captbonnie
Full Member
On Jan. 10 Harold Holden passed away. We are sad, but there is some great treasure talk and a reunion going on - I'm sure Mel was glad to see him. Here he is in 1987 with the Gold Reliquary locket and chain he recovered at the Douglas Beach Site of the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet (Florida):
Harold also discovered and worked the 1810 wreck just south of Ft. Pierce Inlet - locally known as Archie's ballast pile wreck due to the location off a popular Ft. Pierce bar & restaurant.
For years he held an exclusive area granted by Mel Fisher from Douglas Beach to north of Ft. Pierce Inlet. Many great finds and a lot of hard work on the Treasure Coast sites - dating back to the 1960's when he first worked the 1810 area.
Harold was a close friend of Mom and I. It is without exaggeration that I can say he changed my life. The boats and diving were part of my background, but my introduction to shipwreck salvage here on the Treasure Coast came from Harold. My first coin was a Portrait Dollar on the 1810, my first treasure boat was "Royal Eight which I purchased from Harold when he retired. I still, underwater, can hear his lessons. My first day with Harold diving I never could have imagined what the 1715 Fleet would come to mean in my life. In his last years, Harold suffered from dementia/Alzheimer's. His sister moved him to Montana to be cared for, but for quite awhile he still would say to her "it's time to get the boat ready" - "it's time for the sub-contractors meeting" and he needed to go. Let us all now get our boats ready and carry on the work - we are his memory, and the treasure still waits. There are so many in recent time that have gone on - so many I admired -- here on the 1715 Fleet sites our work is not new it is a continuation of theirs and I am thankful for the path they have shown us.
(Sorry it took me awhile to let you know this on Tnet - it is a good Forum and due to shortness of time haven't been here much - my Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/goldhawgtreasure but I haven't forgotten the friends here!)
Harold also discovered and worked the 1810 wreck just south of Ft. Pierce Inlet - locally known as Archie's ballast pile wreck due to the location off a popular Ft. Pierce bar & restaurant.
For years he held an exclusive area granted by Mel Fisher from Douglas Beach to north of Ft. Pierce Inlet. Many great finds and a lot of hard work on the Treasure Coast sites - dating back to the 1960's when he first worked the 1810 area.
Harold was a close friend of Mom and I. It is without exaggeration that I can say he changed my life. The boats and diving were part of my background, but my introduction to shipwreck salvage here on the Treasure Coast came from Harold. My first coin was a Portrait Dollar on the 1810, my first treasure boat was "Royal Eight which I purchased from Harold when he retired. I still, underwater, can hear his lessons. My first day with Harold diving I never could have imagined what the 1715 Fleet would come to mean in my life. In his last years, Harold suffered from dementia/Alzheimer's. His sister moved him to Montana to be cared for, but for quite awhile he still would say to her "it's time to get the boat ready" - "it's time for the sub-contractors meeting" and he needed to go. Let us all now get our boats ready and carry on the work - we are his memory, and the treasure still waits. There are so many in recent time that have gone on - so many I admired -- here on the 1715 Fleet sites our work is not new it is a continuation of theirs and I am thankful for the path they have shown us.
(Sorry it took me awhile to let you know this on Tnet - it is a good Forum and due to shortness of time haven't been here much - my Facebook page is https://www.facebook.com/goldhawgtreasure but I haven't forgotten the friends here!)
were fortunate to have met him and some of the others that have passed recently!!!!! to Cary on their legacy is the best tribute, way to honer them. 
