02x04 - The 1715 Treasure Fleet Part 2

[bunniefuu]

On Beyond Oak Island...

They have a virgin area

right in the heart
of the 1715 Treasure Fleet.

At least 750 million dollars
in registered silver and gold.

That's
what we came here for, baby!

All right, guys,
let's go find something.

You've got eyes on
them? They're on the target?

It's the best find ever made

in the history of
the 1715 Fleet.

Wow.

- Top-pocket find.
- Top-pocket find.

All the while we
were growing up,

my brother and I were
fascinated with finding treasure.

Pirate treasure,

cursed treasure.

Civil w*r gold.

Since then,
our work on Oak Island

has shown us there's
a world of mysteries...

- Whoa.
- Waiting to be explored.

So, we like to reach
out to other treasure hunters.

"X" marks the spot,
right there. Brilliant.

- We want to hear their stories...
- That's right.

- And share our insights.
- "Ill-gotten gains."

- And who knows...
- I got it.

Maybe we can help
them with their search.

Not only in America.

Wow. That is gold.

- But all over the world.
- Yeah!

Beyond Oak Island.

Well, thanks,
guys, for letting me call

a little mini w*r room here.

I wanted you guys to look back

on all the adventures
we've been on.

All the treasure hunts
we've looked into thus far.

What are the ones
that you really thought,

"All right, this is
our best chance

to actually walk out
on the other side of this

with something in our
hand, pull up some treasure"?

For my part, all these forays
into other treasure hunts

are very reminiscent
of my early career

drilling oil and gas wells,

because we're gonna
drill, I don't know,

ten wells this one year,

and we said, "Which ones
do you think, if you had to pick,

would be the ones
that would 'hit'?"

- Mm-hmm.
- And we were never right.

We were never right, you
know? A-And the point is,

each of these treasure
hunts have merit

- or we wouldn't have embarked on them, right?
- Absolutely.

I had high hopes for the
one we did with you, Gary...

The 1715 Fleet... I
really did, you know?

How many stories have you
told us about walking the beach

and finding this
and finding that?

I-I really thought that we
were gonna pull something

out of the, out of the
beach sand, I really did.

Yeah, it has that feeling.

I mean, your treasure
hunting chances

on the Treasure Coast
can actually change

on the tides from day to day.

This is it, guys.
Treasure central.

Early in 2021,

Rick, Marty and Matty
traveled to Sebastian, Florida

to help Gary Drayton
look for valuables

related to the historic
1715 Treasure Fleet.

- Oh, look at that color green.
- Yep.

Come on!

Look at that. That is fantastic.

Encompassing 12 galleons,

the Treasure Fleet set sail
from the Spanish port of Havana

on July 24, 1715,

carrying billions in
plundered gold, silver

and precious
jewels back to Spain.

But on July 31,

11 of the 12 ships
were destroyed

when the fleet was caught
in a massive hurricane

just off the coast of Florida.

When the ships sailed
from Havana on the 24th of July

everything went okay
for the first few days

and then, the
oceans start rolling,

and big swells start coming in.

The pilots realized that

they were gonna
be in for a big storm.

And one by one,

the ships get smashed to pieces

against the reefs of Florida.

700 to 1,000 people died
in the initial shipwreck.

More perished in the weeks
that came from starvation,

and they didn't
have fresh water.

The news got to Havana first.

The governor sent
help immediately,

and they sent salvage
divers right away.

That operation
lasted for three years,

and they actually were
very, very successful

in recovering a
lot of the treasure.

Although the
Spanish were able to recover

as much as two thirds
of the sunken cargo,

billions in valuables remained,

which generations
of treasure hunters

have been salvaging ever since.

Gary, who has lived in the
area and combed the beaches

for more than 20 years
with his metal detecting gear,

has discovered more
than $1 million in treasure

that continually
washes onto shore,

including a 22 and a half
carat gold and emerald ring.

That's why you called us
there, right? To say, like,

this is something we can
immediately make a find.

Oh, yeah. I wanted
to give these guys

instant treasure hunting gratification.

Uh, I was hoping
that we could find,

uh, friends of "my precious."

All it takes is one
turn of the shovel

to change your fortunes
and make history as well.

Well, there's a third
thing, too, Gary,

about that particular trip.

Had we found something...

As long as you stayed
in the sand, right?

Wasn't that the rule?
You got to keep it.

Do you remember,

from our last trip with
Gary to his backyard,

do you remember John Brandon?

- Oh, very much so.
- Absolutely. How do you forget that?

He of the 80-pound silver bar.

- Almost gave me a hernia. Yeah. Yeah.
- Bingo.

Well, John and his
team just renewed

- their salvage license.
- Okay.

And they're about to
embark on their new season.

That's cool. That's really cool.

Having grown up on
Florida's so-called Treasure Coast,

John Brandon has been
diving on the shipwrecks

of the 1715 Fleet since he
was a teenager in the 1960s,

when he was first hired

by renowned treasure
hunter Mel Fisher.

One day,
when I was 13 years old,

I went over to a
neighborhood friend's house,

and Mel was there
with a big find of treasure

they had just made off Vero.

And that really
got me, uh, hooked.

I actually asked, uh, Mel
Fisher for a job that day.

But because I was
13, it was one of these,

"Go away, kid, you're
bothering me" kind of things.

When I was 17 years
old, I'd already found

hundreds of silver coins on
the beach after big storms.

I'd found a number of gold
coins and a lot of artifacts.

Then Mel finally hired me.

Outside of his own sons, I
was the youngest person ever

to captain, uh, one
of his treasure boats.

Even though that
company salvaged hundreds of tons

in gold, silver and
jewels themselves,

today, John Brandon serves
as the operations manager

for the 1715
Fleet-Queens Jewels, LLC...

The entity which controls

all legal salvage
rights to the wrecks.

- This is part of what you guys are looking for.
- Oh, yeah.

During their
recent search with Gary

along Florida's Treasure Coast,

Rick, Marty and Matty
were fascinated and intrigued

by some of John's
greatest discoveries.

That is really
cool, John. Wowzer.

And the gold shines forever.

They came off the
bottom of the ocean

looking just like that.

John has told me that
they have a virgin area,

unsearched, in the
ocean off the coast,

right in the heart of the
1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet.

And he says, "I don't
get excited about things.

I'm excited about this one."

Well, he clearly knows what
he's doing, John Brandon.

- Yes.
- I mean, he's a very interesting guy.

Well, he's actually standing
by if you'd like to talk to him.

I'd love to. Let's
talk to him again.

Let's go back to
the Treasure Coast.

Yeah, excellent.

- Hello, John.
- Hey, John. - Hello, mate.

Hi, guys, how are you doing?

Good. How are you?

Hanging in there.

We've heard better
tales than that.

Yeah. You're doing a lot
better than that. Come on.

We're doing pretty good.
We're doing pretty good.

We're looking forward to
an exciting season out there

on the 1715 Fleet shipwrecks.

We've got, uh, about
18 different vessels

that'll be out there
combing the waters,

so we're looking forward
to having a good summer.

Uh, if we can get the
right kind of weather

and everything goes
right, we hope we'll make

- some interesting finds.
- John, you mentioned to me,

uh, there's some new ground
that you're excited about.

Can you tell us about that?

Yeah, we've got, um, a guy,

uh, Captain Greg Bounds,
an historical shipwreck salver.

He's worked on numerous
shipwrecks and found

a lot of treasure
on the 1715 Fleet.

He's been doing a very
detailed magnetometer survey

of one of the principal
ships in the 1715 Fleet.

Now he's got an area mapped
out of magnetometer targets

in totally virgin territory

that we're setting up to,
uh, go out and excavate.

The targets he has now
look very, very promising.

It's very exciting, uh, the
possibilities are endless.

Rick is always talking
about connect the dots,

connect the dots. You've
connected the dots.

The only thing that
remains is to go look, right?

That's it exactly.

Absolutely.

Okay, switching topics, John.

What percent did you feel

of that 1715 treasure
has been recovered?

We know from the
historical documentation

that the Spanish
were very successful

in their recovery efforts

on the 1715 Fleet wrecks.

They recovered about 80%

of the registered silver coins
that had gone to the bottom,

but there's still
many tons of coins

that are left out there.

Let's say 20% was left

after Spain did
its recovery efforts.

Of that 20%, how
much do you think

modern-day people have found?

How much is still out there,
is what I'm trying to get at.

I would estimate that probably

between 750 million and
one billion dollars' worth

of treasure still
remains to be found

in modern times on
the 1715 Fleet wrecks.

- Wow.
- We're gonna have to arm wrestle

about who gets to go on this.

If I said, "Ready, set,
go. Raise your arm,

and the first guy that
raises his arm wins,"

I think it'd be a tie.

Because we're all...

we're all enthused and
we're all interested in going,

but Matty's our
eyes and boots guy.

Marty and I, unfortunately...
Or maybe fortunately...

We, uh, have a lot of work
to do here on Oak Island,

but for right now I think

Matty will carry the
torch forward for us.

Uh, he'll report back to us,
and I-I think at some point

we'll take you
up on that invite.

Uh, Matty, uh, come down
here and bring us a little luck.

I can't wait to see you
do what you do in person,

so I'll coordinate with you
the details, okay, John?

That sounds excellent.

John, thanks for
sharing all of that with us.

- Much appreciated.
- Yeah.

- Thanks John.
- Thank you, John.

All right, guys, take care.

Three days after his meeting

with the Laginas and
Gary Drayton on Oak Island,

Matty Blake has traveled
to Sebastian, Florida

some 90 miles
southeast of Orlando.

John, good to see you again.

It's good to be back
on the Treasure Coast.

- Welcome aboard.
- At the headquarters

of the 1715
Fleet-Queens Jewels, LLC,

Matty is meeting with
operations manager John Brandon

in preparation to join a
search for some $1 billion

in sunken Spanish treasure.

This is our lab here

where we, uh,
bring the artifacts

and the things that are
found out there in the ocean,

for conservation purposes.

Hopefully, over the
next couple of days

when we are out with
Greg, he'll make some finds,

and we'll be bringing
them back here to, uh,

to do the conservation work.

Here's a copy of,
uh, our-our log books

that all the boats
fill out out there.

It's a computer database.

Last year, you can
see they were finding

quite a bit of material,
every item is tagged.

You can see when they
turn it in I put my initials,

and then as I
process the material

through conservation
and recording

- and all that stuff, I put an X by it.
- So cool.

There's so many things. I
mean, look at all the silver coins.

A lot of coins.
Uh, you've got silver coins.

- This is just last summer.
- What's our target today?

What's the actual target?
Like, can you show me

what we are actually
gonna dive on today?

Yeah, most people
think of a shipwreck

- as it hit the rocks and sank in a pile.
- Right.

The captain is
still at the wheel.

Yeah, you think of the
big, uh, stern going down.

- Exactly, exactly.
- Yeah.

And again, when these
wrecks hit the reefs

they just scattered over
huge, vast areas of, uh,

of ocean bottom.

And this is, uh, just south
of where we're going today

with Greg Bounds.

Over the past year,

John's colleague,
Captain Greg Bounds,

has conducted an
extensive search

for the scattered remains of
the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet.

Using a magnetometer,

which deploys
electromagnetic pulses,

a number of large
ferrous... Or iron... objects

have been identified
for further investigation.

I towed this magnetometer

over 1,000 linear
miles back and forth

on a two-square-mile area
in front of this wreck site,

just to get the
highest resolution

of how the ship is dispersed
across the sea floor.

So, what this mag survey's done,

it's given me a
true treasure map.

The wreck came in here,

first hit and lost some
material out in this water...

Based on Greg's
initial magnetometer survey,

the team will be diving
on a possible debris field

of wreckage from the 1715 Fleet

that has not been
explored in the modern era

and could potentially contain
millions in scattered treasure.

All the blue dots are silver.

All of the red dots
like that are-are gold.

- No way.
- Um, we're looking for any dispersal patterns

within that debris field that
might lead us to the treasure.

Here's a gold coin
off the 1715 Fleet.

May I? - The gold
comes up shining just like that.

The silver coins become
encrusted through sulfiding

and seashells and
things will stick to them.

But that's the kind of items
that we're gonna be looking for

out there today with Greg.

Wow. Let's go
find some treasure.

Later that
morning, Matty and John arrive

at Captain Hiram's Marina,

where they will join
Captain Greg Bounds

and their team to
search for a debris field

believed to be connected to
the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet.

Gentleman,
how are you? Matty Blake.

- Matty. George Friedel.
- George, good to meet you, sir.

- Ric Harshman.
- Ric, great to meet you. Thanks for having us.

Matty, these are the principals

of the 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels.

These are the guys
that own the company.

John said there's gonna
be a pile of gold out there.

- - JOHN
B.: A whole pile.

I think if there's
not a pile of gold,

they're gonna make me
swim back to the docks,

- so we better find something.
- Yeah.

I-I assume you guys didn't

get into this because
you liked fishing.

I mean, this is about treasure,
right, at the end of the day?

- Exactly.
- It's about treasure. That's right.

There's tremendous quantities
of treasure that's still out there.

We conservatively
estimate at least $750 million

in registered silver and gold.

Now you want to know
why we're out here?

I just saw four eyes light up.

Let's get out there
and find some treasure.

Sounds great.

- Hey. Good morning, Greg.
- Hey, John. Welcome board.

- Very good to see you.
- Good to see you.

This is Matty. This
is Captain Greg.

- Nice to meet you. Good.
- Matty Blake. How are you?

How about any safety issues?

- Anything like that to be aware of?
- Well, you know,

weather can change at any time.

This is one of the
most dangerous inlets

on Florida's coast,
so we got to be careful.

The tides change, and they...
If they're a little bit of swell,

it can stand the waves right up,

so we got to be
careful for that.

- Let's go find something, get on the ocean. Done.
- Sounds good.

All right, guys, let's
go, throw them off.

Here we go.

What we came here for, baby.

What's most exciting
is, this is virgin territory.

And it's kind of outside
where they believed

the 1715 Spanish
Treasure Fleet was wrecked.

If it's period, that's the
1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet,

and that's a new
site in a new area.

That's history making.

All right, fellas. We got
to set our anchors here.

So, walk me through that,
John. What's he doing right now?

He's getting ready to run
out one of the stern anchors,

and he's gonna use that whaler.
He's gonna take off in a minute,

and that line's gonna
go sh**ting out of

that little hole right there.

- There he goes.
- There he goes.

So, he's actually pulling it
out to where they want it?

So now he's, now
he's pulling the stern anchor out.

And when Chas gets in position,

he'll wave his arms, and
Chas will drop the anchor.

Ah, there he goes.

Before
the divers enter the water,

the team will clear the
thick layer of sand and silt

from their target area
utilizing a method invented

in the 1960s by legendary
salvager Mel Fisher.

Coming in gear. All
right, let's dig a hole.

Using two
33-inch-wide steel tubes,

known as mailbox blowers,

the boat's engine wash
is redirected downward,

creating a powerful dredge

that can easily clear
the ocean bottom

some 30 feet underwater.

How are we doing on our target?

We're right on
a big target here.

- Ooh!
- There's a little bit

more mass to it.

This target looks very exciting.

All right, let's get
them in the water.

- What do you think, captain?
- All right, let's do it.

Captain's in.

You got that bin ready
for all the new finds?

- Yeah.
- All right.

It's all ready.
Everything's set.

We just need to
bring up the treasure.

Mike, test, test
if you're ready?

I got you, Mike.

Okay, we got
something coming up.

- Got the target?
- I need a knife.

- Oh, you need a knife.
- Yep.

Well, they just came up
for a dive knife down there,

and they can use that to
kind of make spots in the mud.

There's a layer of
hard-packed mud down there,

and the magnetometer
target is actually

in that base material.

If he wants a knife, that
means they're on it, right?

Yeah, that means
they've got something, and again,

they can't dig it
up with their hands,

so they needed to
get a tool down there.

They definitely have the target,

so let's hope it's
from the wreck

and plays into
the scatter pattern

- that-that we've been working on.
- Great.

All right, that sounds great.
So, you've got eyes on them?

They're on the target?

All right.

Come on, baby.

Just off the
coast of Sebastian, Florida,

Matty Blake, along with
treasure salvager John Brandon

and his team, are
working to recover artifacts

and valuables on a
possible shipwreck

from the famed 1715
Spanish Treasure Fleet.

Do you see the object
they're working on?

Have they pulled anything out?
What's it look like? What shape?

All right, so we're getting
targets, that's great.

We have documented fact,

1715 Treasure Fleet
went down in this area,

and we know that these ships
had hundreds and hundreds

of millions of dollars,
perhaps billions of dollars,

worth of gold, silver
and treasure on them.

That's a fact, so
you're not hunting

for some mysterious,
nebulous thing.

You know there's
treasure in these waters.

Diver's coming up.

Let's just hope it's
something good.

There's a part
of the ship right there.

I hope. Look at this.

- Oh, I'll tell you what it is.
- What?

This is an iron ring.

It would have come up like this.

And this iron ring would
have come up here

for a rope to run through it.

And it definitely
looks like it's period.

- Ah, yes.
- I mean, definitely looks like

it's from the wreck.

- This piece would be into the hull of the boat.
- Into the ship.

Then probably exit a
piece of wood in here

- because it would chafe and break.
- Right.

They're starting to
bring up those pieces.

Looks like a hammer.

That looks more typical of a...

- Spike. Yeah.
- Of a ship's spike.

But it definitely looks
like period material.

Yeah, we're definitely
finding that debris.

It looks
good. It looks really good.

Well, yeah,
it's always described as...

The night of that storm, right?

We say, like, the
ships literally got

blown apart into pieces,
and we're pulling up pieces.

Got another interesting piece.

Oh, wow. Look at that.

Yep, a large ship's pin.

Yeah, that
looks like a large pin.

After
finding three large artifacts

potentially connected to
the 1715 Treasure Fleet...

- Can almost see the heads.
- John Brandon and the team have good reason to believe

they're getting closer to
the millions in gold and silver

that may still lie
scattered nearby.

So, uh, when I got to
the bottom, the viz was...

I'm gonna estimate...
About five feet.

- The artifacts are penetrated down into that shell and clay.
- Okay.

A couple of them, the
shell's so hard, you know.

You can't even get your
fingers into it to dig around it,

so I needed the knife
just to poke holes.

They look like ship
material, ship pins and things,

- so it's, uh, it's a good sign. Yeah.
- It looks good.

When you do an
excavation and find something,

even if it's only a
single iron ship's spike,

but it's something that
you're fairly certain is

from the wreck,

then that level of
excitement goes up,

because you know you're close.

You know you're
in the debris field.

So it's very, very exciting.

And that'll lead you
to the major finds.

Wind's picking up a little
bit. It's starting to get choppy,

so this might be our last
dive. So, uh, give it hell.

Go get 'em.

Copy that.

That's not what we
wanted to hear, fellas.

Although the team
has made great progress so far,

continued diving

in the deteriorating
visibility conditions

could lead to danger
rather than good fortune.

With the weather
picking up a little bit,

it's about to come off shore.

It's probably better if we,
uh, play it safe and head in.

Weather permitting, the
search will have to continue tomorrow.

So, we got to
call this one short,

but I am really encouraged

by the finds that they made.

Uh, the fact that we pulled
up anything out of the water,

never mind things
that look like they're

part of the Treasure Fleet.

I'm really ready to go tomorrow.

- Great job.
- Tomorrow's the day.

All right, tomorrow's the day.

Guys, while we're
here laboring away on Oak Island,

Matty Blake is in Florida

looking for treasure
in your favorite place.

Oh, blimey. Oh, to be there.

I mean, I always
equate metal detecting

on the Treasure
Coast of Florida as like

you're metal detecting
outside the jewelry store,

- but Matty is actually in the jewelry store.
- He's in the jewelry store.

That's a good analogy Gary.

Let's get him up and
let's see how he's doing.

- Hello, Matty Blake.
- Hey, Matty.

- Hello, my mate from another state.
- Hey, guys.

Greetings from the
Treasure Coast in Florida.

So, Matty. How are you doing?

I'm doing great. Uh,
it's great to be back.

Gary, it's a little weird being

in your stomping grounds
without you, but, uh,

I think you're gonna
be impressed with

what we're coming up with here.

Right, so, Matty, what's
going on down there?

Incredible day today, you know,

this team knows
what they're doing.

The magnetometer
guys had indicated

what they believed
to be a debris field,

which is exciting when you're
looking for the 1715 Fleet.

That's exactly the type
of imaging you want.

It was also really
cool tech-wise, guys,

to see the map that
the captain was using.

You know, he's got a monitor

right on the boat, and
you can literally see

where the boat is being
positioned, live time,

to the target...
Super impressive.

It's quite extraordinary.

So, Matty, question
is, what're they finding?

They brought up artifacts.

And what they brought
up today was really exciting.

They were bringing up

parts of a ship,

very old parts of a
ship, they believe.

When you think about it,
I'm the second human being

to hold one of these items
in over 300 hundred years.

Um, that's hallowed ground.

That's brilliant, Matty.

Look, I'd like to do
that here on Oak Island.

- We think we have ship parts.
- Yep.

But he has 1715 Fleet
ship parts. That's pretty cool.

This was exciting.

This was, uh, a successful dive.

It's pretty cool to
work with a team

that has actually
pulled up gold and silver.

Oh, that hurt.

No offense.
I didn't mean it like that,

I did not mean it like that.

But hey, no, it-it's true.

They have the
advantage, however,

of a very keen and
exacting historical record.

We know the Spanish Treasure
Fleet went down in that area.

We know for a fact...
There's ship's logs

that catalogue what was
on these ships, treasure-wise.

So they've got a
lot of advantage

that you guys don't
have on Oak Island.

The goal tomorrow is, get
in the water a little earlier,

and hit the rest of the targets
that we haven't got to yet.

You know, follow
that debris field.

And I don't know if you
remember when John showed us

that big bar of silver...

Damn straight, I remember
the big bar of silver.

My back still hurts.

Well, I'm hoping after
tomorrow I'll be able to show you

something real similar.

I certainly hope
so, Matty Blake.

Get back after it.

Thanks, fellas.

- Talk to you soon.
- Best of luck.

- See ya. Stay safe.
- Good luck, Matty.

Good luck, mate.

Cheers, guys.

As a new day
begins in Sebastian, Florida...

- Good morning, team.
- Hey, good morning, Matty.

- How you doing this morning?
- How you guys doing?

Matty Blake once again joins

treasure salvager John
Brandon and his team.

So, what's the plan for
today? What you got?

So, where we were yesterday,

we had a lot of targets.

And so, I want to
keep following this trail

- and see what else is on it.
- Very good.

Let's go get it. Let's
go get it. All right.

They are continuing their search

in a previously unexplored area

for wreckage connected to

the famed 1715
Spanish Treasure Fleet,

which may be hiding
millions in lost gold and silver.

Day two, you
know, they're ready to go.

I'm definitely ready to go.

I think we're all
very encouraged

by what was found
yesterday in just a short dive.

It looks like we're pretty good.

It looks
real good. Right on it.

Today's the day.

All right, let's dig a hole.

Having reached their target area

and anchored the salvage boat...

- Going in gear.
- Captain Greg Bounds once again employs

the high-powered mailbox
blowers to clear the silt and sand

from the ocean bottom below,

so the divers can
begin their search.

All right, Matty, we're
over, uh, "big boy" target here.

There's a little
bit more mass to it

- than what we got yesterday.
- All right, we like that.

So, we should uncover
it on our first hole.

All right, let's get
'em in the water.

- What do you think, Captain?
- All right, let's do it.

Find something.

All right, so we're
getting targets.

That's great.

All right great, see
you on the surface.

Great, great, over.

Oh, yeah, look at that!

Yep.

Looks like some
rigging pieces of some sort.

Could this be a blunderbuss?

No, they all... looks like...

It's kind of in the
shape of a blunderbuss.

They all look
like ship's spikes.

This is probably the
head of the spike,

the tail, all of these.

But they all look
like they could

very well be period material

- from the 1715 Fleet wreck.
- That's good. That's good.

This is excellent.
This is a great find.

It looks like Captain Greg
has put us on the trail.

Any ballast stones or
anything else down there?

No, I didn't see no
ballast or anything.

- Didn't get any other real hits.
- Okay.

Well, we've got a lot
more in here to dig up.

Let's get to the next spot.

Okay. Let's move on over.

In order to track the
debris field of the possible wreck,

Captain Greg and his
team are now adjusting

their anchor lines in
order to reposition the boat

over the next
nearby target area.

Oh, so you're just swinging it.

- Yeah.
- I thought you were gonna get up there

- and drive it over, but you're just... I see.
- No, no, no, no.

- Wow.
- Usually all we have to do is anchor one time for the day,

- and then we move the boat wherever we need to move it to.
- Incredible.

It's a great system.

Divers are wet.

Is this normally
how it kind of goes?

You-you start following
these bread crumbs,

this-this trail, and
then you hit gold?

It's putting
all the clues together.

On the shipwreck the Atocha,

we followed a debris
field for eight linear miles.

- Wow.
- And yet it led to $500 million worth of treasure.

- You got something big? You need a rope?
- Yeah.

All right,
the rope's in the water.

Are they, are they
acquiring the target now?

I see it, I see it.

Wow. Look at that.

Whew.

- Look at that bad boy.
- Look at that. Incredible.

What are you thinking?

Well, it's kind of
difficult to tell right now.

Probably the best guess
is it's a ring off a spar,

off one of the
crossbeams on the galleon.

On early 18th-century galleons,

spar rings were fitted around

the horizontal cross
members attached to masts.

They secured the rigging
that controlled a ship's sails.

- Tag it and bag it.
- Whoa! Hold up, hold up!

We've got more!

Whoa.

Wow.

Look at that.

Man, oh, man.

Is it a little bit smaller
than the other one?

It's definitely smaller
than the other one.

So, it's like steps
going down the spar,

- as it gets smaller and smaller, you know?
- Got it. Okay.

You couple this with
the three iron spikes

that were found
a little bit earlier,

you can't get clues
any better than that.

I mean, that's what
you're out here looking for.

The only other clues
you get that are better

is if you actually
find the treasure

- in the hole.
- I love it.

My interpretation is that

a good section of the
ship came through there,

because these big
iron pieces of the ship...

And spikes and pins...
They don't just float out there.

They have to be connected
to large pieces of the ship.

Digging the hole.

And that could
carry gold and silver,

and other items like
that, that we're really after.

- Let's go.
- All right, let's do it.

Still on the boat?
Come on, let's go.

That's a big squall there.

We're gonna get dumped on.

It's closing in quick.

- You want to get 'em up?
- Yeah, let's get 'em up.

Hey, Mike, the winds are
kicking up here on the surface,

so let's end this dive. Surface.

This can be some serious here.

We got to get out of here.

Just off the
coast of Sebastian, Florida...

- Matty, help go get this anchor.
- All right.

An approaching storm
has suddenly caused

the experienced
crew of the Capitana

to call a halt to their search

for millions in sunken treasure.

Pull that anchor up.

- You get it? All right.
- Got it.

Storm came up like that.

The sky got dark. You
felt like someone put on

an air conditioner
all of a sudden.

We were all hot,
then all of a sudden

were all freezing cold.

Yeah, that's a nasty...

Look at that rain.

We got to get this other
anchor up without getting electrocuted.

When an
experienced sailor tells you,

"We have to move right now

or we're in danger of
getting electrocuted,"

I'm off the water.

That's nasty.

You want to get
out before it gets really bad.

We're trying to put a
diver under the water,

to unpin the blowers,

and the blowers are
going up and down.

You want to have all
the anchors on board,

the blowers up, all
your crew on board,

everybody's safe, and
start going for the inlet.

And it can get very, very rough,

and it can get very,
very dangerous.

Oh, geez!

Let's get back to the dock.

There's no amount of treasure
that's worth a person's life.

Let's face it, okay?

So, when we see
bad weather coming in

and lightning
coming in like this,

you know, it's time
to pull up anchor

and let's get out of here.

I'm real
confident about the work

that we're doing out there.

We're finding parts
and pieces to this ship

where nobody's ever
dreamed it would be.

I think it's gonna lead us
to-to something even bigger.

Weather's coming, so it was a good call.

- It was a good call we came in.
- Yeah, wow. We got out just in time,

but you guys and the whole
team did an incredible job.

Every time you're at a
target that you wanted to be,

when you were where
you wanted to be,

you guys brought
something up, so that's great.

I mean, that's a good sign
you're on the debris field.

And it looks like it is
material from the 1715 Fleet.

That wasn't scrap metal.

Hey, let's follow
that trail to gold.

Great job.

- Hey, thank you so much...
- Yes, sir.

They use this tri-anchor system.

You'll be watching
live time to target

on a screen, and literally,

"Okay, we're on it.
Uh, move it over here.

Okay, we're on
it," then blow it.

It was thrilling, actually,

to pull those large
artifacts on the boat.

But they weren't shiny
and they weren't gold,

so I was a little disappointed.

It's not necessarily always
about the gold and silver.

It's about what you pull out.

What story does it tell?

And John documented everything,

and I-I applaud that.

Well, I also know that
there's been an update.

- Oh.
- And... Yeah, and he's actually standing by.

- Let's talk to him again.
- All right.

Excellent.

- Hello, John.
- John.

- Hello, mate.
- Hey, guys,

good to talk with you again.

This is, uh, Captain Mike Perna

who's with me today,

who's got many years of
finding treasures and artifacts.

Hello, Mike.

Pleasure to meet you.

Well, John I was just
filling the guys in here

on my adventures on
the Treasure Coast...

How exciting it was
to be on the boat,

to watch you operate, to finally
see those blowers in action,

to talk about Mel
Fisher and the history

and to pull up those
finds that we made,

uh, were really exciting.

Well, we really enjoyed
having you, uh, down here.

I know that Captain Greg
was definitely impressed

by all the work you did.

And he's sorry we didn't
bring up any gold or silver,

but shortly after Matty left,
Mike made a big discovery

to the south of where we
had Matty out on the wreck.

Well, we found treasure.

There's only
been two significant finds

of worked silver

on the 1715 Fleet...

One of which I
made back in 1982.

But Mike here just made
a very significant find

of very ornate pieces of silver.

Shortly after Matty left,

unfortunately.- -

Sorry, Matty.

- Just missed a treasure boat.
- Oh, man.

Got any pictures of those?

We have some of
the actual items, uh,

that Mike found,

and I'll hand some over to Mike

and let him explain
what they are.

- Fantastic.
- Here we have

a piece of silver that we're
not exactly sure what it is.

It's definitely a
plate of some sort.

On the back you'll notice
there's a threaded nut here.

I don't know if you
guys can see that at all.

- Yeah. Oh, yeah.
- Yeah.

And so, we're not sure...

This would affix to something.

And, uh, what makes
the most sense is

it's possibly something
that would've been

maybe a leather strap
or something like that.

That somebody
would've worn here.

And what it depicts is a
mounted horseman here.

And I don't know if you
can see down at the bottom.

- Yeah. Now I see it.
- Oh, yeah.

A horse.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow.

It obviously
was a very important piece.

In my entire time working

in the 1715 Fleet shipwreck...

So, over 55 years...

I've never seen a piece,
uh, even similar to that.

I knew I should've
delayed my flight.

Yeah, you should've stayed.

Yeah. You just missed
the treasure boat.

- Oh, my God.
- Look at that.

So this piece is in fact silver,

but it's also, uh...
has a gold wash on it.

I don't know if
you guys can tell,

Uh, it appears to
depict the Madonna.

- Wow.
- Yeah. - Yeah.

It's a magnificent piece

because they didn't have
gold-plating back in 1715,

They would actually
dip items in molten gold

to put a gold sheen on them.

And that's what's
been done to this.

A very, very impressive piece.

Very cool piece.

- It's unbelievable.
- And it brings it to life, too.

We know they, you
know, they were Catholic

and Christians,

and so you picture
the inside of that ship

with a shiny gold, uh, Madonna.

It's just stunning.

Where did you say
that treasure site was?

Mike, right now, is
in a virgin area, uh,

where he's working.

No one's ever

found treasure there before.

He's putting the clues together.

He's got just tremendous
areas to work out there

that look to be
very, very promising.

Bravo, bravo, Mike.

- Great finds, beautiful stuff.
- Yeah, congratulations.

It's probably the best find

of worked silver
artifacts ever made

in the history of the 1715 Fleet

in modern times
by modern salvers.

But there's no telling
what else he'll find

along that trail.

He's-he's found beautiful
escudo gold coins.

- I think Mike even brought a...
- Yeah.

We've got a couple more.

Top-pocket find.

- Top pocket!
- Yeah, top-pocket find.

Top-pocket find.

Show you one of the gold coins

that we wound up finding.

So, it's very similar to

what John's wearing
around his neck.

Look at that.

So, this is an eight escudo.

And this particular coin
was minted in Mexico City

in 1714,

- and it's a unique dye.
- In the entire time

that I've been doing
this, over 55 years,

I've probably
found seven or eight

of these dye nines
or "gras" coins.

Mike found seven or
eight in one or two days.

So, um, it was a very,
very significant find

numismatically off of the,
uh, 1715 Fleet shipwrecks.

- Beautiful.
- Yeah.

Mike's got another piece
here he can show you.

So, this is probably my
favorite artifact that we found.

And, uh, this is
a solid silver lion.

Wow.

- That is cool.
- Truly, truly remarkable.

He's sitting on his
haunches, but you can see

the mane of the lion
flowing down his back,

and, uh, he's got a-a
shield of some sort.

Beautiful. Well done.

One thing we all know is
the treasure's been out there

for over 300 years.

It's not going anywhere

until Mike or one of
our crew brings it up.

Well, congratulations,
Mike and John.

I thank you again for the honor
of letting me watch you work.

Uh, please express
to Captain Greg

that I think he's a rock star,

He's got a great crew,

and I just loved
every second of it.

Hey, understood, Matty.
We'll relay the message.

It was great talking with
all of you guys today.

And, uh, all we can say is

much success up
there at Oak Island.

You've got us all juiced up

because there's
nothing like seeing...

I mean, Gary's-Gary's dying
to get back out there now.

Nothing like
seeing real treasure.

All right, guys. You
have a great day.

- Thank you.
- Same. See you chaps.

Congratulations.

Well, I should've
taken another boat ride.

Yes, it was exciting

to pull those large artifacts.

It was thrilling, actually,
to pull those large artifacts

on that boat, but that's,
like, what I had in mind.

Some sort of
silver or gold plate

or something like that.

Sounds like I
missed it by 48 hours.

I mean... that much.

Yeah, but you didn't miss it,

because you still have
the experience, right?

You still have the
memories, right?

- It'll never leave you.
- No way.

And-and, you know, we
always say all the time here

that, like, when we go
on these adventures, right,

we're only there
for a couple days.

It takes longer than that.

And this is probably the
ultimate example of that,

just two or three more days,

I would've been part
of something like that.

So, it's like, you can't just...

How long have they been
salvaging the 1715 Fleet?

How many years?

John, over 50 years.

Yeah, this is not
done overnight.

- You know what that says?
- I know what that says.

We could put a lot of years
out back yet.

All right, guys.

Well, like-like I say,
we're all juiced up.

- Let's go get our own.
- All right. Yeah.

Ah, what an adventure.

- Absolutely.

- Cor blimey.