FENWICK ISLAND, DELAWARE
As a youngster, the boy had but one thought: he would find what he was looking for and he would find it on his terms. And eventually he did.

The Atlantic coastline attracted Dale Clifton like a magnet attracts metal. It still does. Young Clifton spent every spare moment at the beach. Not for the sun, fun, and surf but for the countless stories that lie among the dozens of shipwrecks that litter the treacherous east coast. Clifton was drawn to the beach because he knew treasure was there. Right there, in reach perhaps, just under the sand.

He looked, he read everything he could find, and he asked questions of anyone who might help him in his quest, and he learned from experienced, successful treasure hunters.

And Clifton remembers well the first coin he found while searching the sands just south of the Indian River, a stretch of sand commonly known to locals as Coin Beach. He’s still got it, a find from the Faithful Steward, a vessel carrying Irish immigrants that sunk during a storm on September 2, 1785.

Finding his first treasure was better than unlocking a chest full of silver and gold for Clifton. He pressed the coin in his fist; shaking hands with history as he puts it, and pressed on to learn all he could about the last person who might have held the coin.

Clifton learned that the Faithful Steward was bound for America, packed with the hopes and dreams of its 249 Irish immigrants. But those hopes and dreams were sunk in a swirl of despair just as the Faithful Steward was, bashed apart by the storming Atlantic just yards from safety. All but 68 died, a tragic story that only the well researched Clifton can tell properly.

A lifelong fascination

“That first coin ruined me for life,” said Clifton, explaining that his fascination with shipwrecks and his thirst for finding underwater treasure has never diminished. In fact, it has been his vocation and in a large part his life, ever since. Interestingly, Clifton, the director of the DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum and a professional diver who has been in on many of the world’s most noted shipwreck discoveries, still ranks the Faithful Steward as his favorite wreck – and the source of his favorite stories.

“I’d guess that I have the largest collection of items from this wreck that exists,” Clifton said, adding that he values his collection for its historical significance more than its monetary worth.

“That’s what it’s all about, the stories that lie in each piece I recover,” said Clifton, explaining that when he finds an article from a wreck, he knows that he is the first person to touch it for perhaps hundreds of years.
Like touching history, he said.

Since his first find on Coin Beach, Clifton has devoted his time and energy to learning how to research, locate, and recover wrecks, or at least the cargo. He’s learned to use technology of metal detectors and how to explore the depths with diving equipment. And he has become one of the best at his trade.

In fact, Clifton has been in on some great, and certainly significant, wreck finds. Like the time he dove with Mel Fisher’s team the day they found the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, a treasure ship that went down off the coast of Florida during a hurricane in 1622. The Atocha was part of a richly loaded fleet returning to Spain with riches from the region. The manifest included tons of gold, silver, coins, and much more.

Fisher had devoted 16 years to the search and the find was a thrill that Clifton will never forget. For years the Fisher team had been looking in the wrong spot, relying on clues that proved false. Finally it was Fisher himself who discovered their mistake and the find was made soon after.

A Republic falls

Another of Clifton’s favorite wrecks is that of the Republic, a luxury liner as fine or finer than the ill-fated Titanic and owned by the same White Star Line. The Republic, just out of port, was struck by another ship during a fog storm off Nantucket in January of 1909. Only four passengers were lost, probably killed in the collision.

The Republic lies in nearly 300 feet of water making it a very dangerous dive. Clifton said it is even more dangerous because much of the interior wiring and piping is loose and can trap a diver like a spider web. Interestingly, the 570-foot, 15,000 ton Republic was outfitted with an early 1.5 watt Marconi wireless and was the first ship to send a SOS distress signal. Although there is no proof, it’s rumored that the Republic carried, and still holds, a Navy payroll that in today’s economy would be worth about $6 million.

And then there is the most famous of the modern lost ships, the Edmund Fitzgerald, a freighter that met an ill fate near Whitefish Bay, Michigan in November 1975. This huge ship, its cargo, and all 29 of its crewmembers, disappeared in a matter of seconds. Clifton has a copy of the Fitzgerald’s last radio transmission, sent as the ship broke apart; the last contact with its doomed crew. The tape is eerie to listen to, but a part of the Fitzgerald story.

Through all of his searching, Clifton has held a single thought in mind. He would someday share his treasures with the public, he would tell the stories and show his collection with the same passion that drove him to shake hands with so much maritime history.

And the result is a wonderful museum located just a few yards north of the Delaware/Maryland border, just above Ocean City. The DiscoverSea Museum, conceived, born, and built by the passion of Clifton, holds treasures and tales from the Fitzgerald, the Republic, the Steward, and Atocha, and countless other wrecks.

The items and informative displays in the attractive museum constitute only about 10 percent of Clifton’s extensive collection, a treasure that grew from Clifton’s first Coin Beach find. It’s a great place for families and that’s perhaps its greatest treasure according to Clifton, who if anything, inspires youngsters to dig into history.

Recently, Clifton completed two computer CDs; one that can lead an inquisitive person to a real treasure and the other an instructional program teaching one how to research and locate lost treasures. Clifton is also completing three books, one on the Faithful Steward, another a fictional story about the adventures of a young boy, and the third an assembly of his many tales.

As an adult, Clifton is still drawn to the ocean, a place that conceals history like no other place can. History that unfolds into tapestries of colorful tales from the long-hidden treasures uncovered by adventurers like Clifton. All you’ve got to do, he says, is find them.

DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum: www.DiscoverSea.com.

DiscoverSea Shipwreck Museum at:
708 Ocean Highway
Fenwick Island,
Delaware 19944.
(302) 539-9366.