This $27.9 Million Vessel Is Used For Hunting Legendary Treasure | Forbes

Allen Exploration— has found lots of “stuff” underwater in his beloved Bahamas. In fact, the brand new Bahamas Maritime Museum his team has built in Freeport, Grand Bahama to display numerous priceless artifacts they’ve recovered from the Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas that sank off the Bahamas on January 4, 1656, opens to the public on August 8.

As you might guess of a passionate underwater explorer, Allen is a wonderful combination of realist, romantic, and history buff. He’s a realist when he talks about how hard, frustrating, and expensive recovering artifacts (using AXIS and other boats) that have been strewn across countless miles of open ocean can be. “It’s like searching for a needle…in a desert… underwater,” he says.

But he’s a romantic when he talks about the myth of the Maravillas that’s occupied his imagination since he was young. And he’s a total history buff when he starts talking about what life must have been like in 1656. In fact, he can talk for hours—from memory—about all the historical documents that the archeologists he works with have found (and translated from 17th century Spanish) that paint a detailed picture of who the crew and passengers were, as well as list the large number of gold and silver coins, silver bars and loose gemstones and many other artifacts it was carrying when it sank.

Since a significant percentage of the world’s largest and most luxurious privately owned superyachts are built in Holland, it comes as no surprise that one of the leading builders of superyacht yacht support vessels is based in Holland. Damen Yachting yacht support vessels are specifically designed to carry all the essential “toys” (helicopters, submarines, and a wide array of yachts, in addition to everything from sports cars to jet skis) much larger superyachts require continue to provide innovative solutions. And since AXIS is used as a yacht support vessel that caries almost every type of “toy” (the owner calls them tools), it’s a particularly good example of what a support vessel is capable of.

Read the full story on Forbes

Subscribe to FORBES

Stay Connected

Forbes newsletters

Forbes on Facebook

Forbes Video on Twitter

Forbes Video on Instagram

More From Forbes

Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.