Scuba Dive

A treasure chest?

You are diving a wreck when you find a shiny trinket that appears valuable. Do you:

a) Leave it where it is..you still remember kindergarten when you learned to “look with your eyes, not with your hands”

b) Hide it in your bathing suit (remember that scene from Pulp Fiction…) you will study it later and hopefully make a million dollars off of it

c) Proudly display it to everyone you com in contact with until the local authorities cart you off to jail for stealing national treasures

CNN recently ran a story about a diver who found a pocket watch near a wreck, and decided to go with a modified version of choice b above. Instead of looking to make a million on it, he spent 9 years researching the history behind it and looking for the current-day, rightful owner.

The story got me thinking about the possibilities of the sunken treasure that lies beneath the waves, and the possibilities of turning my aquatic hobby into a money making venture. After some research I have learned that, sadly, there is no direct line from the sea floor to my pocket. Underwater treasure hunting is governed by the U.N. Law of the Sea, which is about as straightforward as a slinky. The original ship owner, the location of the wreck, the contents of the cargo, the phase of the moon and even the number of goals last scored by Manchester United all seem to play a part in the ultimate meaning of “finders keepers.”

Many privately owned underwater archeology companies (ie. treasure hunters) ply the planet’s oceans each year looking for riches. You’d be hard pressed to actually name one of these companies, however, as they are more secretive than the SPECTRE bad guys in the old James Bond movies (but actually have access to even cooler gadgets.) One such company found $500 million in coins last year, shipped it all back home, buried it in their backyard, then raised their hand and said “Um…we think we might have found something.” The Spanish government is still trying to get the booty back, resorting to armed encounters and public claims of grave robbing in order to “persuade” the salvage shop to return the loot.

Since I’ll be spending my lottery winnings on that $95 million orca yacht, I won’t be able to afford the high tech toys needed for the salvage operation. And since this blog is gathering a healthy following of divers, it looks like the secrecy requirement isn’t going to work either. Guess I’ll have to stick to salvaging the usual abandoned dive gear and old bottles…although a piece of Andrea Doria china would be nice.