?Shipwrecks, Treasure & Sir Richard Branson

Several years ago, when a major archipelago following United Nations protocols finally codified its maritime borders, I spotted a truly unique opportunity. Their now official borders left out some already known shipwrecks, which were potentially worth billions of dollars. Even better, the wreckage was in relatively shallow waters, so salvage costs would be manageable. Considerable treasure (actually tons) had already been recovered from one of the wrecks. But, each time large amounts of treasure had come up, the archipelago, which had previously claimed, without foundation, that the wreckage was in their Territorial waters, shut the salvors down. I won't speculate on their reasons, but I could see no good from it, as it then left the wrecks open to looting by those who could convince officials to look the other way. But under the archipelago's U.N. sanctioned borders, the wrecks were now fair game. 

Based on underwater work and discoveries that I had already made, and supported by my years of archival research and fieldwork, I filed an admiralty claim and eventually obtained a court order recognizing me as the exclusive owner of the wreckage. It was not done in secrecy and many, including government officials in the archipelago, talked about challenging or otherwise intervening in my claim, but fortunately none did. I won. I also realized, I had set a precedent and, not wanting others to copy me and thereby causing an uncontrolled "gold rush" by parties who might not respect the history of the shipwrecks, I followed up that case with an even more extensive and equally successful admiralty claim. It effectively took in the rest of the shallow-water shipwrecks that were located outside the archipelago's Territorial sea. Not wanting either of the judge's orders to be undone on some technicality, I have patiently waited until all statutes of limitations known to me have passed. The attorneys, who I have spoken with both here in the United States and in the archipelago, all agree that I have done everything correctly.

I am already an owner of a multi-million dollar business (https://www.idiCharleston.edu), and I could afford to do the salvage myself, but there are some potential problems that I have no doubt will arise almost as soon as I put major equipment in place. Even though I now legally own the wreckage, it is still within the archipelago’s Contiguous zone and their Exclusive economic zone. And, there lies the problem. I know that some of the bureaucrats and officials with this particular archipelago haven't always played by the rules, and I suspect they may try to misrepresent or twist them to take back control. I am therefore trying to be both cautious and reasonable.

I am wanting and willing to reach an equitable agreement with the archipelago, whereby the salvage of the wreckage (i.e. the artifacts and treasure) would be done to site-appropriate archaeological protocols, and the archipelago would get the same pick and share of the artifacts and treasure as it would normally get if the shipwrecks were inside its Territorial waters. I would also like to build a preservation lab and museum in the archipelago, so everything will be properly preserved and a reasonable portion of salvaged artifacts and treasure publicly will be displayed so everyone can see and benefit from the wrecks.

But, nothing is ever that straightforward and simple. I believe it will take someone like Sir Richard Branson to overcome the problems. Branson is not only a multi-billionaire, he is a true visionary and is capable of seeing and doing whatever is necessary, which is why I would like very much to meet him.

If someone puts me in touch with him, or someone as capable, it would be greatly appreciated. If their introduction results in a working relationship, they can count on being involved in the venture.