Drakes Treasure of the South Seas

About the Book

About the Author

Author had spent some years in Central and South American waters working for Oil Companies and fisheries research. Experiences include diving, boats, construction of offshore floating and stationary platforms and all support facilities. Treasure searches and recovery. Diving included S.C.U.B.A., rebreathers, hardhat, deep air and rare gas. Since retirement, author has maintained contact with several domestic and foreign archives learning to solve several historical enigmas that relate to the exploration and colonization eras. These researches and detective work apply to both land and sea treasures lost. Author Presently operates self designed flying Infrared photo geo survey business.

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By 1972 great treasure discoveries were being made in Florida. Art Mckee a former east coast commercial diver had located a great bounty of a lost Spanish treasure fleet and was filling a Plantation Key treasure museum.

Mckee had by chance been afforded from the Spanish archives a story of the wrecks costing him postage only for original documents. Another beach comber named Kip Wagner a former building contractor with a metal detector far north of Mckees find also went into business recovering a vast treasure first on the beaches and next following the strewn treasures of a Spanish lost fleet out to sea. Wagner sought data from experts at the Smithsonian and got his history of the Spanish fleet he was salvaging there. With Mckee considered the modern day father of treasure business next came Mel Fisher who turned the business into a real quest and conquer. Fisher found enough to help both him and Wagner sustain and profit but the big one Fisher and others dreamed about eluded Fisher for another fifteen years until he located and salvaged the lost treasure ship Atocha. All these and a few others spread around the Caribbean basin were public knowledge by the mis 1970's in which excited all dreamers and seekers. The author himself contributed small bits of historical information to different seekers and twice became involved with companies putting together treasure prospectus for seeking investors funds towards recoveries.

The failures in this business have been many. Securities laws severely limit the scope needed for sea salvage expenses. The professionals needed to put together a legal prospectus bleed off more than the initial allowance.

Sales brokers fees, attorney fees, investment bankers fees, state and federal sales filing fees eat up more the opening investment limit of $500,000.

So there is nothing for the work force to use to prove site {s} .

The office staff, corporation officers, secretary, treasurer, and a C.P.A.

It took the author too long to figure out where the investors monies went in two different instances and by 1985 it was apparent all the brokers and promoters wanted was wages and specific site information in the case they could enter business later with others. Site research and proving is a very long and expensive process, it involves archives, travels, interpretations, detective work and than the on site proof search expenses, such as obtaining a provable artifact from the site. When these sites are at sea and many times in foreign countries waters the expenses soar. Permits are required from unstable foreign governments and often pay offs and future share promises. This author

has several sea site data that over the years seems that most has filtered away to others in the clandestine business. By 1985 realizing one must classify what ones class of investment is and what class he wishes to involve others in. A properly financed Sea salvage is in the range of ten to fifteen million. That is out of this authors class regardless of the sites value.

The author did once jointly finance a research venture with three other former commercial divers that entailed fly overs of Pedro Banks ninety miles off Jamaica a with special infrared equipment and followed up with some Jamaica and English archive expenses to isolate a famous lost Spanish wreck known in the business as the Genovese. That site has been long sought after by several in the business and in fact this very day has a new venture company that claims it has a special locating device and a contract with the Jamaicans to salvage this and a few other sites on the Pedro Banks. I wish them well for salvage on these far out locations is more than difficult and expensive even after the site is marked out. The Genovese aka Nuestra Senora Carmen probably has ten times the treasure value as the famous Atocha that is said to have been worth five hundred million in today's dollars. The author retains an extensive research and field activity file on that specific site including a 72 pound silver bar retrieved from the site and sent to Columbia museum for dating and identification in 1985. One thing Drake interest afforded the Author was the fact that several researches were ongoing through out many archives especially Spain's and Mexico's for treasure clues.

Several offshore sites the author researched are now being actively

pursued by others. These include many west coast South American sites that dwelt in archives as close as the Huntington library in Pasadena California.

Researchers of the new world eras believe there are at least 1,200. valuable lost sea treasure sites yet to be located. That is the great sea interest.

But as stated sea ventures are expensive beyond most dreamers limits. Hence around 1988 the authors archive contact in Mexico simply stated, " Why do you keep searching for expensive sea sites when you know your group cannot afford to follow up?" Why don't you look for the many land sites the Spanish left many within the present U.S. borders and these are much cheaper to research and locate." Hence our aims changed to a business of locating old Spanish land mines and trails where lost treasures might exist within recovery in a fair budget. In fact one may do much of this as a hobby or vacation when funds accumulate. Every day spent on research can save months in the field and that is where the Author started circa 1989. Nineteen sites known within Utah state. Two hot candidate sites in New Mexico and six in Arizona.

The act of developing an in field infrared system was only part of the field work necessary for treasure searching. The team spends summers in the field following up anomalies and generally enjoys the outdoors without great expense. However one sea site always lingered in the authors mind and the thought of publishing what he had found out over the years for profit often entered my mind. The text was to solve a 420 year old enigma.

Author spent several years in Mexico, Central and South America working for Offshore oil and mining research and eventually for an International fishing company in which was owned by a Danish combine. The research budgets allowed by these combined companies allowed the author extensive travels to foreign sites of interest. But the real research began in 1989 in the archives.

The specific enigma concerning Frances Drake the English hero

privateer was caused by the secrecy of his around the world voyage. England's Queen the first Elizabeth was walking a tight rope of politics with the stronger Catholic nations always trying to avoid direct confrontation in which in the early years of her reign would have caught England inferior at war.

 Drake made the famous voyage at the most secrecy allowed at the time.

The voyage initial intent publicized was for a trade voyage into the eastern Mediterranean. The contract Drake signed with the privy counsel was to proceed towards the souther pole, enter the south Pacific seas and explore lands below what other nations had claimed for future trade purposes. This contract or voyage intent was not discovered until long after the voyages completion and indicates the privy counsel