William "Bill" Mooney has been in the news before for similar, failed stunts in the Boca Raton area.
I think it would be a mistake if the county lets him dig in Dubois Park. If they do, you can expect other permit requests for similar ventures at other places in the county. If they approve this dig, they will have to approve others too right?
There are certainly quite a few legends of gold on the beaches and in the vicinity of Jupiter inlet. Some of these are mentioned in Bob Baer's new book on the Jupiter inlet shipwreck.
In the "comment's" section to the newspaper story mentioned above is this:
I lived on Juno Beach nearly 50 years ago. I fished Jupiter and Juno and roamed all over that area. There was an elderly beach bum kind of guy who was always raking the beach, especially after a storm for gold coins. He found them on a regular basis and I saw one. He kept low key and sold his coins to whoever had the cash, I did not. I was/am a diver and it was "common" knowledge that a Spanish ship had sunk in a storm out off the inlet. That is where the gold coins are, bet on it!!!!
Gerard. 5:08 PM, 11/3/2011
Tom