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Treasure hunters out to sea

Shipwrecks fuel optimism; finds spark ownership disputes

By | Monday, June 16, 2008

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OFF THE TREASURE COAST, Fla. (AP) | The fever is contagious. Gold fever, that is.

Symptoms? Unwavering optimism.

"Today's the day," legendary treasure hunter Mel Fisher would say as he set out to sea each summer in search of the ocean's secrets. Before his death in 1998, he found more than $1 billion worth of treasure, including gold and silver bars, emeralds, coins and artifacts.

During salvage season - roughly from May to August, when the seas are calmer - a select few carry on Mr. Fisher's work up and down Florida's coasts, hoping to hit the mother lode.

Similar salvage operations take place up and down the East Coast during the summer months, through the Carolinas, into Virginia and up through New England, where Revolutionary War-era shipwrecks have been discovered.

Florida is said to have more treasure-laden shipwrecks than any other state, largely because it's near the Gulf Stream. Spanish fleets would load their vessels with treasure from South America and gather the galleons in Havana. The ships would then head north, using the Gulf Stream to propel them back toward Europe.

Fleets sunk in hurricanes in 1622 about 30 miles off Key West, in 1715 off Fort Pierce and in 1733 near Key Largo. Records indicate they carried hundreds of millions of dollars worth of treasure and artifacts, but the ocean has kept much of the booty a mystery.

A shiny piece of hope dangles from ship captain Doug Pope's neck. It's a Spanish silver dollar, known as a piece of eight, that was Mr. Pope's first treasure find in 20 years of scouring the ocean.

"It keeps reminding me of what I'm looking for," Mr. Pope said on a recent sunny afternoon aboard his boat, the Polly-L.

He and his crew were searching the waters off Fort Pierce for remnants of a ship thought to be part of the 1715 fleet.