Legend Heading
To all who seek what history has hidden: herein are charted the wrecks, hoards, and legends of the world — the laws that govern the search, and the fellowship of those who undertake it.
The chart. The rules. The fellowship.
The Treasure Atlas
Shipwrecks, recovered hoards, open legends, historic battles, lost military, and ancient sites — charted the world over, each with its account and its lawful standing.
The Rules of the Search
The first question of any hunt — whether one may search, and keep what is found — answered for the federal ground and all fifty states.
The Fellowship
Set down your finds and expeditions, take counsel from the Field Notes, and stand among those who pursue the same calling.
Find Responsibly
The hunt endures only where it is honorably conducted. We hold to the law, mark protected ground plainly, record what is found, and leave every site as we found it. This is the line between the treasure hunter and the looter — and it shall be kept.
Every mark bears an account.
Set down here are the histories behind the chart — galleons lost, payrolls buried, mines misplaced, and hunts yet open. Read the account, then proceed to the mark itself.
Where the search is lawful — and where it is not.
Federal law sets the floor; each state builds upon it. Know the ground before you break it.
| State | Risk | Found-property / trove | Detecting on state land | Notable |
|---|
The same question, asked abroad. These nations also tint on the Atlas's law overlay — green where the search is welcomed, amber where permits rule, red where the ground is closed.
| Country | Stance | Detecting | Who keeps the finds | Notable |
|---|
Of the fellowship.
This fellowship is open to all who would seek what history has hidden — the newcomer with a first detector and the veteran of a thousand holes alike. We keep the chart, set down the rules, and hold the fellowship's record.
Our Charge
To keep the most complete treasure atlas that can be kept, to render the law plain in every state, and to maintain a worthy commons for the fellowship.
Our Code
"Find responsibly." Respect the law, protect historic and sacred ground, fill every hole, and look after one another. The hunt survives by no other means.
Admission
No experience is required. Bring curiosity, resolve, and the will to do it rightly; the rest is learned in good company.
Newly arrived? Proceed to the Atlas, or present yourself to the fellowship.
The record of the fellowship.
Here the fellowship keeps its record: finds great and small, expeditions logged, and lessons honestly paid for. Add your own account to the rolls.
Counsel from the field.
Plain instruction, dearly earned and freely given — that the search be done well and the ground left whole.
On Securing a Landowner's Permission
Walk up in the daylight. Smile. Lead with curiosity about the place, not the coins — "I think your property might've had an old homestead on it, and I'd love to learn its history." Promise three things and mean them: you'll fill every hole, you'll show them everything you find, and you'll leave if they ever want. Offer to split anything of value. Most "no"s are really "I don't know you yet," and a handshake and a printed permission slip fixes that faster than anything.
On Cutting a Proper Plug
The whole hobby lives or dies on this one skill. Cut a three-sided flap, hinge it back like a little trapdoor with the grass still attached, get your target, then fold it home and press it down with your boot. Done right, you can't find the spot an hour later. Done wrong, you leave a brown scar that gets the whole hobby banned from a park. Practice in your own yard until it's invisible — that's not optional, that's the dues you pay to dig anywhere.
On Reading a Beach After a Storm
Calm summer sand piles up and buries everything. A hard onshore blow does the opposite — it strips the light sand away and leaves a "cut," a little cliff in the beach where the heavy stuff (gold, that's you) settles at the base. Work the low tide right after the storm, hunt the troughs and the toe of the cut, and slow way down. The beach rearranges its pockets every single tide, which is exactly why it never really runs out.
On the Handling of Significant Finds
First: stop and breathe, and resist the urge to scrub it. Aggressive cleaning has destroyed more value and history than any shovel. Photograph it where it lay, note the depth and the spot, and record it (that context is half the story). If it looks genuinely historical — or if you ever turn up anything resembling human remains — stop digging and report it. That instinct is what separates a treasure hunter from a looter, and it's the reason we still get to do this at all.
Join the fellowship.
The fellowship is gathering. Walk the chart, read the accounts, and set down your own upon the rolls. A member's subscription — and the privileges that come with it — opens for enrollment when our papers are in order.
Enrollment terms will be set when the rolls open. Until then — the fellowship gathers.