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[RIGATONI]

~RUBM ,For the treasure hunters...This just out yesterday....

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20040218/news/news1.html


Treasure hunters gear up
published: Wednesday / February 18, 2004

By Claude Mills, Staff Reporter


G. Howard Collingwood (left), president and chief operating officer of the United States-based Admiralty Corporation; Kenneth Vrana, (second left), chairman of the Centre for Maritime and Underwater Resource Management (CMURM), also in the United States; Captain Charles Nelson, (second right) and Clarence Lott, vice-president of Maritime Permitting at Admiralty Corporation, toured the Old Naval Hospital in Port Royal, yesterday. - Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer

THE ATLANTA-BASED Admiralty Corporation is trying to fast-track its plans so that it can begin its search for sunken treasure in Jamaican waters by April 2004, a high-ranking company executive told The Gleaner yesterday.

The company had been granted a licence to begin its search over four years ago.

G. Howard Collingwood, president and chief operating officer of Admiralty Corporation, visited the Old Naval Hospital in Port Royal yesterday in a reconnaissance mission to see whether the company could set up its restoration laboratory there for the artefacts and treasure it hopes to find.

"We're looking for a place to put our lab, and this is a very likely prospect. We can do some renovations here... the building seems to be very sound, it leaks a bit, and some of the wiring is not up to standard. But I think you'd be surprised that with some cleaning up and a little paint... it has the docks we can bring artefacts in right from the boat, and we are looking for the things we will need food, fuel, and security," the 61-year-old president.

"We will be buying everything that we need here when we start recovering (treasure). We'll be hiring Jamaicans, plus we're looking for a chef, and a clerk to take care of the documentation," he said.

According to Mr. Collingwood, the company will spend US$2.2 million (J$140 million) during its first year of operations in the island. He believes the possibility exists for the public/private partnership between Admiralty and the Jamaican Government to earn 'hundreds of millions of dollars, half of which goes to Jamaica'.

Jamaica will receive all the non-precious artefacts, and will get first preference of all precious artefacts found.

"We want to do it properly, we are looking to be here for a long time, we have good records, a lady in Spain going through the records in Seville, and there are a lot of things out on the Pedro Banks, and to do a thorough job, we will have to be here for years," Mr. Collingwood explained.

The US$3 million ship, the New World Legacy, will be used to conduct most of the salvaging operations and is specially designed to execute shallow water recovery missions. The ship will be captained by Captain Charles Nelson.

Kenneth J. Vrana, chairman of the Centre for Maritime and Underwater Resource Management (CMURM), was also in attendance. He seemed to be buzzing with excitement at the possibility of the mission getting started.

"I am delighted to be moving from planning to implementation... this is what archaelogists live for... taking artefacts immersed in a different environment for hundreds of years, and bringing them back to the eyes, ears and understanding of today's people, it's a pretty noble cause but it needs to be done correctly," Mr. Vrana said.

The treasure hunt will see the use of the much-vaunted, but unproven ATLIS technology for the first time. ATLIS can detect both ferrous and non-ferrous metals.


~Rig