Straight Dope Message Board

[Terrifel]

Recently I read an article about Tampa-based outfit Odyssey Marine Exploration, which recovered 17 tons of gold and silver coins from an 18th century shipwreck. Although the treasure reportedly remains in legal limbo while Odyssey battles lawsuits from the Spanish government, the thought of such a discovery has infected me with the desire to abandon my entry-level retail position at Costco for the more glamorous and potentially lucrative career of a professional treasure hunter.

However, there are surely a finite number of ships wrecked while carrying such a huge cargo of treasure. What if this was the last one? Or are there still lost shipwrecks with comparable quantities of treasure out there, somewhere?

[Alex Osaki]

Treasure hunting is probably still possible, although it's a somewhat high-capital endeavour. There are things out there to be found, although finding them is difficult--if you were to have all the gold alleged to be lost in transit during World War II you'd wind up with a pile about the size of Earth's moon, so you have to know what sources are credible and what aren't (the famous Amber Room may have been on the Wilhelm Gustloff when it was sunk, for instance--or perhaps it's in a mine somewhere--or perhaps it was simply destroyed--or perhaps, or perhaps).

In terms of the really, really big finds, the Portuguese ship Las Cinque Chagas sunk in 1594 with a cargo that's been valued at up to a billion dollars, for example. If you sift through some of the chaff, you can find evidence for some Spanish treasure ships that have yet to be salvaged, as well--the Santa Rosa, for instance, may have been carrying tons of gold when it sank in 1726. Or it may not have. This ambiguity makes treasure hunting for great chests of gold coins and bullion something of a fool's errand.

But take heart, because the real market for marine salvage, if you're looking to make a buck, is antiquities. The same Baltic Sea that kept the Vasa in such good condition also has preserved countless ships from the Viking era all the way to the present, which you might concievably loot to fill your coffers. The Med is also a rich area, and Greece has apparently opened itself up for such exploitation. Prospective treasure hunters are cautioned, though, that such activity is frequently of dubious legality (which is not to say that antiquities salvage cannot be done legally, though at the entry-level it's unlikely to be well-sanctioned) and the antiquities trade is a fairly skeevy one. Plus it makes Robert Ballard sad, and do you want that on your conscience?

[HeyHomie]

Originally Posted by Terrifel

Recently I read an article about Tampa-based outfit Odyssey Marine Exploration

There's a show on Discovery Channel (or it may be History Channel) that follows Odyssey vessels around the world searching for treasure. Apparently there are thousands (if not tens of thousands) of shipwrecks all over the ocean floor. Finding them is tricky, and once you find them you have to cut through a lot of legal red tape, but yes, there's apparently billions to be found.

OMEX's stock currently trades at about $3.40 on the NYSE.

[ftg]

How about wagons loads of royal treasure lost in The Wash by King John? Not exactly a shipwreck but probably underwater.

[ralph124c]

I thought the TITANIC's safes had all kinds of swaypearls, diamonds, etc., belonged to the wealthy1st-Class passengers. Was any of this stuff recovered?

[telebox]

The Oak Island 'Money Pit'

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_Island

If you don't fancy sailing the seven seas, you could try searching for

The Treasures of Lima

In 1820, Lima, Peru, was on the edge of revolt. As a preventative measure, the viceroy of Lima decided to transport the city's fabulous wealth to Mexico for safekeeping. The treasures included jeweled stones, candlesticks, and two life-size solid gold statues of Mary holding the baby Jesus. In all, the treasure filled 11 ships and was valued at around $60 million ....

http://people.howstuffworks.com/6-of...treasures3.htm

[gonzomax]

Originally Posted by HeyHomie

There's a show on Discovery Channel (or it may be History Channel) that follows Odyssey vessels around the world searching for treasure. Apparently there are thousands (if not tens of thousands) of shipwrecks all over the ocean floor. Finding them is tricky, and once you find them you have to cut through a lot of legal red tape, but yes, there's apparently billions to be found.

OMEX's stock currently trades at about $3.40 on the NYSE.

With their bottom mapping techniques they can map square miles of the ocean in a short time.Odyssey includes an archeologist and a historian on their crew. They show parts of the bottom with many wrecks scattered not far from each other. Some are not ancient but still may broing a lot of money. They find ships carrying all kinds of goods . They can make a lot by finding a ship carrying wine for instance.

[intothebluediving]

The worlds oceans hold over 6 billion dollars worth of treasure that is still waiting to be found. There are several ships that were lost in the Caribbean Sea alone. Those are just the vessels that had registered manifests. Not all ships of that time period registered there manifests and some where actually privateer or pirate ships, therefore their cargo remained unregistered and their location is based off of word off mouth from the survivors of the ship or the ships they encountered. Not all of them have been salvaged. I own a treasure hunting vessel and we are looking for several shipwrecks. The first thing you need to do is to get your open water scuba certification and then go from there. If you would like to get started, let me know and I might have room for one more on one of my three boats that I work from.

[Bijou Drains]

This ship was found around 20 years ago, it sunk in 1857.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Central_America

They used a lot of data and statistics to predict where it would be found. After they found the gold (which was brought up with robots) they had to fight for 10 years in court to keep the gold.

[Iggins]

Originally Posted by intothebluediving

The worlds oceans hold over 6 billion dollars worth of treasure that is still waiting to be found. There are several ships that were lost in the Caribbean Sea alone. Those are just the vessels that had registered manifests. Not all ships of that time period registered there manifests and some where actually privateer or pirate ships, therefore their cargo remained unregistered and their location is based off of word off mouth from the survivors of the ship or the ships they encountered. Not all of them have been salvaged. I own a treasure hunting vessel and we are looking for several shipwrecks. The first thing you need to do is to get your open water scuba certification and then go from there. If you would like to get started, let me know and I might have room for one more on one of my three boats that I work from.

Minor hijack - do you have a website of your searches? I'd love to follow what you search for... If I was independently wealthy, I think this would be my hobby!

[j_sum1]

Originally Posted by Iggins

Minor hijack - do you have a website of your searches? I'd love to follow what you search for... If I was independently wealthy, I think this would be my hobby!

If this was your hobby you might become independently wealthy.

[pirate50]

Originally Posted by intothebluediving

The worlds oceans hold over 6 billion dollars worth of treasure that is still waiting to be found. There are several ships that were lost in the Caribbean Sea alone. Those are just the vessels that had registered manifests. Not all ships of that time period registered there manifests and some where actually privateer or pirate ships, therefore their cargo remained unregistered and their location is based off of word off mouth from the survivors of the ship or the ships they encountered. Not all of them have been salvaged. I own a treasure hunting vessel and we are looking for several shipwrecks. The first thing you need to do is to get your open water scuba certification and then go from there. If you would like to get started, let me know and I might have room for one more on one of my three boats that I work from.

hey my name is johnny and i read your quote and am very interested in maybe im buying equipment to start scuba lesson next month i want to do this it has been my embishion for awhile now im ex military and when i start something i work very hard at what im doing finding treasure and getting rich and being fomous for a change so if you are interest in talking shoot me an email at johnny_evans44@yahoo.com

[Apex Rogers]

Pirate Zombies?

[EvilTOJ]

I've heard there's ways to send private messages now instead of resurrecting zombie threads. Not that he'll read it considering intothebluediving only posted once, for 20 minutes, back in 2009.

[samclem]

Closed.

samclem Moderator