The 'New World Legacy' arrives on Tuesday.
-ContributedClaude Mills, Staff Reporter
COME TUESDAY, foreign treasure-hunters will be scouring Davy Jones's locker (bottom of the sea) for 18th century gold ingots and sunken treasure from pirate and Spanish flagships in the Pedro Banks area off the coast of Jamaica.
The search for sunken treasure in Jamaican waters begins this week, a company executive from the Atlanta-based Admiralty Corporation said, seven years after the idea was first broached to the Government. Signalling the start of the exploration, the New World Legacy (NWL), a turquoise-hulled ship belonging to the corporation, will arrive at the Port Royal Coast Guard base on Tuesday.
The NWL has been provisionally listed by the Maritime Authority of Jamaica as a Jamaican registered vessel, and is sailing under the Jamaican flag.
"We'll be working in Jamaican waters, and we have nothing to hide, so we thought it would be a good idea to fly under the Jamaican flag," Clarence Lott, vice-president of marine permitting, told The Sunday Gleaner. He was in the island last week for meetings as part of the preparations his firm is making to kick off the salvaging operation. The Admiralty Corporation, which was granted a licence for the exploration over four years ago, is seeking to be 'good corporate neighbours' during its treasure-hunting stint in Jamaica. "We are working feverishly with the Caribbean Maritime Institute to get two cadets who will gain experience from working with us, and who will be paid a stipend. We've already hired a Jamaican cook, and we're trying to hire a clerk for the ship, we want to get as many Jamaicans as possible to work with us," he said.
When the salvaging operations begin, there are also plans to hire as many as eight Jamaican divers. Lieutenant Commander Michael Rodriguez, of the Caribbean Maritime Institute, said, "The experience will be good for the deck officer and engineering cadets in terms of navigational experience, and in the maintenance and operation of high-tech systems used to perform the precision searches."
"We're looking forward to working with the Admiralty Corporation for the next two years, and there is more that can be achieved in other aspects of underwater research which we can all benefit from."
The Admiralty Corporation has also contracted the services of Maritime Transport Services to handle all local correspondence from the local Maritime Authority to the company.
