Sara and Thor’s Cabinet of Curiosities, episode 3: Treasure Diving in the Virgin Islands

My turn to share a story of the antique bottles I found while diving on a sunken ship in the St. Thomas Harbor, Virgin Islands.

Like typical philosopher/scientists of the 19th century, Thor and I have a curio cabinet full of specimens, travel mementos, and stories.

Shortly after arriving in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands in January of 1983, I was working as a deck hand on a yacht while training with my scuba-instructor partner Jim to become his assistant as a divemaster. I celebrated my 30^th birthday alone on the deck during a wild storm, keeping anchor watch while the rest of the crew ferried the seasick passengers ashore to find hotel rooms. I toasted the occasion with champagne because – well, I deserved it, and luckily I wasn’t seasick! (Below is a different boat where I was lending a hand.)

In those days, I thrived on adventures, and once I achieved the divemaster certification, I started working with Jim, taking tourists on intro beach dives over the reef at a marine park. Our crazy pal Tom, another scuba instructor, suggested we go treasure-diving at the bottom of the Charlotte Amalie harbor, where a terrible hurricane in 1867, followed by a severe earthquake and tsunamis, had wrecked many ships in the harbor, killed 600 people, and caused widespread damage. This painting by unknown artist (public domain) shows the harbor in 1850, when the island was a Danish colony, with Danish Royal Mail Steam Packet Company ships.