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Chalice find brings fame
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By Kyle Teal
Copyright 2008 Keynoter Publishing Co. Inc. Reprinted by permission of Keynoter Publishing Co. Inc.
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The newest crewman on the search and recovery vessel Blue Water Rose got a new nickname this week: “Golden Child.”
That may be because the 20-year-old diver surfaced Tuesday with a 385-year-old gold chalice found at the shipwreck site of the Spanish galleon Santa Margarita.
Michael DeMar's find is described as the biggest since the early 1980s.
“God, it shines,” DeMar said of the cleaned chalice.
He describes his dive as a typical underwater day, searching the shipwreck site 30 miles from Key West. His metal detector beeped a familiar sound - one that usually leads to the discovery of beer cans, he said. But this time was different. After sifting through 3 feet of sand, DeMar made his “first real find.”
Prior to the 5-inch-tall chalice, DeMar said he'd only found pieces of the ship and pottery.
“I still smile all the time,” DeMar said Friday. “I can't get it out of my head.”
His old friends from back home in Washington gave him his new nickname, and it seems to have stuck.
The chalice might have belonged to one of the wealthy Santa Margarita passengers, said Dan Porter, chief of operations for Blue Water Ventures. The joint venture partner of Mel Fisher's Treasures said there is no way to tell the value yet, but Porter said it could top $1 million.
“I've been teasing Mike since he's been here, ‘Man it's time you pull out some beginner's luck,' “ Porter joked.
Whether or not it's beginner's luck, DeMar hopes it continues. And even if it takes awhile until his next big find, he considers himself lucky. Spending seven to 10 days on the 65-foot boat with his crew has benefits.
“At the end of the day, you anchor up, sit down and you've got the sunset,” he said. “Not a whole lot of people can say they love what they do.... I wouldn't be able to do it without my captain and crew. We're one big family.”
The chalice has a crest engraved in the center, a lions and castles engraving at the base, and what appears to be a tax stamp also on the base, Porter said.
Porter said prized past finds from the Santa Maria in the 1980s included gold plates and bars, and silver coins. Most of the discoveries since then have been objects like a gold toothpick, sword handles and ornate pottery.
But the mother lode, he said, remains undiscovered: 155 silver bars - 80 to 90 pounds each - and 80,000 silver coins. The chalice points the team in a potentially crucial and “exciting” direction, Porter said.
“Everybody's put their heart and soul into this,” Porter said. “It's what we all want to do. It's a very dedicated group.”
The chalice, after serving as a champagne glass for the crew, was cleaned at Mel Fisher's Treasures and will be restored there, as it's slightly crushed.
Read the official news release here.
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