I got a signal over here. This is so cool — it’s a ring! That is a sweet find.
Our pocket — this is a top pocket find, mate, for sure!

Hey, Gary Drayton here, and when I’m not on Oak Island, I’m back home in Florida searching for Spanish treasure on the Treasure Coast of Florida.
It’s called the Treasure Coast because there were nine Spanish galleons that sank there on July 31st, 1715.
And since then, there’s been treasure washing in and out, and that’s how it got its name — the Treasure Coast of Florida — because it really is the Treasure Coast.

Now, I didn’t always search for Spanish treasure.
I started off searching for old bottles and clay pipes on riverbanks in England — searching for these babies.

Check those out!
What you’re looking at is a 1622–1640 Dutch onion bottle and a reproduction of a Roman bowl — but it is actually from the 1600s!
Check out those bottoms, guys — that’s what I like — full-blown glass bowls. These are absolute beauts.

And these were actually trash!
What people used to do back in the day — they’d go to a pub, get a pipe and a pint, or a pint and a bottle of wine.
They would sit fishing, then throw it down the riverbank because that was trash.

And along would come Gary Drayton, pick their trash up, and be as happy as a pig in the proverbial!
You can’t beat stuff like this.

And if you call yourself a bottle digger, you’ve got to have one — the black glass.
These are absolutely fantastic.

What these are — case gin bottles.
They were made like this so that they could be put in crates and shipped to the New World.
Again — these were trash. People threw these away.

But whenever I picked up these old bottles and clay pipes, all that went through my mind was pirates — because they look like pirate bottles.
Yeah — I just imagine pirates coming into my local area, having a pint and a smoke, and going off to the New World looking for Spanish treasure.

And that’s exactly what I did.

My parents said to me, “Why Florida? Why Florida?”
Because of finds like this: Spanish silver.

Check that out — that is an 8 reale.
I know it sounds corny, but when you find your first piece of Spanish treasure — you want some more.

This is a silver religious artifact from the early 1600s.
This is one of my favorite pieces of Spanish silver because it tells a story.

It was supposed to come ashore on the top of a pole carried by the Spanish — but it didn’t.
It came ashore in a violent hurricane in 1715 — until I came along with my metal detector.

Here’s another piece of Spanish gold.
You can actually see the coral still on it — it’s a squashed ring.
And perhaps it tells a story of the wrecks too.

I mean — what happened to this?
Did it end up in this shape during the storm?

But with all the Spanish silver I found — all the coins, the buttons, and buckles — there’s one top pocket find that really stands out.

And that is my precious.
Don’t get any better than this:

The best treasure ring ever found in America.
22.5 karat Inca gold with nine flawless emeralds.

If only this treasure ring could talk!
I really believe this was part of the Queen’s dowry — intended for King Philip V’s betrothed.
But it didn’t make it back to Spain. It made it back to Pompano Beach.

Gary Drayton says: “Woo!”

And this is the type of find that keeps you motivated.

And not all Spanish treasure is made of metal.
I look for gold and silver — but I’ll take these any day of the week.

This shell is full of 400-year-old garnets.
And at the bottom — you see that nice green color?
That’s my favorite green — beautiful Colombian emeralds.

And that’s why I use my twin optical scanners — because you don’t find these types of finds when you’re metal detecting.
You’ve got to keep your eye open along the shell line.

People say to me, “Would you still be on Oak Island if you didn’t think there was Spanish treasure there?”

No — there’s no Spanish treasure there.
I’m not really expecting Spanish treasure there.

But I don’t care.
In my opinion — what I’m looking for is medieval.
Two words: Templar, baby.

Because when you pick up a medieval cross on Oak Island — this is North America — what is it doing there?
That completely changed my outlook for Oak Island.

I’m thinking French? Spanish?
Yeah — still might be French and Spanish.

But for hundreds of years before pirates — we’re talking Templar.
That’s my theory.

I believe there’s some kind of Templar treasure there.

So now you’ve seen a few of my top pocket finds —
I can’t wait to get back to Oak Island.
We’re going to be searching for top pocket finds and Bobby Dazzlers.

Love that zone, you!