MELBOURNE BEACH, Fla. — According to historical records, it’s estimated that there is between 60 to 100 billion dollars in unfound treasure around the world.
What You Need To Know
- On Melbourne Beach and southward along the Treasure Coast, metal detectors are used to uncover the past from the 1715 fleet
- Treasure seekers believe there are millions of dollars in Spanish coins still buried along the sand in this area of Florida
- Treasure hunter Terry Shannon has been uncovering the past for decades, finding Spanish coins along with modern day jewelry
Primarily from sunken shipwrecks that were carrying items like gold from the new world.
On any given day, you’ll find treasure hunter Terry Shannon waving his metal detector along the coast, looking for remnants of wealth left over from long ago.
“Looking for gold or Spanish coins. There is a sunken ship out there that it’s a 1715 fleet. It’s 600 yards out,” said Shannon.
The retiree has been fortune seeking for decades.
He says you’ll uncover some odd things before striking gold, Spanish coins or cannon balls — often finding what hunters call “space poop.”
“It melts off a rocket. You can find it up on all along the Treasure Coast,” said Shannon, holding up a small piece of melted metal.
Shannon has been successful over the years uncovering Spanish coins and other artifacts from ships that once sailed along the Treasure Coast.
“Like this Spanish eight-real coin,” he said.
The “Spanish real” (plural: reales) was a unit of currency in Spain and its colonies, with the most common denomination being the silver eight-real coin, also known as the “Spanish dollar” or “peso.”
He’s found a fortune in jewelry over the years, including thousands of rings.
Over the years, he’s been able to return many to their original owners.
“I found an awful lot of rings, but there still a thrill when they come out of the ground,” he said.
The treasure hunter has written several books and teaches people how to metal detect (for free) and find their own riches at no cost.
Shannon said he has changed his perspective on life thanks to metal detecting.
“When I was in high school, I thought history was stupid. You know, I was worried about the future, not what happened in the past. Now I’m just the opposite, you know? And we learn from history. We can learn a lot.”
If you would like to learn metal detecting skills, you can contact Terry Shannon by email at tshannon@arvig.net, or you can call him at 210-382-5627.
He does not charge for his metal detecting instruction.