In 1554 a fleet of Spanish ships, laden with treasures from the New World departed from Vera Cruz in Mexico, bound for Havana. For reasons yet unknown, at least three of the vessels were wrecked on the coast of present-day Texas at Padre Island, not far north of the Rio Grande where their remains languished for centuries. Treasure hunters armed with metal detectors began finding Spanish coins on Padre Island in the 1960s. Billy Kenon, a local salvage master teamed up with the Znika brothers from Indiana and formed the Platoro Group with an eye toward finding the remains of the ships and their treasure cargo. This is the story of Billy Kenon's successful salvage of one of those ships, and the 20 year battle he endured with Texas authorities over rights to the treasure he and the Platoro Group recovered in the turbid waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Bob Baer gives Billy Kenon a voice, drawing attention to the treachery of Texas bureaucrats, and the true significance of the Platoro Group's discoveries.
In 1554 a fleet of Spanish ships, laden with treasures from the New World departed from Vera Cruz in Mexico, bound for Havana. For reasons yet unknown, at least three of the vessels were wrecked on the coast of present-day Texas at Padre Island, not far north of the Rio Grande where their remains languished for centuries. Treasure hunters armed with metal detectors began finding Spanish coins on Padre Island in the 1960s. Billy Kenon, a local salvage master teamed up with the Znika brothers from Indiana and formed the Platoro Group with an eye toward finding the remains of the ships and their treasure cargo. This is the story of Billy Kenon's successful salvage of one of those ships, and the 20 year battle he endured with Texas authorities over rights to the treasure he and the Platoro Group recovered in the turbid waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Bob Baer gives Billy Kenon a voice, drawing attention to the treachery of Texas bureaucrats, and the true significance of the Platoro Group's discoveries.
