True Adventureby host and producer Bill

[Music] hi there welcome to adventure and believe me this is the place to find it we're on the coast of Bermuda and these that I've got my hands these are gold doubloons they were recovered from a Spanish galleon and went down not far from here way back in the 17th century according to the experts they're plenty more where these came from but there's a lot more than treasure to be found under the surface of the ocean here you're in a world apart a world we've only just begun to discover we'll be seeing it through the eyes of a beginner young john gibson will do some serious exploring with the experts will meet creatures of the deep some of them friendly some otherwise we'll investigate shipwrecks and go in search of treasure among the bermuda rings you know it's not long ago that only a few specialists knew what it was like under the waves now thanks to new techniques diving's become a family sport but it's still a long way from being crowded down there it's well worth the visit so join us won't you for a trip to an underwater world of true adventure we're coming in for a landing at Bermuda this is where we'll start exploring a secret and mysterious realm the realm that lies below the surface of the sea equipped with scuba gear were carried along by the electric motor in this gadget which isn't better calls a power guy we're getting acquainted with an underwater world world that's more than twice the size of all the dry land on earth you know when someone mentions the age of discovery I think most of us usually think of the days of Columbus and Magellan and Sir Francis Drake but right now just a few fathoms down you can see sites that no one has ever set eyes on before there are crevices and canyons to explore there's a natural Wonderland of plant and animal life for you to discover because down here the age of discovery has just begun [Music] modern skin divers are still dreaming up new kinds of underwater adventure what we've been watching is fairly ordinary but now at a different location off the coast of Yucatan we'll be diving after dark in the daytime a scene like this would be illuminated by sunlight filtering down from the surface above a few fathoms below the surface you'd be in a blue or Bluegreen Twilight none of that this time though now there's only one bright artificial light that we brought down with us so that we can see the ocean floor and the creatures that inhabit it in their own natural colors [Music] here's an octopus not one of the king-sized ones but full of fight just the same [Music] this little fella has his own special means of self-defense he puffs himself up into a ball and presents you with a collection of stiff sharp spines day or night the underwater world is always excited it's always challenging and every day more and more people seem to decide that it's where they want to spend their spare time now take this young lady watching a pair of scuba divers heading into the surf off Bermuda for her this is just the the first spark of curiosity but not far off there's a group of beginners taking lessons so why not and this is how Joanne Gibson from New Jersey is introduced to the sport of diving there's a lot more to this sport than meets the eye no matter what kind of equipment you're going to use you have to be thoroughly familiar with it you have to understand your own human limitations too and know what to do in emergencies there are tricks to learn wearing your mask for example keeps it from fogging up and of course you have to be a good swimmer well theories fine as far as it goes but nothing takes the place of practice now Joanne is about to get acquainted with the ocean floor [Music] there's a lot to see just lying on the surface of course not everyone you meet down there puts off the welcome mat [Music] and this is just the start soon Joanne will be learning to dive with scuba which means self-contained underwater breathing apparatus that's a particularly exciting sport around here because the Bermuda reefs are rich in sunken treasure our true adventure cameras are about to record an actual under seas treasure hunt the first man to go in is an amateur treasure hunter Bermudez governor following him is the expedition's leader Teddy Tucker and this is their gold a wreck that has lain on the bottom for almost 400 years the governor goes to work into the watchful eyes of a blue fish forgi fish are unusually friendly but this fellow can't quite make up his mind [Music] well look who's joining the party another local resident a billy goat fish [Music] meantime Teddy Tucker is working with his air lip this machine sucks up sand and debris that has collected over what's left of the wreck now Teddy's wife Edna has come down to help it's not their first trip here Teddy discovered this wreck some time ago and they've already made a number of valuable discoveries while experience treasure hunters like the Tucker's and the governor aren't going to let a shark interrupt their search it's business as usual down on the reef bits of pottery encrusted metal anything may turn out to be a valuable relic a clue to the past there may be golden doubloons an inch under the sand pieces of eight our jewelry we know that this old galleon once carried a fortune because Teddy has already recovered some of it the question is how much is there still to be found and so the job of sifting through the deposits of century goes on [Music] topside the Tucker's daughter Wendy looks on as the relics come up here's an old Spanish sword but not everything salvaged from the wreck is so easy to identify it takes a hammer to find a human rib among these ancient cannonballs this was a projectile an expanding bar designed to tear an enemy ship sails and rigging and there are coins Spanish coins from the late 1500s here's a piece of eight corroded by saltwater just think of it all this and more from a wreck that went down off Bermuda just over 100 years after the voyage of Columbus and so it's no great wonder that people are fascinated by the underwater world it's a natural setting for true adventure where at sea off the Florida Keys our host is a veteran treasure hunter art McKee and behind our camera is the world-famous underwater photographer Peter Stackpole unlike the divers we met earlier art McKee is a hardhat diver but when you've discovered the remains of an old Spanish treasure galleon no one worries about styles and headgear all that matters is that you're down among the wonders of the underwater world trying to solve one of the seas many mysteries Bart McKee has already put in a lot of work on this wreck the relics he finds go on display in his Museum of sunken treasure every cannon every ships tool and crusted with coral every buried timber has lain here since the hurricane of the year of 1733 working with an airlift mr. McKee is trying to establish the exact identity of the record there's no conclusive evidence but it looks as though were on what's left of the El Capitan yeah she was a galleon set sail from Havana as part of the Spanish treasure fleet of 1733 this was one of the richest fleets ever to leave the New World for Spain but the treasure aboard didn't help when the hurricane blew up many of the ships went to the bottom of that Spanish mane much to their sorrow whether this was the el capitan ii or some other vessel there's not much left of her now the only surviving Timbers are those that have been protected by a covering of sad [Music] salvaging this wreck has been almost a one-man operation for art McKee it's a slow laborious process and it could be a tedious one for anyone who doesn't respond to the strange magic of these surroundings but most people do at least mr. Maki's friend and visitors do for most of them it's their first glimpse of a world of adventure and never grows old [Music] a quick trip to the southeast brings us to a point off the north coast of Haiti this time we're aboard the sea diver a converted shrimp trawler owned by this gentleman mr. ed Ling we're approaching the area where Christopher Columbus's flagship into Santa Maria hit a reef and say Christmas Eve 1492 we're just in time to catch the climax of a long search although absolute proof is still missing it's almost certain the dead link has found one of the anchors from the Santa Maria lost since the discovery of the new world now this is no ordinary relic it comes ashore with some ceremony and it is formally presented to the officials of the Republic of Haiti [Music] back in Bermuda once again Peter stack poles camera explores the cement cargo of a modern wreck the constellation and there's our friend Joanne Gibson she's now graduated from skin diving to scuba diving and she's learning her way around and the more challenging depths of the underwater world [Music] of course she has to admit that sacks of cement don't have quite the romantic appeal of pirate treasure there's drama here just the same because men have pitted their skill and courage against the sea for thousands of years and here here are the remains of a battle they lost even the metal hull of a modern ship can't stand up long under the pounding it gets down here at the bottom storms and corrosion aren't quite as fast as dynamite but they're just as sure [Music] now there's seldom any great mystery about recent wrecks like this one usually we know just why they say and official records can tell us who was aboard who survived and almost anything else we might want to know but to really sense the drama of the story you have to follow Joanne's example and go down for yourself and see what's left [Music] here's our old friend Teddy Tucker he's not hunting treasure right now he's eyeing the visible wreckage of a ship that went down just off Bermuda's elbow beach his interest isn't just idle curiosity because Teddy's in the salvage business when he's not diving for Spanish treasure or historical relics he's diving for anything that's likely to bring a reasonable price [Music] this ship by the way was a British ammunition supply ship when she sank in a hurricane that was during the first world war back a good many years [Music] now the aim of this particular salvage operation is the recovery of brass shell casings and they still contain their original explosive charges and as you can see this is a job that calls for a good deal of old-fashioned muscle power [Music] the collection of salvaged material grows and then Teddy and his partners use some more muscle power to bring it to the surface [Music] there may not be anything particularly exciting about a business venture like this one but even here you never know what unexpected side light may turn up in spite of the years underwater the cordite the explosive in the shell casing still burns furiously [Music] the excitement of the hunt is even older than the lure of the sea' skin-diving experts often combine the two and they die for their dinner [Music] now fish may not be famous for their intelligence but many of them have learned to be good judges of a divers intentions well that's a start on tonight's menu real sportsman insists that spearfishing with scuba gear is no better than shooting sitting ducks usually our friends dive only with the air they carry in their lungs and of course they're only interested in edible varieties jellyfish like that one they don't qualify now we've only speared a few fish but already this shark is sensed what's going on left keep an eye on him and in case you're wondering about what I mentioned a minute ago about sitting ducks scuba is considered legitimate if you're on a diving expedition and have to depend on spearfishing for your meals [Music] now where'd that shark get to getting a speared fish out of water fast is an important safety precaution otherwise you're likely to have other sharks in the neighborhood who get a very sudden appetite not only for fish but for divers [Music] now what do you suppose he's found under there [Music] why it's a lobster and a big one - well there'll be no shortage of food on the table tonight [Music] Suns going down now the lights already quite dim down there in that underwater world but tomorrow's another day there's still a lot of coral reef no one's ever explored and there are scores of sunken treasure galleons to be found and so if you're looking for excitement here's where you'll find it in the underwater world of true adventure [Music] it's quite a place that world underwater isn't it which is why skin diving is one of our fastest growing sports believe it or not the dream of finding sunken treasure isn't quite as far fest as you might think let me give you an example way back in 1643 a Huracan drove 15 Spanish treasure galleons onto a show called silver bank north of Hispaniola they were 44 years later especially formed London company called the gentlemen adventurers sent an expedition to silver bank to see if the lost treasure couldn't be salvaged well all they ever found was just one of the 15 wrecks but from that one wreck they took back nearly 12 million dollars in gold and jewels now the leader of that expedition was a young man named William Phips he started life as a farm boy in Maine but thanks to his treasure finding abilities he was made the Provo general marshal of New England and finally became royal governor that's a long way for a farm boy to go back in those days the point is this not one of those other fourteen ships was ever found and something over a hundred million dollars worth of that treasure is still waiting to be recovered well I hope you've enjoyed sharing this adventure with us until we meet again this is bill bird saying may all your adventures be happy one [Music] [Music]