Whenever I get into a conversation with someone I've never met and they learn that I am a treasure hunter by profession, they seem to be awestruck. "Do you do the actual diving?" they will ask. I smile and nod and then they come up with dozens of questions.

When they find out that we are still working on and recovering items from the Atocha, they can't believe it. The Atocha has been a very large part of my entire career. Now, though, I devote myself to the 1715 Fleet.

My parents started working on the 1715 Fleet when I was 2 years old. The 1715 Fleet had at least ten ships and is in an area of Florida where actual recovery time is limited to about 100 days per year due to weather conditions. So, although we started salvaging this fleet in 1963 and have worked it fairly continuously over the years, our overall salvage time is less than on the Atocha. Of course, the Atocha is a legend, but it was the 1715 Fleet that romanced my parents to Florida and introduced them to success in the salvage business.