Lauren’s Passing & Galleon Quest funds Shipwreck Project

I want to apologize to all who have been following me. I haven’t been keeping up with LinkedIn or with my Facebook page since late April when my wife suffered a "near drowning." Lauren was apparently stepping to shore from the deck of Global Marine Exploration's 65-foot research vessel Osprey, which was tied up to the seawall in Cape Canaveral, Florida, when some sort of marine law-enforcement boat, despite the no-wake signs, sped by with their blue-light flashing. As near as we can figure, it was their boat's wake, which we know violently rocked the research vessel, that spilled Lauren into the water. Although Lauren was pulled from the water alive, her lungs and brain had been profoundly damaged, and my wife who was my best friend and the absolute love of my life passed away after over two weeks in intensive care. As she had many times before, Lauren was serving as my expedition photographer. I have always put safety first and she is the only person lost in my over 50 years of doing expeditions. And, to have her life taken away just as we were starting what we both expected to be our greatest and most successful adventure is so terribly sad.

The day before Lauren's accident, I had purchased a professional survey/salvage boat for use in Galleon Quest LLC’s first major shipwreck treasure expedition. The 33'x10' aluminum hull, research vessel El Salvadore, has twin diesels and is fitted with a double prop-wash deflector unit that is used for gently blowing the sand away to expose buried artifacts.

The El Salvadore, now renamed the Sea Survey, is the same boat that Global Marine Exploration, Inc. used a couple of years ago to locate and salvage some 16th Century, French, bronze cannons off Cape Canaveral, so we know it is well suited for its intended use. We will be using larger vessels whenever they are needed.

This has been the saddest time of my life, and I am only now getting back to work full-time. I am president of the Sea Research Society, which is a 501-C3, tax-exempt, educational research institution, and we will be working on some shipwrecks that I already have the rights to in U.S. territorial waters. The shipwrecks are completely outside of State waters, so South Carolina will not be entitled to its usual 25% share, although some artifacts will undoubtedly be donated to the State Museum.

The Society's work is being funded by the John Bianchi family and Galleon Quest LLC, which is a crypto-currency company, which will be securing its "SEA Coins" with its share of the recovery from this and other shipwreck salvage ventures.

Galleon Quest is the first company to ever secure any sort of crypto currency with shipwreck artifacts and treasure. For more on Galleon Quest go to www.GalleonQuest.io on the web.

I have already had test holes dug on several of the shipwrecks and we have found some exciting and valuable artifacts, which have me 100% convinced that one of these wrecks in particular carried a very rich and valuable assorted cargo. The wreck I am most interested in is that of an armed vessel dating to the late 1700s. She was clearly capable of carrying over 150 tons of cargo. Her cargo is the treasure we seek. 

How much the recovery from this wreck will ultimately be worth will depend on many factors, such as exactly what and how much we find, and even on the public's interest. So, I am not going to make a guess as to the cargo's potential dollar value. But, I wouldn't have picked this particular wreck for Galleon Quest to fund if I didn't have huge faith in it. And, in addition to this wreck, Galleon Quest will be funding the Society’s work on several others in the same overall area.

One wreck we will finally be working is that of the 19th Century steamer Ozama, which had a past history of both smuggling and carrying very large amounts of money. I discovered the Ozama and own the rights to her, but, through the funding by the Bianchi family and Galleon Quest, this will be the very first time we have actually worked on her with the necessary equipment.

Another much larger shipwreck, which is actually co-mingled with the armed vessel mentioned above, has an interesting back-story. We are not yet ready to disclose that ship's name or its story, but, when we are ready, we expect our announcement of its discovery to make international news. 

All of the Society's work on these shipwrecks is to be done to site-appropriate archaeological protocols, which will not only record scientific and archaeological data, it should actually make our salvage efforts more productive and increase the value of the recovered artifacts.

Right now, we are making some minor but important modifications on the boat, and I fully expect to be back out diving and salvaging these shipwrecks in the next few days.

We have already hired our team of experts, but if you or your company want to become an official sponsor of Sea Research Society by donating new equipment for their use in this expedition and/or you would like to volunteer your time and/or services, please contact me via email addressed to [email protected] with the words “Shipwreck Expedition” in the subject heading. 

Note One: To learn more about me and my past discoveries, articles and books, please go to https://shipwrecks.com/about-spence/

Note Two: The underwater photo of the French cannon ? 2016 by Global Marine Exploration, Inc., was used by permission from GME. All other photos are also ? copyrighted and are the property of Edward L. Spence and/or Sea Research Society.

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