Off Florida coast: Speculators believe they may be able to recover $500 million in booty from wreckage

MIDVALE - A team of Utah scuba divers is training in Lake Powell this week to prepare for a treasure hunt in the Atlantic. The divers hope their quest leads them to a Spanish ship that was carrying gold, silver and jewelry when it sank in 1750.
Six divers are at the lake practicing in low visibility conditions for their trip to the wreck site next week.
[1] Deep Blue Marine Inc. of Midvale said the ship may have been part of two Spanish fleets that went down in a hurricane.
”I’m living my dream,” said Wilf Blum, president of Deep Blue Marine. ”This is what I’ve wanted to do for years. And we’re doing it. It’s exciting.”
Blum, 53, said a ship’s manifest indicates there may be up to $500 million worth of treasure to be found in the wreckage.
The company was incorporated in November and is looking for investors. A promotional video for the venture features actor James Brolin.
Blum, 53, said his team includes Utah marine salvage expert Jim Cross as well as people experienced in diving, history and archaeology.
The company said it is using a proprietary technology to find sunken ships along Florida’s Atlantic coast.
”We’ve been able to identify more wrecks than, uh, if I told you the number you’d think I was an idiot. So let’s just say we found a lot,” said Blum, an investment adviser and longtime recreational diver.
The ship they will try to salvage was found by another company, Aqua Gems, which brought Deep Blue in as a salvage partner. It will be Deep Blue’s first salvage attempt and the companies will share what they find.
According to Blum, Aqua Gems recovered a piece of the ship’s hull and had numerous ”hits” with magnetic detection technology. He said there is evidence it’s the wreck of the Spanish ship El Salvador, which was part of two fleets devastated by a hurricane in August 1750.
Blum said if the hull is intact, his team will attempt to bring it to the surface in one piece. Otherwise, they intend to use dredging equipment to sift the muddy ocean floor for treasures.
Blum said the wreck appears to be buried in mud and sand about 70 feet below the surface. Activity around the site is expected to stir up so much mud that divers will have to work without being able to see. The company hopes to complete the salvage operation before this year’s hurricane season.
The companies are keeping the exact location secret.
Blum said he will use at least 10 percent of his profits from the treasure hunts to build hospitals and schools in regions of South America plundered by early Spanish explorers.
”There’s a lot of blood on that gold,” Blum said. ”My feeling is that, as we harvest that, a portion of it should go back to the descendants of the people that lost their lives mining it.”

source “The Associated Press”