Some real-life treasure hunting stories are even more exciting than the Indiana Jones saga. If you explore the adventure genre in books and movies, you will find many books and movies are centred on the fictional stories of lost treasure and how the hero of the movie manages to find it. The reason for their mass appeal is our innate desirefor the adventure and wealth. But what if we tell you that sometimes the reality is even more fascinating than the fiction, and there is sometimes the treasure seeker struck gold (pun intended). Here are some of the greatest treasure hunting tales in history. Nuestra Senora De Atocha In the year 1622, a fleet of Spanish ships was stuck in a hurricane and battled it but unfortunately lost. These ships sunk deep down in the Florida Keys, and amidst these ships was legendary “Senora De Atocha”, or our lady of Atocha, which is rumoured to be full of precious gems, jewellery, gold and tobacco. For the longest time, the Spanish tried to recover the lost treasure of the ship but were unsuccessful. But in the year 1985, a persistent treasure hunter, Mel Fisher, was able to get his hand on the riches beyond imagination. The Atocha Mother lode had about 1000 silver bars, forty tons of gold, silver and precious gems such as Columbian emerald. The total value of the recovered treasure is said to be close to 500 million dollars. And the best part, they are still excavating and finding the treasure! The RMS Republic White Star Line did have quite a bad record when it came to the sinking of its ships. First, it was the “unsinkable” luxury liner Titanic; then, after three years of this tragedy, another one of their ships too sank after it was struck by SS Florida. But fortunately, most of the passengers were able to get off the ship safely except for three unfortunate people. But that is not its claim to fame. The cargo is every treasure hunter’s dream as it is believed that the ship was carrying 3,000,000 dollars of gold coins. Now, this lost and sunken ship was found by Captain Martin Bayerle in the year 1981. But unfortunately, they are still not able to recover the gold coins that may have been sitting at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. There are still many fabled tales of riches that are still undiscovered, like Incan’s lost gold, the location of legendary El Dorado. If you have a sense of adventure and patience, you too can evoke the treasure hunter in you.
