0:00:12 > 0:00:16This is Port na Spaniagh, that's Spanish Bay.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19And that great cavern behind me is Spanish Cave,
0:00:19 > 0:00:21and beyond it is the Spaniard's Rock.
0:00:23 > 0:00:28Lurking among these Spanish names, there's still one that's Old Irish.
0:00:28 > 0:00:32Lacada Point - the Long Stone.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37A vicious fang of black basalt looking like some terrible trap
0:00:37 > 0:00:39set to trigger disaster.
0:00:42 > 0:00:47When that trap was sprung, two men separated by 400 years
0:00:47 > 0:00:49were united by this bay.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55One, Spanish nobleman Don Alonso Martinez de Leiva,
0:00:55 > 0:00:58was brought here by fate and bad luck.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02The other, Belgian adventurer Robert Stenuit,
0:01:02 > 0:01:06came here lured by the prospect of Spanish gold.
0:01:08 > 0:01:09So, what did happen here?
0:01:09 > 0:01:13Why is this part of Ireland's North Antrim coast
0:01:13 > 0:01:16so indelibly marked by the hand of Spain?
0:01:29 > 0:01:31The Giant's Causeway.
0:01:33 > 0:01:35A wild and stunning landscape
0:01:35 > 0:01:39where visitors can face the full fury of these Atlantic rollers.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44Their beguiling beauty hides a fearsome legacy.
0:01:44 > 0:01:48This coast is littered with shipwrecks.
0:01:48 > 0:01:54Within sight of the Causeway is one of Ireland's most significant wreck sites.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56Port na Spaniagh.
0:01:56 > 0:01:59So inaccessible, it's best seen from a boat.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02So important, it's protected by an Act of Parliament.
0:02:04 > 0:02:07Anchoring here could get you arrested.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10Diving the treacherous reefs below these towering cliffs
0:02:10 > 0:02:12could land you in prison.
0:02:12 > 0:02:17It's 40 years since Robert Stenuit and Marc Jasinski first came here,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20intrigued by the secrets that might lie below,
0:02:20 > 0:02:24unaware that their lives would change utterly.
0:02:24 > 0:02:30There are landscapes and places and events which mark you for ever, I guess.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32And this is certainly one of them.
0:02:40 > 0:02:4674-year-old Robert has been a trail-blazing professional diver for 50 years.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50He made the world's first prolonged deep dive,
0:02:50 > 0:02:52living and working for nearly three days
0:02:52 > 0:02:55at a depth of more than 400 feet.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58But this Argonaut of the deep had bigger dreams.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02An historian by training, Robert was determined to excavate
0:03:02 > 0:03:07a shipwreck loaded with gold and history, in equal measures.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10What happened here was so important for me.
0:03:10 > 0:03:15It's one major landmark in my life, really.
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Really.
0:03:17 > 0:03:22It was also a major landmark in European history.
0:03:22 > 0:03:25A tragedy rooted in religious division and political ambition.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30A seismic struggle far from Ireland's volcanic north coast.
0:03:32 > 0:03:34The Spanish Armada.
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Catholic Spain's doomed attempt to invade Protestant England.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57In May 1588, 130 ships of the "most fortunate fleet",
0:03:57 > 0:04:01as the Spanish called their Armada, set sail.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05Spain's King Philip had ordered the destruction of England's Navy
0:04:05 > 0:04:09and the removal of the Protestant heretic, Elizabeth, from the English throne.
0:04:13 > 0:04:19At the Armada's heart was one of the most unusual warships then afloat.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22The galleass Girona.
0:04:22 > 0:04:25Part galley and part galleon,
0:04:25 > 0:04:28she was meant to be Spain's decisive weapon in the war at sea.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34Bristling with 50 guns and powered by oars as well as sail,
0:04:34 > 0:04:38she had a press-ganged crew of convicts and other unfortunates.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42Not the kind of men to be trusted with gold and jewels.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48A very nice American, John Cotter, was writing a book about treasures
0:04:48 > 0:04:50and it's in his book that I heard
0:04:50 > 0:04:52about the Girona for the first time.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00By the 16th century, Spain was the world's only superpower.
0:05:00 > 0:05:05An elite few controlled the huge wealth of this vast empire.
0:05:05 > 0:05:10One of them stood head and shoulders above all others.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Don Alonso Martinez de Leiva, Knight of Santiago
0:05:15 > 0:05:17and Commander of Alcuescar.
0:05:20 > 0:05:27He had behind him a remarkable career as a seaman and as a warrior.
0:05:27 > 0:05:32He was the darling of everyone, including King Philip.
0:05:32 > 0:05:36This is the only possible image of Don Alonso we have.
0:05:36 > 0:05:41El Greco painted his portrait of A Man Of The House Of De Leiva before the Armada sailed.
0:05:41 > 0:05:46An X-ray made in 1945 revealed his Cross of Santiago.
0:05:46 > 0:05:50The Knights of Santiago are one of Spain's most prestigious military orders.
0:05:50 > 0:05:55Why Don Alonso's cross has been over-painted is a mystery that only adds to his allure.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02He was like a movie character, he had a reputation of being recklessly brave.
0:06:02 > 0:06:09It was Don Alonso who King Philip charged with masterminding the invasion of England.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21As soon as it was known that he was joining the Armada,
0:06:21 > 0:06:25all the young noblemen rushed to join him,
0:06:25 > 0:06:27eager to serve under him.
0:06:32 > 0:06:37This young elite who rushed to Don Alonso were arrogant and confident.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40They even sailed with their finest clothes and jewels,
0:06:40 > 0:06:44ready for their victory march into London's Westminster Abbey.
0:06:48 > 0:06:54But these bejewelled Spanish peacocks were outfought and outwitted by England's sea dogs.
0:06:54 > 0:06:58The Spanish Armada was forced out of the English Channel
0:06:58 > 0:07:00and into the North Sea.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06With the wind and Elizabeth's navy driving them north,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09there was only one course home to Spain.
0:07:09 > 0:07:11The long haul round Scotland and Ireland.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16A disastrous battle was about to be eclipsed by a desperate struggle to survive.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26Throughout the August and September of 1588, storms raged across the Atlantic.
0:07:26 > 0:07:31Hurricane winds and mountainous seas scattered the Spanish warships and supply vessels,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35forcing many onto the wild Irish coast.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40On board one was an Irish sailor, James Machary.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Captured and interrogated by the English in Ireland,
0:07:43 > 0:07:46his testimony still exists today.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52James Machary was on board the supply ship Santa Ana.
0:07:52 > 0:07:57Battered and bedraggled though her crew were after eight nightmarish weeks at sea,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00they had managed to run for safety into this bay.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03But as well as the prospect of shelter and fresh food and water,
0:08:03 > 0:08:07the sailors saw something unexpected and utterly shocking -
0:08:07 > 0:08:14one of the greatest warships of the Spanish Armada, beached and helpless on a sandbank just out there.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17She was La Rata Santa Maria Encoronada,
0:08:17 > 0:08:19Don Alonso's ship.
0:08:21 > 0:08:23She had been abandoned.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29For Don Alonso, this was no longer about war and invasion.
0:08:29 > 0:08:33This was about his personal duty to look after his men.
0:08:35 > 0:08:41Convinced he was alone and trapped in Ireland, Don Alonso got everyone ashore.
0:08:41 > 0:08:47He torched La Rata Encoronada, leaving nothing for the English to get their hands on.
0:08:52 > 0:08:57Here, at Doona Castle, the stranded Spaniards dug themselves in.
0:08:57 > 0:09:02Then, just as they were preparing to make a stand against their enemies in Ireland,
0:09:02 > 0:09:07the Santa Ana appears on the horizon and changes everything.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09It's a glimmer of hope.
0:09:09 > 0:09:13He realises that instead of fighting to the death here in Ireland,
0:09:13 > 0:09:17there was a chance to get himself and his men all the way home to Spain.
0:09:19 > 0:09:24Machary said, "They came aboard carrying all the goods of any value they had on their ship.
0:09:24 > 0:09:29"Plate, apparel, money, weapons, armour and jewels."
0:09:29 > 0:09:34Now overloaded with men and treasure, the Santa Ana slipped out of Blacksod Bay.
0:09:34 > 0:09:40But she was blown north and, for the second time in a week, Don Alonso was driven ashore.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43This time in Donegal.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47He abandoned ship and as he again prepared to fight,
0:09:47 > 0:09:51locals told him there was yet another Spanish warship just 20 miles away.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55Their only option now was to tramp all the way across
0:09:55 > 0:09:57the Donegal mountains to Killybegs
0:09:57 > 0:10:01to meet that third Spanish warship waiting in the harbour.
0:10:01 > 0:10:05But Don Alonso would have to be carried by his men every step of the way.
0:10:07 > 0:10:12While abandoning the Santa Ana, Don Alonso's leg had been badly crushed.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17It took them a day's march to get here.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22But sure enough, when they arrived, there was a Spanish Armada ship in the harbour.
0:10:22 > 0:10:27She had been badly mauled after her weeks at sea, but she was still afloat.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29And this was no ordinary warship...
0:10:29 > 0:10:32she was the galleass Girona.
0:10:33 > 0:10:39A ship built for war in the Mediterranean and never designed for this wild Irish weather.
0:10:39 > 0:10:44But for 1,300 desperate Spaniards from three Armada ships,
0:10:44 > 0:10:47the Girona was the only way out.
0:10:47 > 0:10:52Just before midnight on 26th October 1588,
0:10:52 > 0:10:57Don Alonso and his 1,300 comrades set sail from Killybegs harbour aboard the Girona.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59But he had taken a huge gamble.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02They weren't heading south towards Spain.
0:11:02 > 0:11:07Instead, he was going to try and make a quick dash towards the north and east,
0:11:07 > 0:11:11hoping to find sanctuary in Catholic Scotland.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19But to the English, Don Alonso was still capable of wreaking havoc.
0:11:24 > 0:11:291,300 of Spain's finest in a heavily armed warship off the Irish coast
0:11:29 > 0:11:32was a dangerous and potent enemy.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47King Philip of Spain was desperate for news of Don Alonso.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50So, too, was the Protestant Queen Elizabeth of England.
0:11:50 > 0:11:56As far as she was concerned, there was still a very real danger of a Spanish invasion from Ireland.
0:11:56 > 0:12:00Both monarchs would have to wait several months to hear anything at all.
0:12:00 > 0:12:06But people living on Antrim's Causeway Coast knew almost at once the fate of the Girona.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14Dunluce Castle has dominated this coast for more than 800 years.
0:12:16 > 0:12:21It was home to the McDonnells, Lords of Antrim and, despite English annoyance,
0:12:21 > 0:12:25still masters of this corner of Ireland for much of the 16th century.
0:12:28 > 0:12:33Nothing happened on this coast without James McDonnell knowing about it.
0:12:35 > 0:12:40James McDonnell must have received a visit from a guy panting
0:12:40 > 0:12:42from having run from above the cliff
0:12:42 > 0:12:48and having seen this huge mass of wood, cannons and dead bodies.
0:12:48 > 0:12:51McDonnell gave shelter to five Spaniards,
0:12:51 > 0:12:57the only survivors he found amongst the wreckage of an Armada warship they called the Girona.
0:12:58 > 0:13:02More than 1,250 people drowned.
0:13:02 > 0:13:07Then he organised, shall we say, the recovery of the gold and jewellery.
0:13:10 > 0:13:16Some time on the 27th October 1588, the Girona lost her rudder in heavy seas.
0:13:18 > 0:13:24The galleass had been the last hope for 1,300 fearful Armada survivors.
0:13:24 > 0:13:29By the next dawn, and almost within sight of Scotland, she would be their coffin.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33The English were very eager to recover all the gold
0:13:33 > 0:13:37because the Queen wanted it all for her, of course.
0:13:37 > 0:13:39No question, "I'm the Queen, it's mine."
0:13:39 > 0:13:41And the guns also.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44And the McDonnells get nothing at all.
0:13:46 > 0:13:50They'd scavenged the Queen's ransom from bodies littering the beach.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Riches that paid for a new Elizabethan manor house.
0:13:53 > 0:13:58But the McDonnells knew there was more gold just out of reach on the sunken ship,
0:13:58 > 0:14:02and they were determined that no-one else would find it.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06They invented a totally wrong location for the wreck.
0:14:06 > 0:14:10They said the wreck had occurred on the Rock of Bunboyce.
0:14:10 > 0:14:15The Rock of Bunboyce is between Dunluce and the Giant's Causeway,
0:14:15 > 0:14:18beside the village of Portballintrae.
0:14:18 > 0:14:24In 1589, an English warship was dispatched to locate all the Armada wrecks in Ireland.
0:14:24 > 0:14:27She failed to find any trace of the Girona.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32An official report prepared for Queen Elizabeth
0:14:32 > 0:14:36stated that Don Alonso had drowned when the Girona sank at the Rock of Bunboyce.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40McDonnell's spin had worked.
0:14:40 > 0:14:45From then on, Bunboyce was officially marked as the Girona wreck site.
0:14:45 > 0:14:50The galleass, along with the Knight of Santiago and his treasure, disappeared.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54# You're everywhere and nowhere, baby
0:14:55 > 0:14:57# That's where you're at... #
0:14:57 > 0:15:001967...the summer of love.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02# ..Hillside
0:15:02 > 0:15:05# In your hippy hat... #
0:15:05 > 0:15:11Heady days for two young Belgian divers in a little sports car,
0:15:11 > 0:15:17searching for a sunken treasure ship lost somewhere close to the world-famous Giant's Causeway.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20THEY SPEAK IN FRENCH
0:15:20 > 0:15:24'I was working for an American company who was supplying
0:15:24 > 0:15:27'diving services to the offshore oil industries.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34'One day, I took a leave of absence, and my leave of absence is still going!'
0:15:34 > 0:15:36HE CHUCKLES
0:15:36 > 0:15:39IN FRENCH
0:15:39 > 0:15:42Robert Stenuit invited his friend Marc Jasinski to join him.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47Marc is a self-taught and pioneering underwater photographer and film-maker.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49It's an adventure of a life.
0:15:49 > 0:15:56In a place like this, in this ocean, with all the historical background, you go.
0:15:56 > 0:16:01Marc had designed and built his own underwater camera system,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04one of the first in the world capable of filming in colour.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06The third member was Marc's wife Annette,
0:16:06 > 0:16:11an experienced diver equally fascinated by sunken treasure.
0:16:11 > 0:16:16'There was some treasure-hunting going on at the time.
0:16:16 > 0:16:23'But then, Robert doesn't want only to recover marvellous things from the sea.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25'People are important.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27'Their history is important.'
0:16:27 > 0:16:29Portballintrae!
0:16:29 > 0:16:32'He wants to understand what happened.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38'Don Alonso was the best among his peers.'
0:16:38 > 0:16:45He was a warrior and a fabulously famous and respected man.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47I was alone in my field.
0:16:47 > 0:16:51His jewels would be worth a lot of money,
0:16:51 > 0:16:54but finding them could bring Robert an even bigger prize.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59Fame and respect in the new discipline of underwater archaeology.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03Why is gold valuable to us today?
0:17:03 > 0:17:09The gold from the sea? Because it was the most valuable thing to the people who died with the Girona.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11It was already the most important thing.
0:17:11 > 0:17:16People would cross the seas and risk death a thousand times, for what?
0:17:16 > 0:17:22For gold. So if it was so important to them, it must be important to us.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28Stenuit had been searching methodically for evidence of the Girona's legendary lost treasure.
0:17:28 > 0:17:33Now, after 10 years, that hunt brought him to Portballintrae.
0:17:37 > 0:17:41- It was an ideal starting point for us.- We had everything we needed.
0:17:41 > 0:17:48We had sheltered water, a parking place and nobody around except the villagers at the time.
0:17:50 > 0:17:56Portballintrae was also the perfect place to keep a dive for Armada gold under wraps.
0:17:57 > 0:18:03Robert was convinced that he had unravelled McDonnell's spin and had pinpointed the wreck site.
0:18:03 > 0:18:06Amazingly, all he had done was look for clues on a map.
0:18:06 > 0:18:12What happened was that in the 19th century, when the first version of this map was made,
0:18:12 > 0:18:16the geographers came and asked everyone around.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19How was this place named, and how was this place named, and why?
0:18:19 > 0:18:27And people told them that Spanish Rock and Spanish Cave or Spanish Cove, why?
0:18:27 > 0:18:29Because the Spaniards were lost there.
0:18:29 > 0:18:34There was a very vivid memory of what had happened there.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40But just as it had done for Don Alonso, Irish weather showed its hand.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44For days, Stenuit had to hang around a local guest house.
0:18:44 > 0:18:50Frustrated that he was unable to dive, Robert could only take the long walk out to Port na Spaniagh.
0:18:53 > 0:19:00You spend hours and hours, months, sometimes years, imagining the site.
0:19:03 > 0:19:10You imagine it from what you've seen in the records, in the old books, in what the witnesses told.
0:19:10 > 0:19:15And then the shock comes when you see the real thing. You compare it
0:19:15 > 0:19:19to the idea you had built in your mind, and here,
0:19:19 > 0:19:23the real thing is a thousand times better than what I could imagine.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28In a single night 400 years ago, nearly 1,300 Spaniards died here.
0:19:28 > 0:19:33When you are confronted with a spot like this,
0:19:33 > 0:19:36you stop for a few minutes to reflect on what happened here.
0:19:39 > 0:19:45I was imagining 1,000 corpses lying down there, and it was a dreadful thought.
0:19:48 > 0:19:53The landscape is a perfect setting for a famous shipwreck disaster.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57It seems that it has been made in Hollywood
0:19:57 > 0:19:59for a film on shipwreck.
0:19:59 > 0:20:02And we were really...really awed.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10But Robert and Marc weren't the first divers
0:20:10 > 0:20:15to have a gut feeling about the place locals called Port na Spaniagh.
0:20:15 > 0:20:21Others had already braved this churning cauldron of jagged rocks and foam.
0:20:21 > 0:20:28I had a peculiar Hollywood misconception with the masts still in situ
0:20:28 > 0:20:34and wisps of canvas blowing in the current up at the Causeway.
0:20:34 > 0:20:39And the usual skeleton at the wheel.
0:20:41 > 0:20:48Bushmills Whiskey blender John MacLennan was one of Ireland's earliest skin divers.
0:20:48 > 0:20:52In 1962, five years before Robert Stenuit arrived,
0:20:52 > 0:20:58John dived at Port na Spaniagh by himself and wearing home-made gear.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02I was diving around the Spanish Rock,
0:21:02 > 0:21:07which obviously had some connection with the Armada in my garbled thinking at the time.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11I realised I was spontaneously travelling down the coast
0:21:11 > 0:21:16and that I was in a four- or five-knot current which was taking me along.
0:21:19 > 0:21:23I emerged over on the eastern side of Port na Spaniagh...
0:21:25 > 0:21:30..and made a very painful walk back across the rocks in my bare feet!
0:21:30 > 0:21:32And carrying my fins!
0:21:32 > 0:21:35HE LAUGHS
0:21:36 > 0:21:40Others had dived there with a lust for just one thing...
0:21:40 > 0:21:42Gold!
0:21:42 > 0:21:45Alan Wilson and three diving colleagues
0:21:45 > 0:21:50were members of the newly formed Belfast branch of the British Sub Aqua Club.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55Young and cocky, Alan was bullish about finding the Girona's fabled gold.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00We had tried to dive the site a couple of years before Stenuit.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05We drove the cars down along the causeway as far as we could,
0:22:05 > 0:22:08and then we humped all the diving bottles
0:22:08 > 0:22:12and weight belts down onto the site, down the cliff.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15We got into the tide and the waves washed us away!
0:22:19 > 0:22:24There was a real danger of others finding the Girona before Robert could.
0:22:26 > 0:22:33Then, on the 27th June 1967, the Irish weather lifted and Stenuit finally had the chance to dive.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35THEY TALK IN FRENCH
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Today is not at all typical.
0:22:38 > 0:22:40'We knew it would be rough.
0:22:40 > 0:22:44'We knew the sea would be cold, the swell,
0:22:44 > 0:22:47'and that proved to be true.'
0:22:49 > 0:22:53Robert was going to dive alone.
0:22:53 > 0:22:59Annette would support him from the surface and Marc would wait in the dinghy with his camera.
0:22:59 > 0:23:03They would record Robert's account of what happened.
0:23:18 > 0:23:25I dived first in the middle of Port na Spaniagh and didn't find anything, then I went offshore.
0:23:29 > 0:23:36I found a very characteristic bottom made of huge boulders with deep crevices in between.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40And all covered with very thick and very high seaweed,
0:23:40 > 0:23:44which the swell kept moving back and forth so you could hardly see the bottom at all.
0:23:46 > 0:23:49I was waiting in the Zodiac with my wife.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52We were sure something would happen.
0:23:55 > 0:23:59Suddenly I arrived at a kind of underwater cliff,
0:23:59 > 0:24:04which is the east side of the point, and suddenly I saw a white object.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09Robert was pretty sure of what he was doing.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13We expected to find the wreck at that spot.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17I recognised an elliptic shape.
0:24:17 > 0:24:22Very thick in the middle and getting narrower at the ends.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27They were raw material to make bullets for the muskets.
0:24:27 > 0:24:30It took only a few minutes, it was unbelievable.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34I looked at it and I could see five Jerusalem crosses,
0:24:34 > 0:24:35which is a typical Spanish marking,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39so I knew this was part of the wreck.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45That's the very moment when this happened.
0:24:45 > 0:24:47- You snapped that right when he returned?- Yes.
0:24:49 > 0:24:51Can you grin any more(?)
0:24:51 > 0:24:53In a wetsuit.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55It's the grin of a lifetime.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59But Robert hadn't come this far just to find lead.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02What he really needed was Don Alonso's gold.
0:25:03 > 0:25:10Next to it, loose with the gravel and the little stones, were pieces of eight.
0:25:10 > 0:25:12With the cross.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15Pieces of eight?! That's Treasure Island stuff!
0:25:15 > 0:25:18Silver pieces of eight from Mexico.
0:25:18 > 0:25:23So I knew it could not have been another Spanish wreck
0:25:23 > 0:25:26of that period on this part of the coast except the Girona.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34Beautiful. It's quite something.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48Robert, Marc and Annette spent more than a week diving around Port na Spaniagh.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51They all made more exciting and important finds.
0:25:51 > 0:25:58Robert located a bronze cannon lying where it had fallen on that dreadful night 400 years before.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Marc found an anchor.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05And his wife Annette was delighted with a Spanish gold escudo.
0:26:09 > 0:26:14Not many people at all find treasure. Sunken treasure.
0:26:14 > 0:26:16No treasure.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19This has never been a treasure hunt, never.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22It was always researching history.
0:26:22 > 0:26:27Finding gold and jewels underwater - that adds a certain frisson to the experience!
0:26:27 > 0:26:30Of course! I wouldn't deny that.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34I don't pretend to be a saint.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44I fully expected what I found. Fully.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48To go out into that... into that greyness
0:26:48 > 0:26:54and in the first place you go into the water, you find the gold of the Girona?
0:26:54 > 0:26:56Yes. But I was not surprised.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02Perhaps I was of a more optimistic nature than I am now!
0:27:04 > 0:27:09Despite the smiles, their optimism was tempered by very real concerns.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14If news of what they had found leaked out, Port na Spaniagh would be invaded,
0:27:14 > 0:27:20overrun by treasure-hunters only too eager to get their hands on some Girona gold.
0:27:20 > 0:27:26We can be quiet when needed, and we definitely believed that was a time to be quiet.
0:27:26 > 0:27:32In no situation to talk too much about this discovery because we had no legal powers
0:27:32 > 0:27:37on the wreck at that time. So we had to be very careful.
0:27:37 > 0:27:43Robert had already decided that the safest place for the treasure they had uncovered so far
0:27:43 > 0:27:46was where it had lain for the last four centuries - on the seabed.
0:27:46 > 0:27:53So, apart from a few choice pieces of gold that they needed to prove to other people what they had found,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57they stashed everything in an underwater cave.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01Robert couldn't afford to stay here in Ireland any longer.
0:28:01 > 0:28:04So, despite the very real risk that some treasure-hunting rival
0:28:04 > 0:28:09would find his Girona site before he could come back, he went to London.
0:28:18 > 0:28:25The end of 1967 and the start of 1968 were cold and anxious months for Robert.
0:28:25 > 0:28:27Finding the Girona had been the easy part.
0:28:27 > 0:28:29Recovering its treasure would be far more difficult.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33That would take money, something Robert didn't have.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43He invited Henri Delauze, president of the French diving company COMEX,
0:28:43 > 0:28:46to London's newly opened Playboy Club.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49Dazzled by some Girona gold brought from Port na Spaniagh,
0:28:49 > 0:28:53Delauze promised support for Stenuit's ambitious plan to recover the treasure.
0:29:02 > 0:29:07Robert raised finance with publishing deals for a book and magazine articles.
0:29:07 > 0:29:12Then the BBC contracted Marc Jasinski to film their expedition.
0:29:12 > 0:29:17This collaboration would produce the world's first colour documentary
0:29:17 > 0:29:19of an underwater archaeological excavation.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22'We came back in late April of 1968.
0:29:25 > 0:29:29'Francis Dumont, a young student in architecture,
0:29:29 > 0:29:34'was to draw up the maps, the charts, sketches of the objects.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37'Then I had two French professional divers...
0:29:37 > 0:29:44'Louis Gros, who had been trained by the French Navy in explosive disposal,
0:29:44 > 0:29:50'and Maurice Vidal, who was a combat diver from the French Navy.
0:29:57 > 0:30:04'A lot was at stake. There was a big team, there were several professional divers paid by COMEX.
0:30:09 > 0:30:13'A lot of expensive equipment we were using,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17'which was loaned by Henri Delauze, the president of COMEX.
0:30:17 > 0:30:21'So we had better get results.'
0:30:21 > 0:30:25But Robert was confident about what his team was going to find.
0:30:26 > 0:30:34'We're not talking of a wreck like in the movies or a wreck very well preserved.'
0:30:38 > 0:30:43He was more concerned about the treasure trove he had stashed the summer before.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45Was it still there?
0:30:45 > 0:30:47Or had the site already been raided?
0:30:49 > 0:30:53Reassured that everything was as he had left it, Robert set his team to work.
0:30:57 > 0:31:03One must understand that the site has been subjected to tremendous gales for nearly four centuries
0:31:03 > 0:31:07and all parts of the ship and its cargo have been scattered
0:31:07 > 0:31:14from the main site of the wreck in all directions, like dead leaves in a storm.
0:31:18 > 0:31:23The first thing we made was a map of the physical features of the bottom.
0:31:25 > 0:31:33Before we salvaged any objects, we very carefully plotted them.
0:31:38 > 0:31:41We started from both sides of Lacada Point
0:31:41 > 0:31:45and then dug every square foot to the bedrock.
0:31:47 > 0:31:54The gold and the silver, as most metal objects, had finally found their way to the deepest crevices.
0:31:54 > 0:32:01We must dig under the boulders and see what's underneath.
0:32:07 > 0:32:14It meant a lot of work, a lot of hardship, a lot of discomfort, but these people were used to that.
0:32:14 > 0:32:15These were tough guys.
0:32:18 > 0:32:25But they were soon driven by the same enthusiasm as Robert was and as I was.
0:32:27 > 0:32:35When lifting rocks, we used large inflatable balloons made of nylon line and rubber.
0:32:35 > 0:32:40When you start lifting a six-tonne boulder, the moment it gets lighter,
0:32:40 > 0:32:44it starts jumping back and forth with every swell.
0:32:44 > 0:32:46It's really a frightening sight.
0:32:52 > 0:32:56In the beginning, we thought, "There is the bedrock", then we had another look,
0:32:56 > 0:33:01there was a little cranny, a little crack in the bedrock, so we broke the bedrock
0:33:01 > 0:33:06and there were more coins underneath what we thought was the bedrock.
0:33:06 > 0:33:10The team were uncovering dozens of Spanish gold and silver coins,
0:33:10 > 0:33:14money that must have fallen from noblemen's pockets 400 years before.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18But there was still no sign of the Cross of Don Alonso de Leiva.
0:33:20 > 0:33:23I could see a bit of gold between two big stones,
0:33:23 > 0:33:28and I knew that if I put my crowbar there, I would have crushed it.
0:33:30 > 0:33:35I worked all around so that the boulders would fall by themselves,
0:33:35 > 0:33:41but by doing that, I had to destroy the pillars of the cave.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47Robert hadn't found the cross, but what he had uncovered was no less exciting.
0:33:47 > 0:33:54A little lizard, fashioned from solid gold and still studded with rich, red rubies.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58I took it in my hand and it glanced at me sideways
0:33:58 > 0:34:04for a long, long time, and then it smiled at me and showed me all the little teeth it has in its mouth.
0:34:04 > 0:34:09It was a salamander, a mythical creature that legend said could put out flames.
0:34:09 > 0:34:15Salamanders were carried as good luck charms to guard against the thing that sailors feared most -
0:34:15 > 0:34:17fire on board ship.
0:34:19 > 0:34:23When I finally got it, yes, I think I kissed it, I really kissed it.
0:34:27 > 0:34:34We had not brought enough to combat the cold.
0:34:34 > 0:34:40So after a few hours of wearing those suits in the water,
0:34:40 > 0:34:43you get completely exhausted.
0:34:58 > 0:35:04At home, I always had plenty of hot water to shower after diving.
0:35:04 > 0:35:10Here, there was just enough for one guy and it was always the chief.
0:35:10 > 0:35:15So he got the hot water and we got the shower with the tepid or quite cold water.
0:35:15 > 0:35:17I've heard that story before!
0:35:17 > 0:35:20It gets better every time!
0:35:23 > 0:35:28The simple facilities of Portballintrae guest house suited Robert.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32It was quiet and anonymous and no-one asked about why they were there.
0:35:32 > 0:35:36I was the waitress in the morning and I would do their breakfast.
0:35:36 > 0:35:40And they got a choice of orange juice, cornflakes or porridge.
0:35:40 > 0:35:42And they would have porridge.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46But they didn't know what to put in the porridge
0:35:46 > 0:35:47so they put marmalade in it
0:35:47 > 0:35:49and then they put raspberry jam in it
0:35:49 > 0:35:52and then they stirred the raspberry jam in it
0:35:52 > 0:35:54and I used to think this was just unbelievable.
0:35:54 > 0:35:59In 1968, the Manor House was owned and run by the McConaghy family.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04Robert and Marc haven't seen the McConaghy girls in nearly 40 years.
0:36:04 > 0:36:05Nice to meet you again.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09- Yes, it's very moving to meet you. - It's so good to meet you.
0:36:09 > 0:36:13- Hello, Robert. How are you? - Very well.
0:36:13 > 0:36:15It's nice to meet you again.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18- I'm Helen.- After so many years.
0:36:18 > 0:36:23'They were different and they were interesting.
0:36:23 > 0:36:27'You were a curious child, you wanted to know what they were doing.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30'Where they were diving and what they were doing there.
0:36:30 > 0:36:33'But I don't think at that time, when we first met them,
0:36:33 > 0:36:36'we ever expected them to come back and to come back again.'
0:36:36 > 0:36:40"There's no place like home except the Manor House Guest House."
0:36:46 > 0:36:49Life for everyone ran to the rhythms of the sea.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52When the weather allowed, the team was at Port na Spaniagh diving.
0:36:52 > 0:36:56They would spend the whole day there to get six hours under water.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01Robert ran the expedition like a top-secret military operation.
0:37:01 > 0:37:08People talked and gossiped and they thought maybe they are doing a survey or something at the harbour.
0:37:08 > 0:37:11We didn't know, but then whenever they dived in the one spot
0:37:11 > 0:37:14and they kept going to the same spot
0:37:14 > 0:37:17and they went off in the morning at the same time,
0:37:17 > 0:37:20and went to the same area to dive and then they came back.
0:37:20 > 0:37:24Yes, then people started to get more inquisitive.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28Then there was rumours that they were diving for Spanish treasure.
0:37:31 > 0:37:38We told people here that we were filming the underwater ecosystem around the Giant's Causeway.
0:37:40 > 0:37:44They were always, always looking for jam pots. Anything with lids on it.
0:37:44 > 0:37:46And this is what intrigued us.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50We didn't know why they were always looking for some sort of containers.
0:37:52 > 0:37:56Jam jars made great containers for all sorts of little treasures.
0:37:56 > 0:38:03More importantly, they were easily hidden in bags and wetsuits when the team came ashore.
0:38:03 > 0:38:07Everyone knew that there was a maverick somewhere.
0:38:07 > 0:38:11We were coming from far away just to be looking at this?
0:38:11 > 0:38:14We've never been good liars!
0:38:14 > 0:38:20But Robert HAD registered his interest in Port na Spaniagh with the Receiver of Wrecks,
0:38:20 > 0:38:24the civil servant who policed Britain's laws of salvage in Northern Ireland.
0:38:24 > 0:38:30The law was the same as if I had been recovering
0:38:30 > 0:38:35a cargo of coal or of iron bars, etc.
0:38:35 > 0:38:43If there were no owners, everything I found belonged to the Crown.
0:38:43 > 0:38:48But the Crown had this very good habit of returning everything to the finder.
0:38:48 > 0:38:51Except...little...
0:38:51 > 0:38:557% for the cost of the Receiver of Wrecks.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02Confident that he had legal protection as salvor in possession,
0:39:02 > 0:39:06Robert decided to recover the cannon he had found the summer before.
0:39:06 > 0:39:11But an Armada cannon couldn't be hidden in jam jars.
0:39:13 > 0:39:20It was actually the first guaranteed, genuine, authentic Armada cannon
0:39:20 > 0:39:25coming out of the water and known to anyone.
0:39:28 > 0:39:32So, historically, it was important, and for us it was important.
0:39:35 > 0:39:39The cannon was left suspended and out of sight beneath the lifting bags.
0:39:39 > 0:39:43The team gingerly towed their prize into Portballintrae.
0:39:48 > 0:39:52I think this is one of my best pictures,
0:39:52 > 0:39:54because it so brilliantly depicts
0:39:54 > 0:39:59the mood of the expedition at that time, and especially on that day.
0:39:59 > 0:40:02All these guys widely grinning.
0:40:02 > 0:40:05Smiling to their ears.
0:40:05 > 0:40:08It was a fantastic day.
0:40:08 > 0:40:12But their secret was out.
0:40:12 > 0:40:16When we lifted that cannon, things changed.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24One of the local fishermen arrived when I was sitting having my tea
0:40:24 > 0:40:28and told me, "John, they've found the Spanish wreck at the causeway!"
0:40:31 > 0:40:39So I went roaring down to the harbour and Robert and his merry men were carrying in this little cannon.
0:40:39 > 0:40:46Everyone could see what we were doing, there was pandemonium, there were big posters in the streets.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49The evening newspapers printed "GOLD", like this,
0:40:49 > 0:40:53across the front page and everyone was there during the weekend.
0:40:53 > 0:40:55We were overwhelmed by tourists.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01But mention gold and everyone wants a piece of the action.
0:41:05 > 0:41:13One day we came to the harbour and there was a group of about 12 sports divers.
0:41:15 > 0:41:19They were kitting up and getting ready to dive,
0:41:19 > 0:41:24so I went to them and asked if by any chance they were intending to go to the site of the Girona.
0:41:24 > 0:41:26Not one of them answered anything.
0:41:30 > 0:41:36The divers were all members of the recently formed Belfast branch of the British Sub Aqua Club.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43The story was, he was doing a geological survey
0:41:43 > 0:41:47on the Girona Port na Spaniagh site.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51It didn't take an awful lot to think, "He's diving on the Girona!"
0:41:54 > 0:42:00I went to the skipper of an open boat, which obviously was there to take them somewhere diving,
0:42:00 > 0:42:02and asked him the same question and he said, "Oh, no!
0:42:02 > 0:42:07"We're going the other way around. We are going to the west."
0:42:07 > 0:42:10And then the divers went in the boat and the boat went out of the harbour
0:42:10 > 0:42:14and went straight east towards the Girona.
0:42:15 > 0:42:20Stenuit quickly gathered his team together and gave chase.
0:42:20 > 0:42:25So we overtook them on the way to Lacada Point
0:42:25 > 0:42:29and we got in the water before them.
0:42:32 > 0:42:36They had made it pretty plain that it was theirs.
0:42:36 > 0:42:39They had a buoy on the wreck site saying "no diving".
0:42:43 > 0:42:48They were not coming in in an inquisitive mind, but in an acquisitive mind.
0:42:48 > 0:42:54They had big goody bags, burglars' bags and prying bars.
0:42:54 > 0:42:56The burglar's outfit.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00That was standard equipment.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04You have a hammer and crowbars on your weight belts,
0:43:04 > 0:43:07because every time we dived, we dived on a wreck.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10We thought there was a big boat there!
0:43:12 > 0:43:18I told them that not only were we running an archaeological excavation
0:43:18 > 0:43:23but we were the salvors in possession, which, by law,
0:43:23 > 0:43:29empowered us to keep anyone who has a mind on that salvage away.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35The boys that were down,
0:43:35 > 0:43:39they objected to them not being able to lift anything.
0:43:42 > 0:43:45We followed them very carefully.
0:43:45 > 0:43:50And suddenly I see one of them picking up a piece of lead from the wreck.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57And one of the boys lifted a bit of lead, I think it was. Put it in his bag.
0:43:57 > 0:44:00So, I swim to him, and I said...like this...
0:44:00 > 0:44:03So he took it off him!
0:44:07 > 0:44:09It became a scandal.
0:44:09 > 0:44:11I had attacked him, suddenly.
0:44:16 > 0:44:21Once again, Robert's Girona excavation made front-page news.
0:44:23 > 0:44:28It made me angry, yes. We were trying to reconstitute a puzzle.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32And if you miss pieces of the puzzle, you cannot reconstruct it.
0:44:32 > 0:44:38Robert quickly moved to protect his position as salvor in possession.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41The club members agonised over their next move.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45The club committee then decided not to interfere with him any more.
0:44:45 > 0:44:47I suppose we were pirates, as well.
0:44:53 > 0:44:56But things didn't end there.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59At Westminster, Henry Clark, the MP for North Antrim,
0:44:59 > 0:45:04asked why foreign divers were being allowed to loot the Girona site.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10I was scandalised about the whole thing.
0:45:10 > 0:45:13It was so far from the truth.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15I mean, there was no point to answer it.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18All the local people, they didn't want this.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22And I sat down, and I actually wrote to Henry Clark.
0:45:22 > 0:45:26"Dear sir, Monsieur Stenuit and his associates,
0:45:26 > 0:45:31"would not engage in looting and destruction, as has been reported.
0:45:31 > 0:45:35"There is a great sense of outrage in Portballintrae."
0:45:35 > 0:45:36They knew how hard they worked.
0:45:36 > 0:45:40They knew they were diving every day. So why, when they'd done all this,
0:45:40 > 0:45:45should any other team from anywhere come and try to dive? It was unfair.
0:45:45 > 0:45:51"Occasionally, the Ulsterman displays a propensity for making himself appear ridiculous.
0:45:51 > 0:45:54"In Heaven's name, let this not happen.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57"Yours faithfully, John MacLennan."
0:45:59 > 0:46:03While MPs were getting hot and bothered, and the press were having a feeding frenzy,
0:46:03 > 0:46:08other, more serious minds had been attracted by the Girona publicity.
0:46:09 > 0:46:16When the stories began to appear in the press, a very nice gentleman with a beard came and rang the bell.
0:46:16 > 0:46:22He said, "I am the keeper of archaeology, history and archaeology, in the Ulster Museum.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24"It is my duty, I am afraid,
0:46:24 > 0:46:27"to inform myself of what is happening.
0:46:27 > 0:46:30"Would you kindly tell me what is happening?"
0:46:30 > 0:46:33The visitor was Laurence Flanagan.
0:46:33 > 0:46:36He had little expertise in underwater archaeology,
0:46:36 > 0:46:39but the museum curator recognised the Girona's true importance.
0:46:39 > 0:46:43I said, "Please come in", and I showed him everything.
0:46:43 > 0:46:50Laurence was keen to know what Robert intended to do with these beautiful and utterly unique finds.
0:46:52 > 0:46:59Originally, I thought it should have gone to a Spanish museum.
0:46:59 > 0:47:04But there was very little interest in Spain before we had found it.
0:47:04 > 0:47:09Putting it to auction meant that it would be split all over the world.
0:47:10 > 0:47:12The curator was deeply worried.
0:47:12 > 0:47:15Even if he was able to stop the collection being broken up,
0:47:15 > 0:47:18many of the artefacts were in real danger of being destroyed
0:47:18 > 0:47:21by the team's efforts to recover them.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25So he decided to make Stenuit an offer he couldn't refuse.
0:47:31 > 0:47:38He put at our disposal the conservation laboratory that was run by the museum and by the university.
0:47:38 > 0:47:44And they took off my back the most difficult, most costly
0:47:44 > 0:47:50and most important part of the whole expedition - it was conservation.
0:47:50 > 0:47:57Stenuit's team was finally free to finish what they had come here to do - recover the Girona's gold.
0:48:44 > 0:48:46He brought up a load of stuff.
0:48:46 > 0:48:50He said, "John, tap that with that little hammer that you have there."
0:48:50 > 0:48:53So, I tapped.
0:48:53 > 0:48:57Suddenly, gold coins started dropping out.
0:49:14 > 0:49:18The McConaghy girls were honoured with a trip to the site.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22But seasickness and cold soon drove them back ashore.
0:49:22 > 0:49:27A visit to the treasure store at the top of their house was only marginally more interesting.
0:49:30 > 0:49:35I thought at first it was just old bits of stones and bits of this.
0:49:35 > 0:49:38It wasn't. He said to me it was really important.
0:49:41 > 0:49:45That's when I thought I might put a coin in my pocket, but he wouldn't let me!
0:50:18 > 0:50:23- Dame Fortune smiled that- I- didn't find it.
0:50:23 > 0:50:28I would have simply said, "I have discovered bits of a Spanish wreck."
0:50:30 > 0:50:32It would have been looted quietly.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34HE LAUGHS
0:50:51 > 0:50:57But the team were putting in more and more effort, with fewer and fewer rewards.
0:50:57 > 0:51:01Then, just as Robert was thinking of calling a halt to the expedition,
0:51:01 > 0:51:05Port na Spaniagh gave them one last delight.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11We found one little gold ring, deep in a crevice,
0:51:11 > 0:51:15in about a yard-and-a-half stones and gravel and dead crabs.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19And when the ring was brought to the surface, we looked at it,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23and it was the most moving object we ever found. It bears on top
0:51:23 > 0:51:29a little hand holding out a heart, and the undone buckle of a girdle.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32And there is a caption in the gold which reads,
0:51:32 > 0:51:34"No tengo mas que dar te",
0:51:34 > 0:51:38which means, "I have nothing more to give to you."
0:51:38 > 0:51:44I always fantasised, that the young nobleman who was wearing this,
0:51:44 > 0:51:48had received it on the last day before the Armada sailed.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52You know, he had spent the night with his betrothed,
0:51:52 > 0:51:55she came and said, "I have a little present for you."
0:51:55 > 0:52:00This is the kind of thing which, for me, makes all of it worth it, really.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04Do you think there was a message there?
0:52:04 > 0:52:08The wreck had given me everything it could give? Is that what you mean?
0:52:08 > 0:52:10Do you think there was a...?
0:52:10 > 0:52:17Possibly. Suitably, it happened very late in the game. So you may be right there.
0:52:17 > 0:52:22But the most important piece of the Girona story was still missing.
0:52:22 > 0:52:26I always have a secret hope that one day we will find
0:52:26 > 0:52:29something which we can link to de Leiva himself, to the man.
0:52:29 > 0:52:32Perhaps his jewel of the Knight of Santiago.
0:52:32 > 0:52:37Robert failed to find anything that could be linked to Don Alonso Martinez de Leiva,
0:52:37 > 0:52:39Knight of Santiago.
0:52:43 > 0:52:47In September 1969, the team finally gave in.
0:52:47 > 0:52:54After two long diving seasons and 6,000 hours on the seabed, their gear was worn out.
0:52:58 > 0:53:02What memories of the original dig does it bring back, when you go back down there again?
0:53:02 > 0:53:05Only good memories, there are no others.
0:53:05 > 0:53:10Memories of two beautiful years of my life, really.
0:53:10 > 0:53:17He left Port na Spaniagh with his place in the story of underwater archaeology secure.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21The ownership of the treasures he had recovered was anything but.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25Spain was claiming that they were hers.
0:53:25 > 0:53:29Others argued that they should stay together in Northern Ireland.
0:53:29 > 0:53:32It would take a court case to settle that argument.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34Robert could only wait for judgment.
0:53:40 > 0:53:46The court ruled that no single owner of the Girona treasures could be found. They would be sold.
0:53:46 > 0:53:53And Stenuit would finally turn those long hours of cold and difficult diving into financial profit.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00I do not like the word profit in this context,
0:54:00 > 0:54:02because it is not what we had in mind.
0:54:02 > 0:54:06I mean, our time was compensated, and handsomely.
0:54:06 > 0:54:10In two ways, because we had the best years of our life,
0:54:10 > 0:54:12or some of the best years of our life,
0:54:12 > 0:54:17and a little money to put butter in the spinach, as we say in French.
0:54:17 > 0:54:23The Girona's treasure was valued at £132,000.
0:54:23 > 0:54:28And Robert agreed to let the collection stay together in Northern Ireland.
0:54:28 > 0:54:32The Government only gave a little over half of the sum,
0:54:32 > 0:54:38so a public appeal was launched by the keeper of history at the Ulster Museum, Laurence Flanagan,
0:54:38 > 0:54:42to raise the rest. It only took six months.
0:54:47 > 0:54:52The Girona Exhibition opened at the Ulster Museum in 1972.
0:54:54 > 0:54:57Robert Stenuit was the guest of honour.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01It was the first time it had ever been done in the UK.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04Or in Europe, or everywhere.
0:55:05 > 0:55:07So it is all thanks to Laurence Flanagan.
0:55:19 > 0:55:24I think if Lawrence had not convinced Stenuit
0:55:24 > 0:55:26to give the stuff to the museum,
0:55:26 > 0:55:30the stuff would have been scattered to the four winds.
0:55:34 > 0:55:39After Stenuit left, Port na Spaniagh was regularly dived.
0:55:39 > 0:55:45At least two further semi-professional expeditions were undertaken by private teams.
0:55:45 > 0:55:48If anything was found, none of it was declared.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51Other divers were more honest.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02We just went down, and basically shifted stones and boulders.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08Sometimes with the help of a pneumatic drill.
0:56:13 > 0:56:19We found a piece at Lacada Point, very close to where Stenuit found some of the other stuff.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24Alan did not know what he had found.
0:56:24 > 0:56:28But Laurence Flanagan recognised it instantly.
0:56:28 > 0:56:31It was the elusive Cross of Santiago.
0:56:31 > 0:56:34Don Alonso Martinez de Leiva's cross.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40It dated and put de Leiva on the site,
0:56:40 > 0:56:43which is one of the few artefacts that did that.
0:56:50 > 0:56:54A gold cross like this one, of the Order of Santiago,
0:56:54 > 0:56:57was recovered out there on Robert's Girona.
0:56:57 > 0:56:59It is only a trinket, really.
0:56:59 > 0:57:03But when you learn that it was once worn around the neck
0:57:03 > 0:57:07of Don Alonso Martinez de Leiva, and that he came here
0:57:07 > 0:57:11in the aftermath of Spain's disastrous attempt to invade England in 1588,
0:57:11 > 0:57:14it takes on an immeasurable value.
0:57:14 > 0:57:17But you have to know the story.
0:57:17 > 0:57:20It is the story that is the treasure.
0:57:35 > 0:57:41For 400 years, the Girona story has always focused on the search for lost Spanish gold.
0:57:43 > 0:57:48What was really lost was the story of the 1,300 men
0:57:48 > 0:57:54who drowned with Don Alonso on a wild Irish night in 1588.
0:57:55 > 0:58:01It was this that brought me there, so I owe him a debt of gratitude.
0:58:01 > 0:58:09And I tried to repay that by trying to bring them back from the world of the dead.
0:58:11 > 0:58:16I think I built a memorial to them. And I think it was fitting that it was a diver that did that.