Soldier's Girl Page #4

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which didn't always exist in

the early phases of treasure hunting.

After finding and

carefully cataloging his treasures,

Fisher sells most of it off

piece by piece.

Fisher believes that two billion more

is just waiting to be recovered.

Deep in the Mediterranean,

the NR-1 is still hunting for

archeological marvels with no luck.

After three weeks of trying,

the sub and its robot arm

have been unable

to make a dent in the ocean floor,

which unexpectedly turns out to be

sticky and thick like clay.

Ballard's master plan

is just not working.

Do the wooden hulls of the Roman

vessels still exist just beyond reach?

Or has time stolen them away.

Ballard wonders if he'll ever find them.

The deep sea is always surprising me.

I every time I think I understand it,

it throws me another curve ball.

But that's okay. That's part of it.

I think it wouldn't be fun

if it if I knew it that well,

and it wasn't full of surprises.

Ballard decides to change

the way they use the NR-1.

He sends the sub out to do

what it does best,

to act as a high-tech bloodhound,

to roam over Skerki Bank

and to explore as much as possible

with its exceptional sonar senses.

Sir, request permission to rig ship

for deep submerges.

Rig ship for deep submerges.

Rig ship for deep submerges, aye sir.

Rig ship for deep submerges.

Will the NR-1 discover the unknown,

the unexpected?

Ballard will just have to wait and see

By working to develop

new underwater technology,

Ballard has revolutionized deep

sea archeology.

At the same time,

he has inadvertently helped to blow

the world of treasure hunters wide open

Now anyone with $150,000

to spare can buy an ROV,

a remotely operated search vehicle,

right off the shelf and set off for gold.

Still there are only a handful

of successful deep-sea salvagers.

Seahawk Deep Ocean Technology,

out of Tampa, Florida, is one of them.

Seahawk hit the jackpot in 1989

discovering a 17th century Spanish

galleon, heavy with gold and jewels,

off the Florida coast

in 1,500 feet of water.

Seahawk is looking for treasure again,

this time in the seas off the coast

of Georgia.

Michael Reardon,

Seahawk's current expedition leader,

sees himself as a treasure hunter

with a difference.

That's one of our goals,

is to choose shipwrecks

that are archeologically important

as well as having a commercial cargo.

So we're playing a fine line

between the archeological community

and the out-and-out smash-and-grab

treasure hunters, which we're not.

Reardon is after

a 19th-century paddle wheel steamer,

which they've code named

The Golden Eagle,

to keep her identity hidden

from other salvagers.

Now they've narrowed the search

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