Finding the Pulaski
The ship and the treasure were lost for
nearly 180 years. Officially, that is. The
Blue Water Rose crew has heard stories of
spearfishermen diving the wreck, oblivious
of what it was.
A diver and treasure hunter named
Herbert Humphreys Jr. located the wreck
three years ago, but he was battling cancer
and approached Endurance Exploration
Group and offered to sell his list of sites.
“He said he had a bunch of wrecks,” says
Ray “J.R.” Darville Jr., a survey engineer with Endurance Exploration. “He gave us quite a
few different sites.”
One looked particularly intriguing. Reports from the time said the Pulaski went down
30 miles offshore, but Endurance suspected it was farther out. Humphrey’s coordinates
placed the wreck more than 40 miles from the coast. Darville found it in April 2017 by
using side-scan sonar to map the bottom in a 5-by-2-mile grid.
“We found the target and identified the debris field,” he says.
Kurt Flitcroft, a 55-year-old search-and-recovery diver from Wisconsin, was the first on
the wreck. The dive remains indelibly etched in his mind.
“We had 50-60 feet of visibility that day,” he says. “I’m in the open ocean, all alone, very
solitary. It was a little bit creepy. As I dropped down, it came into view. I see a huge pile of
shipwreck material. Unmistakable. Partitions folded over. The boilers split wide open.”
Endurance Exploration filed an admiralty claim in federal court to secure exclusive rights to
the site, and approached Blue Water Ventures about becoming partners in
the recovery.
Wrightsville Beach was the closest port to the site. Webb approached
dockmaster Tripp Brice about using Bridge Tender Marina as a base.
“It’s the fastest route from the dock, to the ocean, to get to the wreck,”
Webb says. “I met Tripp and told him what we were doing. He’s a good
guy. Everything we need is here. Restaurants for the guys, Home Depot,
Costco.”
The boat began making the roughly 3-hour trips to the site, running
at 12-16 knots. Each dive provided further evidence that the Pulaski had
been found.
“Everything was starting to match up,” Grambo says. “One of the stories
was one of the boilers blew its top off, and one of them split down
the side. Well those boilers are laying there, one with the top blown off
and one split down the side. On the second trip out we started finding
treasure. From September to January we found 51 coins.”
Rough winter weather forced the crew to leave the site, but they returned
in the spring of 2018. Since finding the precious piece of identification,
they have continued to gather treasure — coins from six different countries,
including gold pieces from Colombia discovered in early June; a gold necklace;
pottery, stoneware and plates; light fixtures; three pocket watches.
Coins and artifacts are buried two to three feet deep, under layers of
34 july 2018
Two of the gold coins recovered from the Pulaski.
BLUE WATER VENTURES
BLUE WATER VENTURES
ALLISON POTTER
Above, top to bottom: Blue Water Ventures owner Keith
Webb. Technical diving instructor Jimmy Gadomski with
the candlestick holder inscribed SB Pulaski.Webb next to
one of the blowers on the stern of the Blue Water Rose,
docked at Bridge Tender Marina in June 2018.
ALLISON POTTER