Fool's Gold Page #3

that the anchor is in the water, right?

- Yes.

- Yes.

Okay. Because I totally wanna learn

all the sea terms.

And so you shall, my darling.

Okay, let me try again.

Excuse me, Nigel.

Yes, my dear.

You know what,

let's not do the accent thing.

It's no good?

It's fine.

Um... Anyway...

Nigel, remember when you asked me

this afternoon what I really did?

Have fun shopping.

Thank you, Daddy.

Do try to keep it

under 50 thousand.

What? Ha.

Supper's at 7.

I was supposed to meet some friends,

but I'm gonna try to get out of it.

Invite them aboard if you like.

Just let me know.

Okay, I will. Love you.

My hat.

Hey, look. The hat, he is a Frisbee.

Can you turn the boat around?

Thank you.

Okay, but we never gonna catch him.

Whoa!

God.

- Oh, sh*t.

- Oh.

Oh, my God. You killed him.

Ow. Ow. Ow.

What in God's name happened?

Daddy, this man saved my life.

Sir, sir...

...I really don't think you should get up

until I make sure...

Is this your hat?

Yes. Ha-ha.

That was the bravest thing

I've ever seen in my life.

Sir, thank you so much.

Thank you.

- Thank you, indeed.

- He'll be okay.

Just a little bump on the head.

Just try not to move around too much

for the next few hours.

- But I gotta go back to town.

- Oh, I really don't advise it.

Oh...

Now what am I gonna do?

Uh...

May I suggest a hot shower,

some clean clothes...

...and cocktails at 6:30?

Okay. Thanks.

Take him to the Saint Regis.

Whoa, whoa.

Yep, yep, yep, I'm good. I'm good.

Hey, Mr. Honeycutt?

Miss Honeycutt,

she leave him on the boat.

Gemma. Your lifeline

to civilization, darling.

Oh.

Oh, my God, I would have been so dead.

Here you are, darling.

Well, Mr. Deenz, I'm always delighted

to welcome an entrant into my field...

...whether it be on land or sea.

But I feel I need to warn you.

There's no way

of getting away from treasure...

...once it's fastened itself on your mind.

I want you to find me the Queen's Dowry.

Heh.

- Well, now, Bunny, uh...

- Bigg Bunny. It's one word.

Well, that's an emerald

of a different color, isn't it?

Cordell.

This is a piece of the plate

that we found in the Bahamas...

...off of Topsail Cay.

Now, if you turn it over...

...you may notice that it has

the Vangor family crest stamped on it.

That's what that is right there.

That's very nice, uh...

...but who the hell are the Vangors...

...and why the hell should I give

a rat's ass about their family crest?

It's not an investment, per se,

because you probably won't see a dime...

...but it's a chance to pull out

a piece of living history...

...from the sand

with your own two hands.

To the Aurelia.

Hey, babe.

What are you doing here?

Have a good dinner.

Bon apptit, everybody.

Ugh!

I take it you've met.

So Tess and I first hooked up when

we worked for this cat named Moe Fitch.

He's kind of a local character, you know,

big talker, lot of tall tales...

...a lovable, old sea dog.

- You should live to be so eccentric.

- Ooh...

Thank you, babe.

I do wish you would sit down.

Moe Fitch is the most respected and

successful treasure salvor in the world.

- Nobody said he wasn't.

- When Finn met Moe...

...he was repairing outboards

and lawn mowers...

...during the brief intervals

he wasn't getting fired.

Two times, Tess. I got fired two times.

I'll be off in one second.

Moe picked him out of a puddle

of motor oil and suntan lotion...

...gave him a job, a vocation,

taught him everything he knows.

Almost.

Anyway, then they had a tremendous

falling-out over this cannon we found...

On our day off.

From the Aurelia,

three miles east of Vero Beach.

Which the court ruled was Moe's,

because we borrowed his equipment.

The sea is all attached, right?

To what, darling?

Kerry and Vivante

grabbed a plane for the Yucatn...

...and I thought

we could hook up with them...

...instead of just sailing around

doing nothing.

Tell us about the treasure.

July 31 st, 1715.

A hurricane sinks the entire Spanish

treasure fleet off the coast of Florida...

...including her flagship, the Capitana...

...which, according to its manifest,

carried the Queen's Dowry.

Forty chests

of jewelry and gold crowns...

...especially crafted in the Orient

for the new queen of Spain.

When we say jewels, we mean...

...Indian diamonds, Burmese rubies and

Colombian emeralds the size of your fist.

We should probably start with what Tess

and I got excited about on our honeymoon.

Well, I think we can all guess.

After we lost the court case...

...we decided to go backpacking in Spain

for two weeks.

Ended up spending two years

in the Archives of the Indies in Seville.

You spent your honeymoon in a library?

Okay.

I love you.

Oh, baby, I love you too.

Where every known record,

official transcript and royal decree...

...relating to the fleets

has been kept for centuries.

At first it was for fun, but then

we decided to look up the Aurelia...

...because of the cannon we'd found in

Florida, and it became our pet project.

Especially when we learned the captain was

an 18-year-old kid named Sebastian Vangor.

Who we also discovered

was the illegitimate son...

...of Captain General Don Juan Ubilla

of the Capitana...

...and his Mexican mistress,

Francesca Vangor.

We thought it was an interesting sidebar

and really didn't think much more of it...

...until Tess found this very obscure

Spanish book published in 1905...

...titled, The vangors:

An 18th Century Family.

- It was a collection of letters.

- So why is this important?

Because the Vangors controlled

the mule train that transported the Dowry...

...over the mountains

from the Pacific to the Caribbean...

...and then loaded it onto Spanish galleons

here in Veracruz.

So I'm reading this, and all

of a sudden I start hyperventilating...

...because there it is right in front of me

in Ubilla's last letter to Francesca.

He wrote:

"My faith in the Aurelia

is that she is swift and light...

...and can outrun the storms

we will most certainly encounter.

But it is my faith in Sebastian

that knows no bounds.

Our son is good and strong

and wiser than this old fool...

...who leaves your bed

more and more reluctantly.

The glory of the Spanish Crown

rests in his capable hands. "

So...

...Ubilla pulled a switch.

Mm.

- With the Vangors' help.

And moved the Queen's Dowry

from the Capitana to the supply ship.

Because?

The Capitana

was already way overloaded...

...so it was very heavy and very slow.

It wasn't just hurricanes

they had to worry about.

British warships,

French privateers, you name it.

About the time Finn and I were ready

to leave, we found this article...

...about a Spanish sailor

who was rescued off a deserted island...

...after being shipwrecked for three years.

Off Topsail Cay?

- Right. 1718.

- Three years after the hurricane.

A Dutch frigate had come to grief

on the shoals off of Topsail Cay...

...and while waiting for the tide to rise...

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