As I was going through some of my archival material, I came across this interesting newspaper article from May 30, 1962. Since it bore a relationship to the ongoing salvaging efforts of the 1715 Fleet wrecks at the time, I thought that it would make for some interesting reading.
It seems that Kip Wagner was named “Mr. Treasure Hunter” in 1962 by the Treasure Trove Club, composed of treasure hunters as well as treasure and pirate lore collectors. Established in 1938, the club was formed by a group of treasure hunters who would honor a person by naming them “Mr. Treasure Hunter” for that year. In 1962 the honor went to Kip Wagner. According to the article published at the time, Kip Wagner was in good company, as prior recipients of the award included radio personality Lowell Thomas, author J. Frank Dobie, Kit Carson’s nephew and explorer Roy Chapman Andrews.
We don’t know much about the Treasure Trove Club other than it was founded in 1938 and was around until at least the 1960’s. Research on this group was conducted but very little was found. Regarding Kip Wagner’s designation, you can read the entire article here.
Submitted by Ben Costello, Director.
