Dave was Vice President of Treasure Salvors, Mel Fisher’s treasure hunting company that ultimately recovered over $400 million from a sunken Spanish galleon in the 1970s and 80s. The ship, the “Nuestra Señora de Atocha,” sank in a hurricane in 1622, thirty miles off Key West, and was salvaged under 40 feet of water and 20 feet of sand.
His experience with Treasure Salvors got him interested in other sunken treasures, and he has amassed a collection of 2000 non-fiction books on the topic. He is also a collector of ancient shipwreck coins and is currently president of the Sunken Treasure Coin and Book Society (affiliated with the Florida United Numismatists).
Dave was also involved in the salvage of the “Rooswijk”, a Dutch East Indiaman, that sank in 1740 in the Goodwin Sands (part of the English Channel). This was an outbound ship to Batavia. The ship sank in a storm containing $100 million in Spanish silver coins and bullion.
Dave, in conjunction with Rob Westrick and Gail Swanson, has authored 3 bibliographies…one on the “Atocha”, one on the 1715 Fleet, and one on the 1733 Fleet.
He attended the University of Miami and then the College of William & Mary in Virginia for law school and an MBA.
Dave and his wife, Foong, are snowbirds, spending half the year in Maine and half the year in West Palm Beach.