Bigcypresshunter
Gold Member
- Dec 15, 2004
- 27,000
- 3,339
- Detector(s) used
- 70's Whites TM Amphibian, HH Pulse, Ace 250
- Primary Interest:
- Beach & Shallow Water Hunting
Get in on the treasure hunt
For $350 you can go along while the MRV Enterprise searches for Spanish gold
By MICHELLE SHELDONE
[email protected]
August 9, 2006
Local treasure hunters are looking for a few good mateys to help comb the ocean's bottom for booty.
Salvors who unearthed the Jupiter Wreck cannons and anchor now at Jupiter Lighthouse Park are digging for what they believe is the ship's motherlode — and they're opening their "Adventure of 10 Lifetimes" to diving and non-diving participants.
"The most exciting part of it is about to happen," Jupiter Coins President Dominic Addario said.
Addario, over the past 20 years, has recovered what he estimates to be more than $1 million in artifacts from the 17th century vessel, including gold doubloons, silver pieces of eight and a 70-pound silver ingot bar embedded with platinum.
He's spent about this same amount on the search, he said.
His research suggests the vessel is the San Miguel de Archangel, a mid-1600s king's messenger ship that he said delivered governmental information from the New World — Central and South America — to Spain.
Messenger ships weren't supposed to be carrying treasure, but that was more or less a ruse to prevent piracy, Addario said.
"You didn't buy a round-trip ticket 350 years ago," he said. "You didn't go home if you were empty-handed."
Addario believes the San Miguel was gliding under bare poles toward an estuary near what is now the DuBois House when a 1660s storm ran it aground on a nearshore reef and split it in half.
Jupiter Wreck Inc., contractor to Jupiter Coins, is the permitted, federal government custodian for the wreck. The company is required to provide the state its unique, one-of-a-kind finds so they remain in the public domain.
Addario, one of three Jupiter Wreck directors, has been following a trail and believes he's pinpointed the site of the vessel.
Non-certified divers can now "hookah" with him, breathing through a hose and regulator attached to an onboard air compressor. Those who prefer to remain aboard the motor research vessel Enterprise, an operations base, can, through use of underwater video cameras, watch on a screen in the main salon.
Since May, Addario and the volunteer Enterprise crew have used prop wash devices to dig through 30 feet of sand in about 12 feet of water 300 feet off the south Jupiter Inlet. The trail has led the salvors to an area where the sand is much deeper and no reef exists, according to Palm Beach County Environmental Manager Paul Davis.
Diving takes place just outside the inlet's boating channel, at an area Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Lt. Atwell Pride likened to commonly dived jetty rocks on either side of the heavily boated Palm Beach Inlet.
"Every year we work, we find something," Addario said in a news release. "Some years have been more productive than others."
Jupiter Coins so far has excavated 12 feet of sand.
As salvors scour the sea's bottom for coins and artifacts, hoses transport the excavated sand to waters south of the Jupiter Inlet so that the tide carries it to replenish area beaches.
"It truly is the adventure and a competitive thing to test yourself against the elements of nature and the system," Addario said. "You don't have a handbook on how to be an explorer.
"You got to write the book yourself."
ADVENTURE OF 10 LIFETIMES
• Participants are based aboard the 65-foot MRV Enterprise, an aluminum catamaran with galley, salon, two heads and an artifact preservation lab.
• Salvage expeditions typically take eight hours.
• Cost, including lunch, is $350 per person or $599 per couple.
• Fees are discounted 20 percent with the purchase of coin and artifact finds.
• Jupiter Coins also is seeking patrons who can share in some of the finds.
• Business sponsors can use the vessel for display advertising.
• For information, call (561) 339-6822 or visit www.adventureof10lifetimes.com, www.adventureindisocovery.com or www.jupitercoins.com.
For $350 you can go along while the MRV Enterprise searches for Spanish gold
By MICHELLE SHELDONE
[email protected]
August 9, 2006
Local treasure hunters are looking for a few good mateys to help comb the ocean's bottom for booty.
Salvors who unearthed the Jupiter Wreck cannons and anchor now at Jupiter Lighthouse Park are digging for what they believe is the ship's motherlode — and they're opening their "Adventure of 10 Lifetimes" to diving and non-diving participants.
"The most exciting part of it is about to happen," Jupiter Coins President Dominic Addario said.
Addario, over the past 20 years, has recovered what he estimates to be more than $1 million in artifacts from the 17th century vessel, including gold doubloons, silver pieces of eight and a 70-pound silver ingot bar embedded with platinum.
He's spent about this same amount on the search, he said.
His research suggests the vessel is the San Miguel de Archangel, a mid-1600s king's messenger ship that he said delivered governmental information from the New World — Central and South America — to Spain.
Messenger ships weren't supposed to be carrying treasure, but that was more or less a ruse to prevent piracy, Addario said.
"You didn't buy a round-trip ticket 350 years ago," he said. "You didn't go home if you were empty-handed."
Addario believes the San Miguel was gliding under bare poles toward an estuary near what is now the DuBois House when a 1660s storm ran it aground on a nearshore reef and split it in half.
Jupiter Wreck Inc., contractor to Jupiter Coins, is the permitted, federal government custodian for the wreck. The company is required to provide the state its unique, one-of-a-kind finds so they remain in the public domain.
Addario, one of three Jupiter Wreck directors, has been following a trail and believes he's pinpointed the site of the vessel.
Non-certified divers can now "hookah" with him, breathing through a hose and regulator attached to an onboard air compressor. Those who prefer to remain aboard the motor research vessel Enterprise, an operations base, can, through use of underwater video cameras, watch on a screen in the main salon.
Since May, Addario and the volunteer Enterprise crew have used prop wash devices to dig through 30 feet of sand in about 12 feet of water 300 feet off the south Jupiter Inlet. The trail has led the salvors to an area where the sand is much deeper and no reef exists, according to Palm Beach County Environmental Manager Paul Davis.
Diving takes place just outside the inlet's boating channel, at an area Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Lt. Atwell Pride likened to commonly dived jetty rocks on either side of the heavily boated Palm Beach Inlet.
"Every year we work, we find something," Addario said in a news release. "Some years have been more productive than others."
Jupiter Coins so far has excavated 12 feet of sand.
As salvors scour the sea's bottom for coins and artifacts, hoses transport the excavated sand to waters south of the Jupiter Inlet so that the tide carries it to replenish area beaches.
"It truly is the adventure and a competitive thing to test yourself against the elements of nature and the system," Addario said. "You don't have a handbook on how to be an explorer.
"You got to write the book yourself."
ADVENTURE OF 10 LIFETIMES
• Participants are based aboard the 65-foot MRV Enterprise, an aluminum catamaran with galley, salon, two heads and an artifact preservation lab.
• Salvage expeditions typically take eight hours.
• Cost, including lunch, is $350 per person or $599 per couple.
• Fees are discounted 20 percent with the purchase of coin and artifact finds.
• Jupiter Coins also is seeking patrons who can share in some of the finds.
• Business sponsors can use the vessel for display advertising.
• For information, call (561) 339-6822 or visit www.adventureof10lifetimes.com, www.adventureindisocovery.com or www.jupitercoins.com.
