It seems that a professional metal detectorist Gary Drayton is keen on finding King John’s crown jewels which disappeared in 1216 after King’s baggage train encountered trouble on the road from King’s Lynn to Swineshead Abbey. Gary isn’t without experience and previous successes. If you recall, he unearthed an historically-important Knights Templar coin near the legendary “money pit” on Oak Island and an Inca gold ring on a Florida beach. He just might be the person for this job, a?
“I have found over one million dollars worth of treasure in the US between Spanish treasure rings and coins, modern Rolex watches and diamond rings. But King John’s crown jewels would be the “Holy Grail” of treasure finds to me. And of course, a Lincolnshire treasure hunter solving the mystery would be a fitting end” stated Gary, who is originally from Spilsby, but now living in Florida. Gary to some is very well known since he appeared on several primetime US TV shows in recent years, including the History Channel’s Curse of Oak Island, and the Travel Channel shows Expedition Unknown and Legend Hunters.
Gary did his homework when it comes to this treasure. In a statement for The Standard, Gary said that he has narrowed down the possible place where the Royal jewels disappeared – a possible crossing point for King John’s treasure-laden caravan. “For years I studied the Fens and the probable crossing points in the Wash where a fortune in jewels met a watery demise in estuary quicksands. My guess is the jewels were lost in the mud near Sutton Bridge, which would have been much closer to the sea back in the year 1216. Although I have not yet had any success locating the crown jewels, I have found coins and artefacts from the early 1200s at a couple of potential crossing points.”
Gary also noted that the village of Swineshead plays a huge role in this entire story, mainly because in the Swineshead Abbey in late 1216 King John suddenly took ill and eventually died of dysentery a while later. “This was the most interesting part of the lost crown jewels story to me, as a large heavily guarded royal baggage train would have certainly made camp around the Abbey,” Gary said and added “More research led me to discover the probable area the royal caravan camped while the King stayed at Swineshead Abbey. I keep the location of the camp a closely-guarded secret, as loose lips sink ships, but I am hoping to make the property owner and myself very rich one of these days.”
This will most definitely be one of those “looking for a needle in a haystack” searches, and it was confirmed by many other treasure hunters and archaeologists as such. This is mainly because the area is huge, topography difficult and much of the wetland has been reclaimed during the last 800 years, but this is not something that will stop Gary. He said “This summer my quest to find the lost treasure continues, using new information discovered,” and added, “I’m hoping new light detection and ranging (Lidar) technology and good, old-fashioned boots on the ground can help me to finally recover one of England’s greatest treasures.”
