Tuesday, October 05, 2004

 

Treasure hunters eager to seek loot after storms roil coastline

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Sun-Sentinel.com
By Robert Nolin, Staff Writer

Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne shivered the timbers of Florida's east coast and may have shaken loose some bounty as well.In a prospect to quicken the imagination of the romantic and fever the dreams of the greedy, the coastal scourings could have exposed million of dollars worth of gold, silver and gems strewn across 35 miles of ocean floor.But it could just as easily have buried the loot even deeper.

Either way, treasure hunters both professional and amateur are keen to see what storm-tossed riches await along a stretch appropriately dubbed the Treasure Coast.

"We're anxious," said Taffi Fisher-Abt, daughter of renowned treasure hunter Mel Fisher and overseer of 25 professional salvagers. "I think there will be a few that just won't be able to be held back.

"The object of their decades-long search is booty lost after a 1715 hurricane destroyed a Spanish fleet just offshore between Fort Pierce and Sebastian. All but one of the fleet's 11 vessels sank, depositing New World riches over miles of beaches and sea bottom.

"There is quite a bit of jewelry that was going back to the crown in Spain that still needs to be recovered," said Pat Clyne, spokesman for the Fisher organization. "Something like this always raises a flag and treasure hunters say, `Hey, now's the time. Let's go.'

"Through battering waves, powerful winds and dune-leveling storm surges, hurricanes change the topography of beach and sea floor. That can be good or bad for the treasure hunter.

"It could have uncovered a huge pile of treasure, or it could have added 20 feet of sand on top of it," Fisher-Abt said from the treasure museum she operates in Sebastian.

"You can't tell until you get out there," said part-time treasure hunter Kim Glaner of Orlando.But it may not be until spring that the salvagers actually get to sea. The storms have churned the waters, rainfall runoff has reduced visibility and many of the hunters suffered damage to their boats or the marinas that serve them.

"All the treasure divers I've spoken to have pretty much hung it up for the season," Glaner said.

But while ocean-borne treasure seekers are high and dry for now, metal-detector-wielding beachcombers may experience a real windfall. When hurricanes carve away several feet of beach, riches can be found -- coin by precious coin.

"They're picking gold and silver coins up right now," said Bob "Frogfoot" Weller, 79, a mostly retired treasure hunter and author of eight books on the subject. The Lake Worth man tells how after a nor'easter roared through on Thanksgiving 1984, beachcombers harvested approximately 3,000 gold coins from treasure ships left exposed on a shore north of Vero Beach.

"It was probably the most famous beach treasure hunt of all time," said Weller, who gained his nickname as a frogman during the Korean War, when he received a letter addressed to "Frogfoot.

"Objects taken from a beach are free and clear for the finder. But to hunt for sunken treasure offshore, a salvager must have a contract with the state for exploration and, should a site be discovered, a second contract to salvage. If treasure is found, 20 percent goes to the state, which displays those pieces it wants at facilities across Florida.

James Levy, a historian with the state Bureau of Archaeological Research, said besides coins, beachcombers have retrieved such artifacts as a gold snuffbox, gold whistle and silver sword hilt.

Those finds can pay off; a gold coin can go for $9,000, said Weller, who over four decades has brought to the surface about 2,000 silver coins, an 11-foot golden chain and a six-foot golden rosary -- not to mention jewelry.

While it will most likely be next year before treasure hunters see whether Frances and Jeanne have uncovered similar booty, "they're always optimistic, they're perennially optimistic," Levy said. "That's what keeps them going.

"Robert Nolin can be reached at rnolin@sun-sentinel.com or 954-385-7912.

Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel




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