How Modern Treasure Hunting Works 

Here in Norway, a community out on the western coast was instrumental in recovering the treasure of a Dutch galleon, the Ankerendam, a ship loaded with cash that blew of course, and sunk in the 1600's. The revenue and treasure was split between the Norwergian state, the Netherlands, and the families of the local divers, who discovered the wreck, it having moved slightly over the centuries from where it was reported to have gone down. Today, if you meet some of the familiy members of the divers, they have dutch Guilders in the jewelry they wear with their traditional dress/folk costume.

A very impressive video!

In fantasy stories, dragons often guard a hoard of treasure. It turns out the real treasure is actually the dragons' bones.

Fossil Hunter here! Great video, thoroughly enjoyed it. Here in Florida, we are lucky that we work with the Florida Museum of Natural History. They issue us permits to collect in public waterways, we file reports, and they get 1st dibs on anything scientifically important. We get to keep and sell anything they don't want. In practice, it works out great. Most stuff that you'd imagine as valuable like a Mammoth jaw they don't want since it really offers little scientific value (case dependent there). But, other stuff, like a Megalodon nose and an undescribed cat jaw that my dive buddy discovered, they were escatic to recieve. Now, you can't apply this to private property for obvious reasons. But, I wish archaelogists and more states operated like this. Final note, I know you highlighted the financial opportunity a lot, but most fossil hunters like myself and Pete Larson too I imagine, got into fossil hunting because we love doing it, we love the activity and we love the science behind it. Although, I will admit, like anything, there are absolutely bad actors. Anyway, I appreciated the fair and informative video and I am looking forward to more from you!

It is actually insane to me that treasure hunters are not, at the very least, compensated for the recovery of sunken objects by whoever is claimed to be the owner. They should absolutely be given a large percentage of whatever they bring back up, especially if its been 50-100+ years.

Minor error correction: 14:15 you said Sue when you meant Stan.

Just want to point out, Sue wasn't bought by the Field Museum, I don't think they could afford it. It was bought by McDonald's, who has a great relationship with the city amd community of Chicago, and theu bought it with the intent of donating Sue to the Field Museum.

So the Sioux sued Sue over Sue’s skeleton?

In my opinion, if a government or company leaves a ship at the bottom of the ocean for over 100 years, its fair game. Even if it's insured, the insurance company should be the ones fronting the money to get it back and if they don't, they loose right to claim it. Finders keepers...

As a life long Black Hills resident it's always a neat surprise when we are mentioned in a video, mostly because it feels like nothing ever happens here 😂

It's wild to me that you can pull something out of the middle of the ocean from the 1800s and the government can still say they own it. I guess the ocean is just like a bank vault.

I thought the modern version of treasure hunting was stealing Amazon packages 😅😂😂😂

Minor correction: At 7:28 you said “160 miles off the coast of North Carolina” while the map shows the distance of the shipwreck from Charleston, a city in South Carolina

"Who owns what?" is the most imporant question in all of human history.

Great video! Not sure if you take requests, but I've always been fascinated by the "crazy logistics of fine dining restaurants". A friend works as a sous-chef, and there are so many moving pieces that need to fit just perfectly to get the seemingly flawless multi course menu experience. With basically non existing margins for error.. :)

At 14:15 I think you mean Stan, not Sue. I could be wrong but you were done talking about Sue and had moved on to Stan and then out of nowhere Sue came back and got sold right when you were talking about Stan's auction 😅 I brushed it off not thinking much of it until you said, "with the sale of Stan and the subsequent explosion in the fossil industry" at 19:19 which is exactly what you were talking about with the auction where you (accidentally?) said Sue.

14:20 Eh, that's not Sue getting sold...

Note to self. IF you find gold bricks or jewelry on a ship, just melt the gold down to make new bricks and say nothing

7:30 charleston is south carolina, not north carolina.

This video remimded me of a discussion (really more of a passionate argument) I had with a marine archaeologist on one of Rare Earth's videos, talking about how the Azores basically banned treasure hunting in their waters, despite it having one of the highest concentrations of valuable shipwrecks in the world. They were passionate about how much they hated treasure hunters, because in their eyes they destroyed historical artifacts for financial gain. I did try to argue the approach the British took here, that a collaborative effort could be a win win for both sides, because marine archeology is so expensive it would help to have a sponsor, but they seemed unconvinced, I think they envisioned that it's better it sits undisturbed on the bottom alone for another century while they scrape together the funding themselves. I retorted that the reality would be that there majority of these wrecks would never be examined unless there was more funding available, and that wasn't going to happen through public funding, but they seemed convinced they'd get round to all of them eventually, before they were buried or crumbled away to nothing. How I'm not sure, but still. That seems to be the mindset of the most vocal opponents in academia.

In the case of sunken treasures it feels like greed and lazyness at its best. They didn't put in the work to salvage a boat from sea yet they want it the second someone else does it.

Also worth pointing out that, by immediately removing fossils from where they lay, the for-profit fossil hunters are also denying academics/researchers the ability to date and contextualize the bones using stratigraphy. This represents a massive knowledge loss regarding the finds themselves.

In the Canadian province of Alberta, where I live, fossils are considered Crown property(unless they were dug up before the law regarding fossils in Alberta was passed, I think in 1979, or exceptions like ammonite which can be mined with a license) and theft of fossils can result in a 50,000 dollar fine, and up to a year in jail. This also obligates the government to collect any fossils found, and forces mining and construction companies in the area where the fossil was found to lend their resources to help researchers excavate fossils, since they can’t generally go around it, and destroying it is also illegal.

My nephew is super big into Dinos. One year for his birthday I got him one of those simple dino tooth fossils. He loved it but my sister hated me because she had gotten him a new bike and was the hero for 5 mins till he opened my gift. Had a good laugh about it.

the more and more i hear stories like this the more and more I understand the Killdozer guy

Love the video, absolutely fascinating topic. If you happen to look into the comments of any of these for ideas, I think an excellent idea in the same sort of genre you might say is the market for antiquities, especially the grey and black markets. As someone who's done a few archeological digs and been warned about dig site looting and how much of the artifacts sold in the world are questionably legal at best, I think it'd be a really interesting thing to see your quality of research directed at!

14:15 supposed to be "Stan"

Fresh, juicy, crispy Wendover video.

Governments: "We'd rather every single golden coin stay in the ocean than share a single speck of gold with the people who recover them"

I find this all ironic because it's not like any of these government entities actually care until the hard work is done.

This reminds me of that short documentary I saw years ago about sunk trade ships full of Chinese ceramics around Southeast Asia. Because they were in bulk, the team doing the recovery process auctioned a bunch of it to keep funding their project.

This was a really interesting video! I didn't realize there was so much red tape with this stuff. That kind of pisses me off actually..... lol Like NONE of these countries were actually looking for their shipwrecks, but when someone else puts in all the effort and takes all the risks, *suddenly* they're all whinny like they're owed something. Reminds me of this lyric, "None of you would help me when I baked my bread, now all of you will help me eat it. I can see that you are very well fed, this indicates that you don't need it."

Don't need to look any further than the success of shows like Gold Rush. People LOVE treasure, people love exploration. No wonder it's popular, it must be absolutely exhilarating to have the time and means to just go treasure hunting. If I had the cash, I'd split my time between a chalet in the alps and treasure hunting. Must be absolutely lovely

this is the best video you have done so far - thank you.

14:16 You mean Stan.

I hadn't known the tragedy behind Sue or that Stan had left us in the states. I was once a paleontology student at Central Wyoming College. Being on a dig is one of the most fun things 20something year olds can do. Not knowing those two things saddens me.

maybe the real treasure is the friends we made along the way

Isn’t Faith SD the same town from the Dollar General video?

You do realize Charleston is in SOUTH Carolina, yes?

Your release timing was apt; There was a headline in the news yesterday in regard to a lawsuit in relation the the Tyrannosaurus Sue $$$.

Thank you, for yet another well crafted video!

Very interesting topic to explore, great idea!

The only two rules of treasure hunting 1: If you find something, don't tell the government 2:keep your mouth shut

The true scavengers aren't the ones on the ships, it's the ones with law degrees

I never knew Charlston was in North Carolina. 😂

I would love to hear one of these property-grab efforts end with the treasure hunter teplying "fine, if it was yours then I'll just put it back" and dumping or burying the stuff right where they found it.

7:26 Charleston is in South Carolina so is it 160 miles off Charleston or North Carolina?

I think 14:12 has a mistake, you said Sue when I think you meant Stan

As usual I loved the video, you’re far and away my favorite content creator. Thank you for all the work and passion you put into these! One minor potential correction, you showed North Carolina but the city that you used connected line to the ship wreck was Charleston, SC. I think you might have done this one other time, and with it being my hometown I’d love if you give us the shoutout next time it’s relevant lol!

Wait... they found letters on a ship that had been submerged in seawater for decades. Where they kept ina watertight safe or something? How did they survive?

There's no way a billionaire wouldn't just rent out the time and access to study the purchased fossils; they already do all the time. Even more returns on the thing than posting it up like Scrooge McDuck, when you can charge $2-8k per day for scientists to do their work with it as residual contractsz

I love the sound design in this

All these laws incentivize treasure hunters to just melt down the coins.

7:31 South Carolina

I think in the modern context on what counts as "treasure" is a little too broad but one thing that seems to unite them all is that there is a lot of paper work involved now

7:30 - Voiceover says North Carolina, Image shows a line being drawn from Charleston, South Carolina Add one to the goof reel.

14:17 stan not sue

21:45 I distinctly remember you saying in jet lag that you hate maths

7:34 Charleston is South Carolina

Really good video! Thanks

Wait, so for $150k I can get a full-sized T-Rex cast!? Might be time to re-arrange the living room!

Ideal way to start the morning.

@Wendoverproductions Were you instead pertaining to "Stan" being sold instead of "Sue"? @13:44 the video stated that "Stan" was given to Neil, who in turn had brought it to Christies NYC showroom for auction on 07OCT202 (@13:55), however, @14:15 the video stated that "Sue" was sold to the Abu Dhabi Natural History Museum for $31,847,500.

A successful treasure hunt for me is finding matching socks!!

Me trying not to make a joke about british museums Love the content!

I like this new video style, was great for this!

7:27 "160 Miles off the coast of North Carolina", shows Charleston SC

Another Banger!

As far as ships go, there should be a time limit in which a government can claim the wreckage. Just for a round number, let’s say 100 years. If the government has not located a ship within 100 years of the date it sank, then it forfeits the right to it.

Wait can someone expand on what was said at @12:37 "when one discovers a fossil, one gains ownership of its intellectual property." The fossil itself is a product of nature and definitely doesn't overcome the §101 judicial exceptions to patentability, so we can rule patents out. Moreover dinosaur bones aren't even an inventive concept... they're just bones. It's not exactly clear how any artistic expression (or any human input, for that matter) is made with the dinosaur bones, so copyright is questionable. And trademark doesn't cover this because the physical dinosaur bones aren't a brand... so I'm at loss for how dinosaur bones or their subsequent casts qualify for IP protection in the US.

How in the world does Spain have a claim to Portuguese coast booty? Because the ships were Spanish? So the Spanish just have claim to any former ship in any of the insane amount of Coastlines they colonized or brutally pillaged and laid waste?

This was insane timing for me, as I just got to see Sue YESTERDAY! Was not expecting this!

Charleston is in South Carolina, not North. That shipwreck was off the SC coast

This is by far the best channel on RU-vid.

Another fantastic video!!

Wow I'm early as heck to one of your vidoes. 😂 glad i opened youtube at work lol

Once you hear the distinctive “YouTouber Speech Pattern”, you start hearing it all over RU-vid.

7:27 that's South Carolina, not North

Hello wendover, dinosaur bones are not artifacts, as they were not produced by humans. Just for your next mistakes video

Audio track issue at 1:50

14:16 Sue? Or is this a mistake?

What about state-supported salvage (piracy)? Peoples Republic of China (PRC) flagged salvagers unilaterally remove the wrecks of non-PRC WW2 warships like British battleships in another country's sovereign waters.

Watch this wendover video and then I get slapped by an ad with Nicholas Cage… RU-vid is scary. I must make a sacrifice to the algo gods!

What I took from this episode: I can buy a cast of a T-Rex for $150,000

At 14:17, it's stated that "Sue was sold to the Abu Dhabi Natural History Museum" - I'm assuming that's meant to be Stan?

We're getting a lot of Faith, SD content on this channel. As a former resident I'm surprised and delighted

The story about Las Mercedes was featured on NatGeo's Drain the Oceans. I was always disappointed that Odyssey did all the work just for the Spanish government to swoop in and take the treasure. I am not a lawyer or anything, but it always struck me as immensely unfair.

Correction at 14:21 You say it was Sue, not Stan being sold. Many have mentioned this

8:24 yet another example to prove that insurance companies are money grubbing wholesale...Thompson too

Faith, SD mentioned yet again. Thanks Sam 🙏

6:49 - Costinesti, Romania.

Charleston SOUTH Carolina. Come on, Sam!

And the Coast Guard could actually generate money for the US, give them the treasure hunting equipment.

In Germany there is quite an...interresting...solution for this problem: if one finds (nearly) any archeological remains, they have to be allowed to be researched - of course one would not get any money, because it's obviously owned by the state. This means, that when one is building a house and finds anything of historical value, it's much cheaper to just destroy it, than let a team of archeologists recover it for months - if not years - while the house one planned to life in, cannot be finished and still needs to get payed, as workers and material are still available. Yet that's not completely onesided, there are historical remains one can still keep and keep all the money it's connected to: unexploded bombs. If such a bomb is found on ones private real estate, one not only is the official owner - no, the owner now also has to take care of it, which means: pay a lot to get it off his land or to start a controlled explosion.

Great video!

How about this: you want to claim the loot from the people who spent the time to get it, you gotta pay for the time and expenses used to salvage it in the first place.

14:16 you said Sue when you where talking about Stan

At the second auction you misspoke: "sue was sold to the abi dhabi museum..."

Excellent video like always

7:26 That's South Carolina, silly!