A day in the life of a treasure hunter
By Matt Standle | Aug 02, 2008 | Keys Diving | Dive Report |
Pointing to the fading afternoon sky, Keys local Chris Rackley quietly says “If I could, I’d hold up the sun.”
A treasure diver by profession, Rackley’s day job involves scouring the sea bottom for a king’s ransom in precious gold, silver, and jewels. Limited only by daylight and foul weather, he works from morning until night hoping to uncover the kind of wealth most people only dream about
“I’m a natural hunter,” he says. “Whether it’s moving through a forest or searching for treasure underwater, I’m always hunting something.”
According to Blue Water Ventures Director Keith Webb, that mysterious “something” could very well be the ‘motherlode’ of the Santa Margarita, one of the richest treasure ships to ever stretch its sails in the Florida Keys.
Encompassing more than 6 tons of silver, a trove of priceless riches carried by its upscale passengers, and an undisclosed amount of smuggled gold, Webb predicts the wealth of the Margarita could easily eclipse even that of the ultra-rich Spanish treasure ship Atocha.
By modern day standards, experts estimate the value of its priceless cargo as upwards of $200 million.
“Do I think we’re close to finding it?” Webb asks. “Absolutely.”
Slammed by back-to-back hurricanes, the story of treasure ship Santa Margarita is a complex web of disaster. Pummeled by a vicious September hurricane, the Spanish Galleon was first grounded on a sandbar near the Marquesas Keys in1622. Here, the massive ship floundered for thirty days before a second storm mercilessly whirled the tattered ship, spilling her priceless cargo like an angry giant. The scattering effect created what shipwreck experts call a “ghost trail” of human bones, tantalizing artifacts, and piles of unimaginable wealth that dot the sea floor.
Fighting diligently to make this ancient mystery give up its ghost trail— the 8-strong crew of treasure hunters from Blue Water Ventures, a joint venture in partnership with Mel Fisher Enterprises. A brawny collection of seaworthy sailors, these locals are on the hunt for the Margarita, and work day-by-day to slowly uncover its treasure-laden trail of riches.
The goal: search until they find success.
At the helm of this 21st century, treasure hunting expedition, Captain Dan Porter, a native Floridian with more than 30 years of experience in underwater recovery and treasure salvage. Growing up on Florida’s Treasure Coast, Porter learned the art of salvaging from his father Don, who worked closely with Mel Fisher on his regular expeditions to uncover treasure near the cities of Vero Beach and Sebastian. Now a veteran treasure hunter in his own right, Porter employees the most advanced wealth-finding technology available onboard his vessel The Blue Water Rose. Regularly joined by his daughters Katie and Allie, the veteran captain says he’s proud to guide his treasure hunting crew on an epic search into the unknown.
Porter’s time-tested method: utilize established marine archaeology to determine the rough location of the Margarita when she was sunk— then search out and catalog the haphazard trail of artifacts that promises to lead to her treasure.
His computer screen filled with colorful GPS positions, Porter points to a series of brightly colored symbols that dot his digital map like a matrix of treasure-marks. Marking the spots where gold coins, silver bars, ancient pottery and other treasures were found, each spot signifies a stretch of sandy sea bottom blasted by the vessel’s propellers and then searched by divers.
With thousands of holes already blasted and marked, his map is like the personal Lite-Brite of a child-genius bent on world domination.
Relying on the colorful guide, the veteran captain digs potential treasure-holes with pinpoint accuracy — one after another, after another — all meant to overlap and cancel the chances of missing out on potential booty.
“You’ve heard of treasure maps,” he says, explaining the unorthodox system. “Well, we’re sort of making our own. It’s definitely a nontraditional way to look for treasure.”
Putting his map into motion, the Blue Water Ventures team utilizes a system of giant anchors and sturdy winches to expertly maneuver their vessel over a constantly shifting, sandy bottom known as the “Quicksands.” Yelling out commands and jockeying the huge vessel into position, the team works in these dangerous, fast-moving waters to place their boat in line with the Margarita’s ghost trail
Once secure, team uses their boat’s twin screws to blast holes 40-feet in diameter with tornado-like thrust into the seafloor.
After clearing the bottom, the crew’s keen-eyed divers are given the big O.K. to dive below whiled strapped with metal detectors, and hungry for artifacts and hidden gold. Fighting 5-knot currents and limited visibility, they scour the blast site with a systematic pattern of sweeps designed to cover every mysterious inch that waits below.
All day they repeat the process, from sunup to sundown.
Because they burn thousands of calories and must eat on the fly, these treasure divers are given full attention throughout the day. Served food and drinks while wearing a wetsuit dive gear, they perch on a specially made dive ladder mounted to the side of the Blue Water Rose and stay in constant communication with the topside crew.
Others stay busy cataloguing the ever-increasing stream of artifacts, pottery shards, and pieces of treasure hauled onboard, while still more check the boats’ main anchors or man the windlasses for the next round of digging.
At the end of the day, they haul anchor and motor to the safety of the nearby Marquesas Keys to relax, share an evening meal, and fall asleep.
At first light the next day, they do it all over again.
“Would I trade my job for anything else?” says treasure diver Mike DeMar, the lucky crewman who recently found a gold chalice buried in the ghost trail of the Maragarita.
“Not a chance.”
Treasure Diver Chris Rackley scours the bottom looking for the ‘motherlode.’ A resident of Little Torch Key, Rackley also works as a lobsterman and dives enough to feel like he’s “swam to Massachusetts and back.” On his off-time, he loves to spearfish.
You can probably guess why they’re smiling— yep, it’s the buried treasure.
The Blue Water Rose.
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