look what i found

[KoeN]

chingching

[Madina]

Same story, better link http://www.guardian.co.uk/internatio...578135,00.html

[Appocomaster]

I'd laugh if all they found was a large pile of scrap metal or something. That'd be pretty cool.

[Dante Hicks]

Why would you tell anyone before you had dug it up and got the stash behind a giant wall with sentry guns?

[Appocomaster]

For publicity, because you assume you've found it. You risk being the laughing stock later in exchange for becoming more well known now, and putting pressure on the government to allow you to excavate to look and see if you're right. Of course, if you're wrong, you'll end up looking rather silly.

[JonnyBGood]

I'd like to claim about 2 million dollars I'm sure nobody will miss on the grounds that I read Robinson Crusoe and as such without my patronage this story would clearly have faded away and people would have forgotten about the treasure.

Originally Posted by Appocomaster

For publicity, because you assume you've found it. You risk being the laughing stock later in exchange for becoming more well known now, and putting pressure on the government to allow you to excavate to look and see if you're right. Of course, if you're wrong, you'll end up looking rather silly.

I really don't think "lunatics digging giant hole on small offshore island" is high on the chilean government's priority list.

[Tactitus]

Originally Posted by Dante Hicks

Why would you tell anyone before you had dug it up and got the stash behind a giant wall with sentry guns?

Because a treasure of this size and value probably can't be excavated and removed without attracting public attention anyway. You can't just stick 600 barrels of treasure in your pocket, hop a boat to the mainland, and stash it in your wall safe. I think the biggest threat to treasure hunters is government confiscation, and the only thing worse than not finding a treasure is finding it, going through the time and expense of salvaging it, and then having it confiscated.* :/

With a big treasure find it's probably better to announce it immediately and then start working on the legal angles of your claim. Meanwhile, the government will guard the site (since they don't want anyone else walking off with it). Even if you lose the legal battles you may still be able to get the eventual owners to give you a finder's fee.



*When Mel Fisher found the wreck of the Spanish galleon Atocha, the treasure was claimed by both the US government and the state of Florida. It required some lengthy and expensive legal battles before he was allowed to salvage and keep (most of) the treasure.

[Dante Hicks]

Originally Posted by Tactitus

You can't just stick 600 barrels of treasure in your pocket, hop a boat to the mainland, and stash it in your wall safe.

Well, maybe you couldn't. I've seen the A-Team, I know what can be done.

[flapjack]

All you'd need to do is build a big enough submarine (from palm trees ofcourse), sail under the artic and sell the treasure in the US.