Treasure Hunt

By George Sullivan

Treasure! Laying on the ocean bottom, buried in mud and sand, lost Spanish galleons, wrecked on the reefs, their gold, silver, gems scattered across the sand. What a dream! To find those fabulous lost treasures!
But it ain't easy. First you have to figure out as close as you can the location where the ship sank. Then you have to spend tons of money on men and equipment searching the ocean floor for signs of the wreck. Sign include stones that served as ballast in these top-heavy vessels, bits and pieces of wreckage such as coins, dishes, urns, pottery. Even after finding these bits and pieces it may be years until the main wreck site can be located. This is because the ship may have been moved by the ocean during rough weather.
Mel Fisher is a man who had what it takes to spend many years and much money to track down and locate one of the wealthiest treasure ships to be discovered by treasure hunters. His divers recovered "almost 1,000 silver bars, each weighing about seventy pounds, some 140,000 silver coins. They also found 315 emeralds. And they found gold - bars and disks, coins and jewelry... Altogether, the gold, silver, and jewels were worth about $150 million. The treasure represented the climax of a sixteen-year search..."
This book details that search, the pain and effort, the cost and struggle and the thrill of discovery. It even briefly discusses the history of the Spanish in the Americas and the role the treasure played in Spain. It's an interesting and exciting story, and as the book points out, many Spanish ships sank in the waters around Florida, maybe even hundreds. And only a few a been found so far.