Treasure hunter on Shark Tank

[Darren in NC]

Anyone see the show "Shark Tank" tonight? I came in late, but a shipwreck hunter named Mark Hargitt out of Washington state was asking for funding for a ship and cargo he claimed admiralty to. My wife said he named the ship, but she couldn't remember the name of it. Anyone catch this? Other than a Facebook page (last updated in 2012), there's nothing on him.

 

[mudslideslim]

mariposa I think - looking to salvage raw ore

 

[bikerlawyer]

I saw him. It was the Mariposa. He brought in a couple of chunks of what he said was copper. He started out saying he was salvaging silver and gold.

 

[Salvor6]

The SS Mariposa sank after hitting a reef off Strait Island. The reef is now called now called Mariposa Reef. She was carrying 25,000 cases of salmon and 1,200 tons of copper ore. All crew and passengers were rescued.

 

[G.I.B.]

He said he had a new system to 'vacuum' up the ore. The fella also said that he had sole salvage rights to the ore. One shark recommended that he sell his salvage rights to a bigger salvage company.

He didn't provide any demonstration or explanation of his new system or provide any insight as to how it would 'suck up' the ore. He did say that he would be able to suck it all up in about a week.

One of the sharks commented that he had been offered in on lot's of treasure hunts and they all went bust. This one would cost more to get the ore, than the value of the ore.

The gentleman had a very weak sales pitch and offered no real evidence that he could make his claims come true...



This segment is about 25 minutes into the show.

Enjoy!

 

[Doriamo]

I watch the Shark Tank every week and saw this treasure hunter. He did have a really weak sales pitch. I was not surprised he didn't get a deal.

 

[AUVnav]

There was something very fishy about his pitch. Treasure hunter? going after gold,silver, copper ore... no assay on what he had already brought up, so not sure where his value came from.

He stated he had exclusive mineral rights, not an admiralty arrest, on the ship, so that didnt sound right. He didnt mention the depth, just that they had been diving on it.

Kept calling his method of recovery an 'inductor', that he was designing to 'suck up' the ore. The chunks were raw ore and large, it would take a hell of a dredge to bring these pieces up without clogging.

Perhaps this is one of the commodity wrecks Odyssey was talking about working!

 

[penzfan]

Lots of "wells" in Pirate Mark's speech and even more "buts" from the Shark Tank. The smelly rocks in the Igloo Cooler didn't help the cause either.

 

[Hibuy]

Watched it...very lame presentation IMO...sharks took it easy on him

 

[MPH200]

They did take it easy on him. Not a good presentation. Interesting story.


MARIPOSA (1917) The 3,158 ton 314 foot Alaska Steamship Company steamer Mariposa struck a reef near Point Baker and was lost November 18, 1917. The vessel was carrying 25,000 cases of salmon and 1,200 tons of copper ore as well as 265 passengers. She had departed Anchorage and recently stopped at Shakan to load canned salmon. It was shortly after her departure at 3:00 a.m. from Shakan that the Mariposa ran up on the reef. The passengers were quickly evacuated. Among the passengers aboard the Mariposa were shipwrecked crewmen from the Al-Ki, which was lost November 1st southwest of Juneau and shipwrecked crewmen from the Manhattan, which was lost November 15th in the Gulf of Alaska. There were tensions between the two shipwrecked crews as the Manhattan crew had looted the wreck site of the Al-Ki before the Manhattan sank two weeks later. Tourists were getting their money’s worth of adventure that the Alaska Steamship Company brochures promised. They were seeing the wonder of Alaska, getting to mingle with two different shipwrecked Alaskan crews and finally becoming ship wreck victims themselves. Six hours and 38 minutes after the stranding of the Mariposa, the vessel slid off into the deep carrying the valuable cargos with her. The crew and passengers were taken aboard the Curacao, Ravalli and Jefferson and transported to safety. The reef where the disaster occurred has been renamed Mariposa Reef.

 

[LM]

That show is notorious for bringing in 'entertaining' but otherwise non-viable presentations.

 

[Darren in NC]

Of course, you're right. It's also a reflection of most proposals I've seen - many non-viable presentations with a gem found once in awhile. In prospecting proposals, you have to dig through a lot of dirt before you find the gold.