Arthur McKee, Jr. - part 1

Arthur McKee, Jr. (November 2, 1910. Died: 1979) is profiled in Sunken Treasure: Six Who Found Treasure, published way back in 1988. Written by Roger Burgess.

McKee worked in the "Golden Age" of treasure hunting - just before WWII when hard hat diving was the norm, and just after World War II when the new sport of scuba diving was just getting started, and previously hidden treasures were suddenly accessible.

McKee got his start diving at Gorda Cay in the Bahamas. At the time he was diving, the reef had been killed. Island fishermen had poured bleach into the holes of the reef, causing lobsters to scurry out into the open for easy catching. Of course the bleach killed the coral, which killed the reef, and the island fisherman had one day of easy lobstering for decades of no more lobsters.

(According to Wikipedia, Gorda Cay - if its the same one!) is now a private island owned by the Walt Disney Company, as a private stop for its cruise line).

Castaway Cay is a private island or "out island" in the Bahamas which serves as an exclusive port for the Disney Cruise Line ships Disney Wonder and Disney Magic. It is located at 26°05′N 77°32′W / 26.083°N 77.533°W / 26.083; -77.533 near Great Abaco Island, and was formerly known as Gorda Cay. It is owned in full by The Walt Disney Company, giving them substantial control over the experience of visitors to the island. A post office on the island has special Bahamian postage specific to Disney Cruise Line, and a "Castaway Cay" postmark.

In any event, the first ship Art McKee, and a group of fellow treasure hunters, found was the Spanish galleon Maravilla, in 1948. Well, not the galleon itself, but rather two contemporary ships, much smaller, that had salvaged silver from the sunken galleon, and were in turn sunk themselves near Gorda Cay.

One of Plantation Key's landmarks is the McKee castle. Arthur McKee Jr. worked as a diver for the Navy in 1941 and 1942 on the construction of the freshwater pipeline. In 1948 he found the remains of the 1733 lost Spanish fleet. Amongst cannons, ballast and other treasures were silver coins dated 1732. He brought up so many bars of silver that he gained the nickname of "Silver Bar McKee." His finds inspired building a museum at Treasure Harbor in 1949. Three years later he opened his "Treasure Fortress," which is known today (1999) as Treasure Village. Art McKee is often referred to as "the father of modern treasure diving."

from History of Plantation Key