|
My
Story: submitted by - Tom Gidus of Sebastian, Florida
My
Story:
submitted by -
Christopher
Shean, Florida
An underwater explorer with more than 25 years diving experience,
Oviedo resident Tom Gidus is on the hunt for the queen’s jewels, and
he’s more than ready to set sail. After six months of meticulous
preparation, Gidus leaves next week on a romantic quest to find the
lost Spanish treasure.
According to historical documents, Queen Isabella Farnese of Parma,
the bride of King Philip V of Spain, refused to consummate their
marriage until he presented her with New World jewelry. In response,
the king ordered eight now-legendary chests of spectacular jewels,
such as a 74-carat emerald ring and a rosary of pure coral, to be
brought to her.
Unfortunately, they never made it. The treasure, along with 11
Spanish galleons and more than 700 men, was lost during a
treacherous storm off the coast of Sebastian in 1715. It is believed
that the galleons hit a series of three reefs, which tore open their
hulls. It is estimated the Spanish were only able to salvage 30
percent of the lost valuables.
Despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of silver coins have
been recovered by divers in the past 45 years, according to Gidus,
the large quantity of gold coins and the queen’s jewels stored on
the Capitana, the flagship of the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet, have not
been found. “I think the chances [of finding them] are fantastic,”
Gidus said with a smile.
Gidus quit his corporate job a year ago to commit himself to
underwater salvage full-time and said he couldn’t be happier with
his decision. Now he can dedicate himself to his real passion - to
uncover and solve the mysteries of maritime history. A
self-described “weekend warrior,” he previously spent weekends and
all his vacation time scouting Florida waters for treasure.
Thirteen years ago, Gidus started his own historic shipwreck and
recovery company in Oviedo called Wreckovery Salvage, diving for
famed treasure hunter Mel Fisher. Gidus conducts maritime historical
research, maintains an extensive Florida shipwreck database and
preserves artifacts.
He isn’t a diver merely for the money, he said, but rather for the
thrill of discovery and historical preservation. He likens himself
to Nicholas Cage’s character in the movie National Treasure - except
his searches are underwater.
Gidus has also worked as a consultant since 1988 for Historical
Research and Development, Inc. in Altamonte Springs, where he was
instrumental in mapping and exploring an 18th century shipwreck and
a submerged World War II aircraft in the company’s lease area off
Vero Beach.
Shipwrecks, Gidus said, are different from other archeological sites
where merely the items people have left behind or discarded are
uncovered. “A shipwreck is a time capsule that went down at a very
specific period in time, and everything on board describes life at
that time,” he said. Recovering the treasure, Gidus added, “gives us
a lot of clues into our past, and that’s why we make sure everything
we do is in a good archeological manner. I have a preservation
laboratory, we photograph [the artifacts], we document them [and] we
make them available to other people for research.”
Through the years, Gidus has recovered jewelry, cannonballs,
pottery, a 300-year-old hand grenade, rum bottles, silver coins and
shoe buckles. “I found a human arm bone under a plank; there is not
much wood [that hasn’t deteriorated], so it was unusual to find
both. It was buried under about eight feet of sand - things that
deep are often preserved.”
Gidus is particularly anxious to recover the missing treasure from
1715 Plate Fleet, because ultimately these historical links to the
past will be destroyed. According to Gidus, there is very little
wood to salvage from the ship itself because “the teredo worms [a
mollusk that feeds on organic matter] almost immediately begin to
eat away at the wood. That is why their ships were so leaky and in
bad repair all the time.”
Anything metal is also at risk for corrosion, he explained. Gold, on
the other hand, is a very noble metal because it doesn’t corrode.
“It is just as shiny the day you find it as it was when it went down
300 years ago.” Iron can turn to iron oxide and rust, and silver can
turn to silver sulfide and deteriorate.
Gidus will go to just about any length to salvage artifacts - even
when sharks are lurking. “The closest encounter I had was with a
Bull shark. I had received a ‘hit’ on my metal detector and was so
engrossed that I didn’t notice an eight-foot shark had moved within
uncomfortably close range. I refused to leave, however, until I had
retrieved the artifact, which turned out to be an 8 Reale [silver]
coin.”
While most Florida residents still cringe when they recall the
hurricanes that plagued the state last summer, Gidus looks back on
the storms as an opportunity of lifetime. When the two hurricanes
battered the Treasure Coast, historical artifacts were probably
uncovered naturally, he explained. “It’s going to be a good year,”
he said. Most salvaged items are found in less than 30 feet of
water. Gidus also anticipates a successful recovery effort this
summer due to rapid changes in technology and the tremendous
research he has dedicated to this upcoming expedition.
With the changes in mapping technology, Gidus can easily eliminate
areas that have already been worked. “You can get a very detailed
computerized map of everything that has been located at this site -
from about the mid-’80s.”
Gidus, and his partner and financial backer Jay Miscovitch, will
also take advantage of advanced satellite navigation that can guide
them within three feet of any destination they mark. “We can keep
returning to the same spot every single day - it has that type of
accuracy,” he said. They’ll pack that technology onto a 32-foot boat
built specifically for treasure salvage.
Historical research has recently revealed, according to Gidus, that
while one of the ships from the 1715 fleet was being driven onto the
reef by the storm, the crew tried to lighten the ship by throwing
boxes of cargo and silver coins overboard. “That indicated to us
there is a quantity of treasure out in deeper water,” he said.
Gidus donates 20 percent of his recoveries to the state and many of
his artifacts can be seen at museums in Tallahassee and Sebastian.
“Florida has very strict archeological guidelines, so a lot of
people have the misconception that we are out there destroying reefs
and taking the treasure like we are a bunch of pirates,” he said.
“But we have strict guidelines we have to follow. When we are out
there we have to keep field notes to record everything we find and
where we find it - everything has to be tagged.”
Gidus said one of his most extraordinary discoveries was the
striking gold ring with five dark emeralds recovered from the site
known as Corrigan’s Wreck, in 1994. That same afternoon, also off
Vero Beach, he found two other rings and a pair of gold studded
earrings. “That was about a $150,000 haul in one afternoon,” he
said.
When he uncovered the emerald ring, “there was this sense that I was
seeing something for the first time that was [nearly] 300 years old,
and I thought, ‘Wow, everything I had worked so hard for had paid
off.’” Beyond its value, Gidus admires the craftsmanship and the
detail in the jewelry - and imagines the skills required to create
such a piece.
Most of the artifacts he uncovers are kept in his personal
collection. He uses them in presentations to local groups, such as
metal detector clubs and coin clubs.
Gidus also visits schools and said children in particular love to
learn about shipwrecks and treasure. “Kids are the best and ask all
the great questions - they are so curious. I still have all the nice
thank-you notes they write me - they are fantastic.”
Gidus has passed on his passion for historical preservation to his
five children, aged nine to 17. Each has been involved in some way
with his work, he said with pride. Most recently, his two youngest
children, Danny, 9, and Faye, 11, accompanied him to the educational
presentation he gave for the Sanford Historical Society. The
children shot photographs and video for their father and helped show
off the artifacts.
Gidus added that he has taught daughter Lauren to dive, “the same
way my brothers taught me to dive. She has already been out on the
wreck site,” he said.
Lauren added, “This is a very cool opportunity for someone my age -
to get involved in my dad’s work - exploring shipwrecks and
recovering history. I don’t know of any other 14-year-old girls
putting on scuba gear and a metal detector and diving for sunken
treasure this summer.”
Her father couldn’t agree more.
It is most rewarding, Gidus said, “being paid for what I love to do.
To be out on the ocean all day, diving, looking for history and
putting together the pieces of the puzzle and unlocking mysteries.
It has taken me a long time to get there - and I am very excited
about it.” |
UP
UP
UP
UP |
