Seafarer Receives Department Of Environmental Protection Permit

TAMPA, Fla., June 5, 2013

Seafarer received a permit from the State of Florida for a shipwreck site located off of Lantana Beach, Florida in 2012. The site has recently been surveyed using a Geometrics 882 Cesium Vapor Magnetometer and this survey work showed compelling evidence that a large part of the ship lies buried in a relatively compacted area.  Having completed phase I of the mapping survey and underwater video, Seafarer is preparing to begin digging and identifying the wreck and the DEP permit is an important step in that process. Items found and documented on this site in past explorations by third parties suggest the wreck could be a French or Spanish ship from the late 1600s but it will require more work to determine with accuracy what is actually contained on the site.

"We are certainly happy to be one step closer to being able to explore and identify cultural material of the Lantana site" said Kyle Kennedy, CEO of Seafarer.  "I want to personally thank the hard working individuals of the DEP who thoroughly dove, investigated and processed our 2^nd site, Lantana; with special thanks to Benny Luedike who advised and proactively managed all aspects of processing the permit. I also want to thank our own Joe Albert for his continual diligence and work ethic toward completion of the permit." 

Mr. Kennedy continued. "We have stayed focused on our short term goals to obtain three concurrent active sites while researching for sites four and five. We have also maintained and furthered our goals of developing long term strategic relationships with both local and foreign governments and contributing to research and education. Our crew and myself have completed hours of educational study of archaeology classes given by Dr. John de Bry, and will have continual course study into the future. We have recently completed a research trip to France with Dr. de Bry where historical research was conducted and many interesting and significant facts were discovered. Some of the research pictures can be seen on our website www.seafarercorp.com."

Archival research was conducted by Dr. de Bry in the archives in Dieppe and also in both the Archives Nationales and the Bibliotheque Nationale de France (BnF) in Paris. His research was divided into two sections; (1) looking for and acquiring data on the 1715 Fleet that sunk off Florida on July 31^st of that year, and (2) searching for documents pertaining to the Jean Ribault Fleet of 1565 sunk north of Cape Canaveral. Both endeavors were supported by Seafarer. Dr. de Bry located several documents pertaining to the 1715 Fleet as well as one important document related to the loss of the 1565 French fleet. He is of the opinion that additional documents on the 1715 Fleet will be located at the Archivo General de Indias (AGI) in Seville, Spain and in the National Archives of Cuba located in Havana. Such manuscript documents will help Seafarer achieve a more accurate interpretation of the cultural history of the Site (Melbourne Beach Site).

Dr. de Bry stated "I am particularly interested in a site along the Florida east coast that appears to be from the first half of the 16^th-century and additional research in Spanish archives may help in identifying this ship. Very few ships from that period have been located and excavated, so I am very excited at the prospect of investigating such a site. Naturally, locating the 1565 Ribault ships would be a find of extreme historical and archaeological importance." Dr. de Bry gave a talk on Friday, May 31^st, in the Florida Historic Capitol, a venue attended by over 350 people including Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner, his talk was on the historical and anthropological context of the work of Jacques Le Moyne de Morgues and Theodore de Bry's 1691 engravings of the French expeditions to Florida of 1562 and 1564. An 8-minute film produced by the University of Florida's Digital Worlds Institute, directed by Professor James Oliverio, was shown following Dr. de Bry's presentation. The film consisted of animated Theodore de Bry's images and told the story of the three French expeditions to Florida of 1562, 1564 and 1565.

About Seafarer Exploration Corp. (www.seafarercorp.com)
Seafarer Exploration Corp. is a publicly traded underwater salvage and exploration company. The principal business of the company is to develop the infrastructure necessary to engage in the archaeologically-sensitive exploration, documentation, and recovery of historic shipwrecks. The company has primarily focused on efforts to locate and recover artifacts and cargo from what is believed to be a sunken Spanish ship off the coast of Juno Beach, Florida. Management believes that if artifacts and cargo are recovered, a portion of the recovered items will be in the form of treasure such as dated coins, gold and silver bullion, and emeralds. Additionally, the company has also been mapping and surveying their second site off of Lantana Beach, Florida, with positive results and pursuing a third permit near Melbourne Beach.