Greetings from Florida

[Corvette]

I am new here and looking for information on the recovery or removal of gold from Florida waters. The short story, and forgive me for being vague in some areas. Many years ago I had heard a story about barrels of gold being dumped into a known waterway. I tried in vain to find any information other than what was given to me on this claim with no success. However I had a feeling that the story was true and for 8 years I searched for it. I found it.

I did not touch it or remove any of it. I left it intact and began to try to find out what I needed to do to stay within the law. I contacted the Dept of Historical Resources to inquire. They stated that if the site was not a historical site, or ship wreck than their permits did not apply. I contacted the Dept of Environmental Protection and inquired about permits, and their reply was that I needed to file a form to show I wasn't destroying or damaging anything to recover it. I explained that this was a matter of just picking it up and they stated great, i just need to fill out the form and mail 100 dollars for the exemption.

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of thing? And can you point me in the right direction so I dont end up in the pokey for doing something wrong?

Thanks in advance

Corvette

 

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[ret-detector]

A barrel of gold, eh?
Mmmmm...sounds a bit fishy to me!

People have no business dumping barrels of gold in our waterways...if I were to see them doing that, I'd definitely report them!

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

You might post this in the shipwrecks forum, the group over there are up to date on Florida laws.

Wayne

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Me thinks this sounds like a tall-tale.

Pray-tell, why didn't you just ...... "pick it up"? I mean, when the first entity said their entity had nothing to do with it, no permits needed, etc... why did you argue with that, and proceed to go to more bureaucracies looking for someone to tell you "no" ? Mind you, there a lot of md'rs who would simply have picked up the barrel, or item, or whatever, and not have even gone looking for people to tell us "no".

Or, let me give you this example: I have utterly no doubt, that if any of us md'rs went to enough bureaucrats, any time we found a single gold ring, that we would indeed find someone, somewhere, to tell us : "you can't keep it" or "send us $100 first" etc... Perhaps they'd cite historical laws (might be an old ring), or lost & found laws (all states have lost & found laws), or defacement clauses (you had to 'dig' in the sand to find it), or "harvesting and collecting laws" (afterall, what if everybody took one pretty sea-shell, then after awhile, the beach wouldn't be pretty anymore). You can ALWAYS find someone to tell you "No", if you ask with the right combination of buzzwords. But a simple look at any finds-forums, and you'll see no shortage of people who find (gasp) things.

So why don't you just walk over there, and pick the silly thing up, if it's really there?

 

[Corvette]

It is there, it is not a tall tale. I did not pick it up because I do no want to break any laws and have these agencies sweep in and take it all. Which is why I am here asking for advice before I make any move on this. Perhaps this was the wrong place to ask.

 

[smalltowngirl13]

Hello and welcome to the forum! Good luck!

 

[Urban Grund]

Welcome from Michigan!