Captain Michael Perna grew up in the heart of Florida’s Treasure Coast, where he began his historic shipwreck salvage career working under Demostines “Mo” Molinar on the famed salvage vessel Virgalona. Since his start over 20 years ago, Perna has worked hard to become both a custodian and an asset to the colonial period shipwreck recovery industry. He spent much of his early career recovering precious artifacts from the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet, before moving on to Key West, where he helped further advance the salvage effort of the Santa Margarita site through modern survey technologies. Later, on an expedition to the country of Panama, Perna utilized his expertise to aid in locating a major portion of the missing cargo from the lost Spanish galleon that sank in 1631, San Josepf. In recent years he has been featured on the popular television series Cooper’s Treasure and made appearances on several multi-media outlets. Presently, Perna works back along the Treasure Coast as a salvor on his own vessel, Mighty Mo. He is also currently compiling a book on the professional practice of historic shipwreck salvage, in which he hopes to share his expertise and diligence in the field of maritime archaeology.