the Spanish conquistadors melted down Aztec and Inca artifacts, was that ok with you as well? How about killing the locals to get them? No problem with that, either?

Or do you draw the line with just tomb plundering, telling lies and artifact smuggling as acceptable practices?

Perhaps you have not walked sites with local authorites, and had them point out to you vacant spaces where wall sculptures have been sawed out and removed. I have, and it is not a happy experience.

Frankly, I don't understand your continued defence of such an obvious fraud as Mr. Jennings.

I am, however, still curious why you make fun of his former wife's beliefs yet fail to comment on the fact that based on this sad book Mr. Jennings apparently believed the same things. And why you are still afraid to post under you own name.

Good luck to all,

~Fred

 

[chirper97]

I just finished the book The Treasure Hunter and it was a great read. I could hardly put it down. Does anybody know if Howard Jennings or Robin Moore are still alive?

I have just been contacted by Ms Anne Brown, author of Roatan Odyssey, http://www.amazon.com/Roatan-Odyssey-Anne-Jennings-Brown/dp/0955760003 and former wife and now critic of Howard Jennings, (Co-author and subject of The Treasure Hunter).

It would be great if she would join this Forum and thread to share her first hand experiences.

I will post pertinent information as I receive it.

Thank you Ms Brown!

 

[quicksilver7]

Gentlemen: I tremble to post my humble contribution into this illustrious debate, but I am the publisher of Roatan Odyssey by Anne Jennings Brown, widow of Howard Jennings. Neither Anne nor I would claim it was a true story if it was not, and it most certainly is. You couldn’t really make it up!

Initially, Anne had an agent for Roatan Odyssey, and he had submitted it to four of the larger publishing houses, but they had declined and declared it “uncategorisable”. Not a word I would use myself; it was patently autobiographical and/or travel. Why is knowing which shelf to put it on so important to these people?

After four rejection slips, (a word not in Anne’s vocabulary), she decided to self-publish. It was not by vanity press (as one of your contributors witheringly suggested!), but published privately and professionally, on my retirement from many years in publishing as an editor, proof reader and (the fun part, I think) page make-up. Our printer, Cromwell Press, did a superb job; we had a print run of 2,000, of which we have sold approximately half.

Roatan Odyssey has sold well in America, and on Roatan Island where it all happened, not just to visiting cruise ships but also to the local inhabitants who remember Anne, and many of the events she writes about. Indeed, the agent sold ten copies between collecting it from Customs and getting it home. To my mind, this alone proves its veracity.

We have been fortunate with publicity at a local level, in both Berkshire and Shropshire, where Anne has lived. However, as with most other books, we have been unable to break into the national press, which is disappointing because the Jennings’ treasure-hunting exploits were featured in Woman’s Own in two consecutive issues in April 1972 and in the Evening Standard at about the same time. I would have thought they would have been interested in “the truth behind the headlines” some 37 years later. We are still hoping.

Now 76 years old, Anne Jennings Brown is a remarkably strong and supremely elegant lady. She had to be to survive marriage to Howard. He was certainly an Indiana-Jones type character, and so, of course was Fredrick Mitchell-Hedges (1882-1959), whom Howard had met and from whom he learned first hand about the treasure appropriated from Roatan’s Port Royal harbour.

As Anne writes in her book: “We sat on the edge of the crumbling masonry of Fort George, our feet dangling in the water, and went over what [Anna Mitchell-Hedges, his step daughter] had said in London. In 1932, the year I was born, Anna, with her stepfather Fredrick Mitchell-Hedges, and a Dr Ball, had sailed into Port Royal and dug up $600,000-worth of pirate treasure. The islanders were still talking about it as though it had happened just prior to my arrival, recounting all the details of which boat they used for charter – the Amigo – and who helped them with the digging.

“With the help of archival evidence, the Mitchell-Hedges and Dr Ball found three chests of treasure in various locations in the harbour and, according to Anna, Dr Ball was allotted the unenviable task of crawling along the beach and through the bush with the ship’s compass which would react to the corroded buried metal. I would like to have known how the poor doctor managed this feat in several locations in Port Royal, and how his knees stood up to it all. She had gone on to say that they only had time to dig up two of the chests before the authorities in Coxen Hole got wind of the goings-on in Port Royal and came to stop them. They escaped, leaving the third chest behind.”

It was the prospect of this third chest that lured Howard back to Roatan, plus of course, the fact that he owned land there (just waiting to be developed). There is much concern in the discussion on this website about how cavalier these treasure hunters were. My personal thoughts on this are that in those days, people were not so politically correct, nor so ecologically-aware or achaeologically-aware. Anne also felt much concern about Howard’s methods when they were treasure seeking in the jungles of Ecuador, where they discovered a lost Inca city, long deserted but heaving with emeralds, gold and artefacts over 1,500 years old and where, unwilling to share ‘his’ treasure trove, he subsequently tried to kill her.

Also, as it says of Mitchell-Hedges on Wikipedia, “The veracity of much of his autobiographical writings is in question,” so it is obvious his adventures did not lose in the telling. He was certainly a bit of a lad.

One thing is certain; Roatan Odyssey is a cracking read, with something for everybody from adventure, sex, money, lost love, threats, interrogation, suicides, murder, living through a hurricane, a near-miss shipwreck, and of course, the duppies and the resident ghost of a buccaneer who teaches Anne the joys of automatic writing. It sheds light on Howard Jennings and his character with, to my mind, an even-handedness he does not deserve. Anne tells this true story in such a graphic and gripping manner, almost everyone who has read it says, “It would make a great film!” And it would. We are working on it.

The other response we get is, “But what happened to Anne after she left Roatan?” Well, I am pleased to say she has been happily re-married for 30 years, to a dear and understanding man who accepts her wanderlust and allows her free rein, knowing she will always return.

Born with a silver spoon in her mouth and speaking with a cut glass accent to vie with the Queen’s, Anne was educated at a select boarding school, went on to earn a degree in art and, before Howard swept her off her feet and off to Roatan, had been enjoying a privileged London society lifestyle. By now impervious to culture shock, since Roatan, Anne has spent six months at a time in the Himalayas with desperately poor Tibetan refugees, going back for more year after year, documenting their culture, painting pictures of their costumes and teaching them English.

I suspect that’s another book in the making but for now, Roatan Odyssey, complete with many of Anne’s fine drawings and historical maps, is available direct from [email protected] price £10 plus £2.50 p&p. Please e-mail in the first instance for details of where to make a BACS transfer or the address to which to mail your cheque.

With best wishes
Quicksilver7

 

[chirper97]

Thanks Quicksilver7 for your informative post and contribution to TreasureNet.com and this thread.

I agree with your comments about the time period in which Jennings was operating; political correctness was a decade or so in the future. Judging him by today's standards is a bit absurd.

I plan to purchase Anne Brown's Roatan Odyssey to complement The Treasure Hunter, and would greatly enjoy her contributions to this thread!

Thanks again Quicksilver7; keep us updated on new information and insights!

 

[quicksilver7]

Thanks, Chirper 97, I'm glad my little contribution was helpful.

May I just clarify re obtaining a copy of Roatan Odyssey: it is available on amazon.co.uk but not on amazon.com Consequently, you can order it in the UK but not internationally.

However, I can fill international orders received on [email protected]
E-mail in the first instance and as soon as I know which country you are ordering from, I will check the exchange rates and the mailing cost, and advise. You can then send a money order / banker's draft or a BACS transfer (at no cost), and we will mail your copy of Roatan Odyssey by return.

It is a good time to buy from the UK because the £ sterling is very weak.

It is true we are trying to interest a film-maker in the UK because Roatan Odyssey would make a great film. That may be some time yet though; Anne and I are going to hold off buying our outfits for the red carpet for a while.

Best wishes
Quicksilver7

 

[chirper97]

When it happens, we want photos!!

Good luck; I would love to see the movie when and if it is produced.

Here's the link to Amazon United Kingdom:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=Roatan+Odyssey&x=0&y=0

 

[tri trackers]

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I think the treasure hunting community should read it and make their own decisions. As well as all books associated with treasure hunting.

tt

 

[snake35]

After all this back and forth banter, I bought a copy from E-bay ( .99 + 2.99 shipping) I will post my review shortly.

 

[snake35]

Well i read it. It was highly entertaining. How factual is another story, but most treasure tales are generously blown up. All in all I liked it.

 

[chirper97]

Well i read it. It was highly entertaining. How factual is another story, but most treasure tales are generously blown up. All in all I liked it.

I have read Roatan Odyssey and highly recommend it! Anne Jennings Brown has a flowing writing style, and conveys the sense of time and place as she and Howard Jennings pursue treasure and fulfillment on Roatan.

It is enlightening to have 'The Treasure Hunter' available to compare the perspectives of these two adventurous and remarkable people!

Availability of Roatan Odyssey:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Roatan-Odys...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1260122318&sr=8-1

or directly from the author at [email protected]

Recommended!

ex animo

 

[godisnum1]

Just wanted to jump in and say that I learned quite a bit from reading a good portion of this thread.
I got the e-book of The Treasure Hunter a couple months back, but got too busy to finish it.
Just recently, on my trip to Springfield, Missouri to spend Thanksgiving with my girlfriend and her family... I happened upon a hardback signed, first edition copy of The Treasure Hunter in a used bookstore. The $35 pricetag was a bit absorbent, but I can say that it was certainly worth it and I'm enjoying reading the rest of it in physical form! I'm enjoying the stories that Jennings & Moore had to offer... regardless if there are those who have subjective opinions on it's credibility. If you can write a book like that about your own life, then you've truly lived out most of our dreams!!!

Bran <><

 

[DennisB]

I have read this post and I can assure you I will be getting Stan Grist Book and the treasure hunter book as soon as I get the money .(2 weeks top)



Dennis B

 

[DennisB]

and this was a very good topic!

 

[Bananaman]

While I'm certainly not as literate as the listers here, after reading this topic, I was compelled to register to this site. Ah, The Treasure Hunter. The book totally changed my life. I had been planning on going up to mine Alaska, when a chance meeting with a stranger, forced me to read of Mr. Jennings. I was told, that if I were to alter my plans and choose Honduras, Jim the stranger would pitch in half the capitol. I loved the book, and called Robin Moore to find out if he thought the info was accurate. We engaged a prominent Honduran attorney, staked a claim, and shipped our dredge, and tons of gear. It was in 93 that we struggled up the Rio Paulaya, headed for the exact spot where Jennings had pulled gold. While we built our house, we stayed with Alfredo Guevarra, the very same guide the Jennings had used. We became family to his family, and enjoyed our time there. We saw his old dredge parts, still there to this day. The price of gold was not what it is today, or perhaps we would have stayed. We left doubting he pulled the amount that he professed. We did receive fair compense for exploration from Homestake mining.
We went to Utila, which is now my home. I lived on Roatan for a while, and married my lovely wife there. My children our now ten and twelve. I study the history of the region, and became more interested in the archaeological sites, especially the "dragon" heads, carved of granite that I would find in the jungle. I should talk about where the Mitchell Hedge skull was really found, or the strange similarities of Anne and Howard, and Mitchell and Brown, and there books... But instead I'll close with, sometimes the treasure, is primarily in the searching. Perhaps I'll see some of you in Nome.....

 

[Old Bookaroo]

Bananaman:

I hesitate to dispute anyone who has been there and done that. If you can look back on your life and be happy with where you went and what you did, that's a good thing.

If people want to be armchair treasure hunters, or enjoy the search more than the finding(s), more power to 'em. Each to her or his own. That's why where are more than one type of treasure literature.

When it comes to robbing graves and smuggling artifacts, the line has been crossed. Authors of books that advocate such vocations must accept responsibililty for what they put out there.

And I continue to find it helpful to not confuse treasure fact with folklore, fiction, or fantasy.

Good luck to all,

~The Old Bookaroo

l

 

[kelse]

Anyone know the where a bouts of Steven Morgan or if he is still alive? By the way, doing a little excavating in the 60s and 70s didnt really amount to much so called grave robbing. Howard did nothing different than what is being done in Egypt or anywhere else for that matter. The book was written to sell copies, might have been a little exaggerated in parts. Kelse Jennings