by sailing ships from all of Europe and America. It was 

 generally believed that only a part of the treasure had 

 been raised from the galleon which Sir William Phips had 

 found. There was also much speculation as to whether only 

 one ship from the silver jBeet had gone down, or whether 

 other ships from the same fleet had foundered somewhere 

 on this forty-mile stretch of reefs. 



Fantastic stories were told wherever seamen gathered, 

 in the course of which more and more galleons sank be- 

 neath the waves, carrying ever-greater quantities of gold, 

 silver and jewels to the bottom. 



Even in our own century, Captain Phips is still the 

 hero of many treasure tales. The story of his expeditions 

 has been recorded with fair accuracy, but the treasure 

 hunter of today can only guess at the facts of the loss of 

 the Spanish treasure. Was only one ship sunk? Or did a 

 whole fleet disappear? Did the ship which Phips salvaged 

 sail from Havana in 1644 or 1659? Did Phips and the other 

 salvagers who followed him get all the treasure, or did 

 they leave on the bottom, as some believe, an impenetrable 

 section of the hull containing millions more in gold and 

 silver? 



If the remains of this treasure still lay on the bottom, 

 would it be possible for us to find and raise it with the aid 

 of modern diving equipment and underwater explosives? 



On board Sea Diver we probably had the most com- 

 plete diving and salvage equipment available in the world 

 today for exploring waters such as those to be found on 

 the Silver banks. With our small glass-bottomed boats we 

 could search the entire area of reefs. With our magne- 

 tometer and metal detectors we would surely be able to 

 find indications of any metals covered by sand or coral. 

 With our up-to-date diving equipment we could reach any 

 spot underwater. And with our salvaging tools and equip- 



The Silver Shoals 247 



