The Shrimp Boat Deborah Anns Catch of Sunken Treasure, 0115 ALBJ, 76 The Alabama Lawyer 37 (2015)
| Author | Alex F. Lankford, III, J. |
| Position | Vol. 76 1 Pg. 37 |
Alex F. Lankford, III, J.
Deborah Ann, Inc. v. 300 pounds of silver coins, a chest, etc., et al. U. S. District Court, (S.D. Ala.), Civil Action No. 7661-P
On a February morning several years ago, the fishing vessel Deborah Ann was dragging for shrimp in about 275 feet of water on the edge of the 100 fathom curve, about 35 miles southwest of Southwest Pass, Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. The weather was good, the seas calm. The nets "bogged" or became mired in one huge mud ball so heavy the ships tackle could not lift the nets. The crew found it necessary to wash out the nets by circling the vessel, hauling them in and then dumping out the mud on deck before dragging could be resumed. When the crew started washing the mud overboard, they discovered a number of silver coins and some mushy, rotted material which looked like ship timbers. The crew told the captain that they had caught treasure, but the captain did not believe them until he went aft and saw the silver coins himself. After determining the position of the first drag, he immediately ordered the nets put back overboard in an effort to locate more coins.
In the process of bringing in the nets from the second drag, the cable on the winch became fouled and almost parted. Since the Deborah Ann did not have a cable clamp on board, it was incapable of pulling in her net, so the captain called for the assistance of a nearby vessel, the Miss Kristy. When the Miss Kristy's captain saw the coins on the deck of the Deborah Ann, he refused to render assistance unless the Deborah Ann captain and crew would agree to give the Miss Kristy and her crew whatever coins were found in the net after it was raised off the bottom. After extracting this agreement from the reluctant captain of the Deborah Ann, the crew of the Miss Kristy assisted (by use of a cable clamp it had aboard that vessel) in putting on board the net of the Deborah Ann. This second drag yielded an additional 789 coins, all of which were taken aboard the Miss Kristy. Both vessels then proceeded to their home port of Bayou La Batre, Alabama.
On the way in to port, the crews of both vessels decided to keep their find a secret. The crew of the Deborah Ann stopped counting at 3,000 coins, and estimated that there probably were that many more coins which had not been counted.
Upon arrival at Bayou La Batre, the crews unloaded the fish and shrimp catch from both vessels, and shared with the owners, without mention of the treasure hidden aboard in each vessels shower room. During the hours of darkness, the crews secretly removed the coins from both vessels.
The following day, they took the coins in burlap oyster sacks in the back of a pick-up truck to a Mobile lawyer s office, who, at first, said he did not have time to talk to them, since he was due in court in about 15 minutes. When he saw the coins, however, he decided he could be a...
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