psdiver
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[h=1]Treasure hunter searches for long-lost Spanish galleon in Nassau Sound[/h]
Posted: April 14, 2013 - 11:07am | Updated: April 14, 2013 - 11:09am
Read more at Jacksonville.com: Treasure hunter searches for long-lost Spanish galleon in Nassau Sound | jacksonville.com
Posted: April 14, 2013 - 11:07am | Updated: April 14, 2013 - 11:09am
Read more at Jacksonville.com: Treasure hunter searches for long-lost Spanish galleon in Nassau Sound | jacksonville.com
By Drew Dixon
Nassau Sound is known for its tricky waters to navigate, shark infestations and a remote, narrow pass where the Nassau River meets the Atlantic Ocean.
Doug Pope also sees the sound as a possible site of treasure from the long-lost Spanish galleon San Miguel that wrecked in 1715. Pope is president of Amelia Research & Recovery LLC, based in Fernandina Beach, and his quest to find the San Miguel’s loot is the basis of his business.
Pope said the find of a jeweler’s furnace in 1993 near Amelia Island is believed to be from the ship that was part of a fleet of about a dozen that went down during a hurricane nearly 300 years ago. The treasure salvaging season for Pope commences in about two weeks, when area waters are most calm.
Curious Britannia, a historical research organization in the United Kingdom, estimates the lost San Miguel treasure with gold and silver bars along with coins, jewels and other valuables to have a value of up to $2 billion. The organization’s website, www.aquiziam.com/top-ten-lost-treasures.html, named the San Miguel as potentially one of the most valuable shipwrecks that has yet to be recovered.
“You got to be excited. There’s a lot of anticipation this year,” Pope said last week. “We’ve got a little more research leaning toward where the San Miguel is and the value of it.”
A retired U.S. Army helicopter pilot who also does commercial work, Pope is confident his business of about 15 employees may be on the verge of a major find, but his current outlook came only after years of struggle, persistence and optimism — a prerequisite in the treasure salvaging business.
Amelia Research & Recovery now has assets valued at $2.3 million. Just to get ready for this treasure hunting season, Pope spent about $85,000 to have his 71-foot vessel, the Polly-L, overhauled at the Clay County Port marina in Green Cove Springs, where the ship is currently moored.
The Polly-L resembles a barge with three large, adjustable pilings that often elevate and lower the hull after the pilings are planted on the ocean floor.
And then there’s meeting government regulations.
The permitting process of any treasure salvage operation is complicated. Treasure hunters can’t simply throw a bucket over the side of a boat and drag the ocean floor.
Treasure hunters have to submit permit applications to the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, which has other branch divisions within to review the proposed work. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also is involved in the review process. There also are historical and archaeological regulations that stipulate what’s to be done with relics once they’re found.
The DEP and federal regulators have signed off on Pope’s project. He said the state’s willingness to endorse the hunt represents a shift in the government’s posture.
“The entire attitude toward the treasure industry has improved,” Pope said. “We were just treated like stepchildren before. Now we’re treated like business people.”
The thawing of relations between the state government and treasure salvagers was evident, Pope said, when Gov. Rick Scott hosted some of the state’s most prominent hunters at a reception April 2 at the governor’s mansion.
Taffi Fisher-Abt knows about the tension between the government and treasure hunters. As the daughter of the late Mel Fisher, perhaps the most famous treasure hunter of the past half century, Fisher-Abt witnessed and participated in the battles over recovered treasure in addition to disputes over environmental impacts of salvaging .
“The impact of a treasure hunter on the environment is like a mosquito bite on King Kong’s butt,” Fisher-Abt said. “We are enriching the environment by pulling out a lot of trash that’s in the ocean. We find a lot of trash that we don’t want to find again so we clean it [the ocean] up.”
Which points to the methods used to hunt for treasure and the regulatory issues. Pope’s approach employs what he calls “ethical commercial archaeology.”
Pope uses a magnetometer to indicate clusters of iron or steel on the ocean floor. Then an “excavator” is lowered into the water to remove sediment creating a hole about 25 feet wide and 10 feet deep. Divers then enter the hole and recover potential treasure.
Pope’s method is different than traditional treasure salvagers who use propeller blasts through a large tube to blow sand off a targeted area and often create a cloud of turbid water.
“We hang our excavator from a crane … and we don’t recirculate the water. We’re always blowing clean water in,” Pope said. “We don’t make mud; we just move the dirt.”
According to the DEP documents granting the environmental resource permit for the Amelia Research & Recovery project, there are dozens of sites within 2.5 miles of the Nassau County coastline from the southern tip of Amelia Island to about 8 miles north, an 18-square-mile area.
“The southern area is our primary target area,” Pope said. “But there will probably be several hundred excavations in the entire area.”
Pope’s is the only treasure-hunting entity to be permitted in Northeast Florida. And although Pope complained about tension with state archaeology officials, DEP regulators for the First Coast are bullish on treasure hunting.
“Based on our knowledge of what we’ve dealt with … we’ve had no problems,” said Russell Simpson, ombudsman for the Northeast Florida district of the DEP.
Simpson said the agency wants treasure salvaging to move forward.
“We are always very pleased to facilitate any permit applications and to make it as easy of a process for anybody applying,” Simpson said.
“As far as Northeast Florida goes … it shows a learning curve,” Fisher-Abt said. “There were some issues that have been put to bed. It shows an intelligent agency.”
Pope acknowledged he’s grown closer to DEP regulators.
“One thing I’m proud is my relationship with the DEP and the Corps of Engineers,” Pope said. “They’ve been accommodating to us.”
Fisher-Abt and Pope say they have learned to work with government regulators, but they point out that “hundreds of entities” involved in the treasure salvaging business give back to the Florida economy. Most of those businesses are subcontractors of the permit holders.
“Those entities have a huge economic impact on the state,” Fisher-Abt said. Most notably, she said tourism gets a boost along with marinas and support businesses that service salvage operations.
Fisher-Abt is now an officer in several of the nearly dozen subsidiaries of Mel Fisher Treasures. She used to oversee operations of the salvage work in Sebastian on Florida’s Treasure Coast — so named because of treasure that washes ashore from several ships in the 1715 fleet that wrecked in that area.
Fisher-Abt also is involved in salvage operations and Fisher museums in Key West, near where Mel Fisher found the Atocha treasure in the waters off the island chain. The Spanish galleon went down in a hurricane in 1622, and after 15 years of hunting Fisher located its treasure, estimated at $422 million, in 1985.
The ownership of that treasure was granted to Fisher and his associates only after a legal battle with the state that was settled by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Despite the history of disputes with government, Fisher-Abt still remains optimistic about treasure salvaging as her famous father’s most frequent quote, “Today’s the day,” is on her cellphone voice mail.
Given the Fisher family experience and his own struggles, Pope said the treasure salvaging business can seem romantic, but ultimately, it’s hard work.
“It is a very difficult business. Once you get past all the regulations, you go out in the ocean and deal with the elements,” Pope said. “No matter how anxious you are or excited you get, you have to wait until the ocean’s ready or else it will kick you back out and throw you on the beach.”
Drew Dixon: (904) 359-4098
Read more at Jacksonville.com: Treasure hunter searches for long-lost Spanish galleon in Nassau Sound | jacksonville.com
Treasure hunter searches for long-lost Spanish galleon in Nassau Sound | jacksonville.com
