[7] Chester Copperpot and other "Pirate Hunters"

 

A newspaper clipping from the film reads: Chester Copperpot, missing while in pursuit of local legend. Reclusive scavenger claims, "I have the key."

IN THE FILM: In the scene we discussed early on in this blog, about the kids discovering pirate artifacts in Mikey's dusty old attic, we are introduced to a character by the name of Chester Copperpot. A reclusive scavenger and 'treasure hunter,' Chester Copperpot was well known by Astoria locals and One-Eyed Willy fanatics, as he claimed to have discovered the key which would lead to the location of One-Eyed Willy and his hidden treasure. This is the same key discovered by the Goonies, who eventually find Chester Copperpot waiting in the secret tunnels leading to the lagoon, although he is very much dead,  having been bested by one of Willy's deathly booby-traps. 

The Goonies discover Chester Copperpot's remains in the tunnels

IN REAL LIFE: While Chester Copperpot met an unfortunate ending to his treasure hunting, I wanted to look more into history to see whether there were other treasure hunters out seeking long-forgotten treasure, and whether they actually found anything of value, either historical or monetary. We know that there are occasions where treasure fleets could have been wrecked at sea, such as the 1715 Spanish treasure fleet which was destroyed off the coast of Florida by a hurricane. While Spain sent people to salvage the wrecks, their equipment was not yet advanced enough to retrieve all of their missing treasure, especially when competing with looters and pirates who intended to plunder the same location. Years later in 1948, a building contractor by the name of Kip Wagner came across several blackened silver coins on a beach in Florida, where he lived. As he looked more into the history behind this discovery, he explored the 1715 wrecks with a team of divers, eventually salvaging $1 million worth in Spanish silver coins. Wagner is noted as one of the "pioneering modern treasure hunters," being the first to have become a millionaire by hunting sunken treasure ships (Brezina). He went on to run the Real Eight Company, who contributed to the discovery of many valuable historical coins and artifacts. Kip Wagner is just one of many who have set out to find long-lost treasure, uncovering valuable glimpses into the past. 

Sources

Brezina, Corona. Treasure Hunters. Rosen Pub., 2009.