Meide’s first reaction when he heard La Trinité had likely been discovered was joy, but his second reaction was horror. “The worst thing that could happen to a shipwreck is to be found by a treasure hunter. Better that it not be found at all,” he says, rocking back in his desk chair on the day in late August that I visit him at the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum. He was worried about the worst-case scenario—Pritchett going out at night, diving to the wreck, and stealing artifacts.
I've never met either man, Pritchett or Meide.
As I read the article, I noticed how similar their background motivation is; fascination with treasure hunting, history, and/or the thrill of discovery. Indeed, that's why most of us are here. And "here" isn't only on TNet, "here" is the world population of people interested in this issue and can be viewed as the legitimate audience of the story. “They’re like children who just got finished reading Treasure Island”. Aren't we all?
Who isn't fascinated by the Tale of 1565, Menendez and Ribault?
Here's the difference, as I see it: Pritchett found the wreck and Meide didn't. It's hard not to read jealousy into Miede's rather harsh statement. I was frankly shocked that he said, "Better that it not be found at all". and“Bobby Pritchett went rogue.”
I've not heard that from a decade of reading TNet posts from treasure hunters speaking about other treasure hunters, supposed competitors.
When I hear that mouse toenails, spider jaws, rat bones, and cockroach shells are really interesting, pardon moi for being a skeptic. All of those pests, and fleas too, were on board every ship that ever sailed. If that's fascinating, then here is a whole fresh line of study that I don't think jealousy will be a factor in a lifetime of it. So I call BS.
Bobby Pritchet: congratulations on your find and for funding it on your own. You are living our dreams, and thanks for wanting to bring those to the present and sharing them with us.
Whether it will prove to be the La Trinité or the Spanish ship of Menendez (or whether that will even be allowed to be questioned now that it's the judicial and archaeological dogma) remains to be seen. And now to be examined honestly.
I just hope it will remain to be seen in our lifetime, and all of us "children" don't have to wait until the last DNA study of the ship's cockroach population is complete.
