Erick Messing has lived an adventure most teenagers only dream about. At age eleven, he dove down to a Spanish galleon, the Maravillas, sunk deep in the crystal blue waters off the Bahamas, and emerged with an emerald worth thirty seven thousand dollars.
Erick and his father were guests aboard the treasure ship Beacon, which is salvaging the wreck. Invited to dive down for a look, they observed a few old timbers. The Beacon's skipper then turned on the ship's blowers, which deflect the propeller's flow downward, digging craters in the sand in an attempt to trace the wreck's scatter pattern.
Swimming around the walls of these craters, Erick noticed deck spikes, ballast stones, and pottery shards of what turned out to be Ming dynasty china. He and his group deposited their finds in a metal basket, which was winched to the surface.
Erick recalls spotting the gemstone in about forty feet of water: "Coming around the side of the crater, I found a stream of debris and saw the emerald lying in the sand. My dad indicated I should surface right away, so I brought it up to someone on board. It was a dark green fifteen-carat emerald with some flecks of color."
Now fifteen, Erick returns each summer from his Alexandria, Virginia, home to look for treasure.
While most young treasure hunters don't strike riches of this magnitude, their numbers continue to grow. Today, of an estimated 250,000 active American treasure hunters who use metal detectors, about one-third are youths.
A most enthusiastic young coin hunter is Ed Burke, Jr., of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, who has been at it for nine years. "I was always interested in coin collecting," he recalls. "Then my father bought a metal detector which got me into treasure hunting." Last year, he won the under-eighteen division of the Indiana Open Treasure Hunt.
His proud father says of his young champion, "He has found thousands of dollars' worth of vintage coins, and has paid for his equipment many times over." But Ed Jr. says his biggest thrill is communicating with the people he's met among the fraternity of treasure hunters. He exchanges letters year round with friends all over the country.
Ed Sr. thinks parents owe it to themselves and their kids to spend time together. "The best times we've had have been with our hobby," he says. "When we take vacations, we go to beach areas or campgrounds where we can detect. It's a family endeavor.”
"We like to hunt in old fair grounds, old schools, ball fields, and stadiums," add young Ed. There are literally hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of lost or buried treasure in this country. Pirate maps, seamen's diaries, and the U.S. Hydrographic Office archives are only a few sources to consult. Local schoolyards and other places frequented by youngsters of the past of ten yield small coins and other treasures.
Chris Szczerba is about the same height and weight as his metal detector. Only nine, he has been treasure hunting for a year and a half. Each month, he
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