Modern Day Adventurers launch crowdfunding campaign to retrieve historic coin

by Startacus Admin

Atlantic Ocean Treasure Hunt set to begin to search for a sixpence that helped to change worldwide communications forever

A trio of adventurers has announced a modern-day, deep sea treasure hunt to find a coin that changed worldwide communications forever and saw the first step toward the creation of a global community. 

Founders of one of the world’s first subsea cable recycling companies, Sebastian Stephens and Russell Parsons, along with team member Richard Wills, will be joined by a captain and crew as they set off on the ambitious adventure.  Their voyage will mark the hunt for an historic piece of treasure – a coin that was embedded into the world’s first transatlantic cable which paved the way for the invention of the internet and other technologies we enjoy today, and indeed increasingly rely on amidst a global pandemic. 

The intrepid trio have pledged to embark on the ambitious expedition to find the special sixpence, placed at the core of the subsea cable laid over 150 years ago by visionary entrepreneur Cyrus West Field.  They plan to set off in June, around the anniversary of the original voyage taken by Cyrus and his team.  

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help fund the voyage and enable them to fund the necessities of the trip, an extended ship lease and the equipment required to retrieve the coin from the bottom of the ocean.  

Leader of the treasure hunt, Sebastian Stephens explains; “Cyrus West Field connected the Old World to the New World for the first time ever in history over 150 years ago.  Achieving what many thought was impossible, Cyrus laid a cable from Nova Scotia, Canada all the way to Ireland.  He helped to connect the UK and US, which resulted in the longtime Anglo-American relationship still evident today.   

He continues; “For good luck, Cyrus welded a sixpence into a joint in the cable somewhere in the mid-Atlantic.  It’s a piece of history that’s almost been forgotten, but we’re determined to retell Cyrus’ story. We’re setting out to find the coin and remind the world where global communications began.  You don’t often get the chance to touch history, especially the stories submerged under the sea, but Field’s work took blood, sweat and tears, and we want to shine a light on how pivotal this moment in time was.” 

What a fascinating story - we’ll certainly be following their journey - on dry land of course! If you’d like to support Find The Coin then check out their IndieGoGo Crowdfunding Campaign.

 

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• #coin
• #communications
• #history
• #crowdfunding

Published on: 10th March 2021