Science: Davy Jones Meets the Computer

Treasure hunters use electronics to find their fortunes

Diver Joseph Amaral was groping in the blackness 80 ft. below the surface of the Atlantic early this month, collecting musket balls and other artifacts from an 18th century shipwreck, when something glistened near him in the sand. A plain gold ring, the find seemed unexceptional at first in a treasure site scattered with gold doubloons, pieces of eight and other booty. But then a crew member noticed the inscription inside the ring: "In memory of my belov'd brother, Capt. John Drew, drown'd 11 Jan. 1798, aged 47." The ring had belonged to Captain...

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