This 1960s episode of “True Adventures” by host and producer Bill Burrud, opens with the shirtless host asking viewers, “Have you ever heard that the sea holds many mysteries? Well, it’s true! How would you like to go for a swim and find a jeweled cross worth $75,000?” With that, the viewer is taken to Bermuda at mark 1:22, where images taken by underwater photographer Peter Stackpole introduces audiences to the wonders of deep sea diving and exploration. Such treasures have been submerged under the seas for hundreds of years, we are told, after the vessels upon which they were held sunk. Traveling with renowned shipwreck diver Teddy Tucker, he and the film crew prepare for an excursion at mark 03:15, but inclement weather interferes with their plans. With calmer seas, the explorers find evidence of a submerged wreck from the 1590s at mark 04:37 and dive in. Fanning the sand from the ancient timbers, the divers uncover human bones and cannon balls among the reefs — along with a few sharks. The divers head to the surface by mark 07:35, but not before Tucker finds a golden cross studded with emeralds. “They begin to suspect that it may be the most spectacular single discovery in the history of treasure hunter,” Burrud says at mark 09:00. “This is the moment treasure hunters dream of.” Returning to the harbor near mark 10:00, the divers continue to sort through their treasures, uncovering silver “pieces of eight” dated 1592. At mark 11:00, the focus changes from treasure hunting to a “modern salvage operation” of a steamer that sunk in the 1920s, as Tucker tries to detach the vessel’s propeller blades. Waiting for the debris to settle and for sharks to finish consuming fish killed by the blast, the divers return to the water and eventually retrieve three propeller blades. At mark 14:00, Tucker and the camera crew are back underwater to investigate L’Hermine, a 300-foot, 60-gun French frigate that sunk in 1838, and retrieve one of her guns. Other salvage operations uncover paver bricks, vintage bottles, and even old dyes. Come mark 19:45, divers visit the remains of the San Antonio, a Spanish vessel wrecked in 1621 off the Bermuda coast, finding a few links of gold chain, daggers, pottery, and leather shoe soles — about $20,000 worth of treasure. “Treasure hunting sounds like a boyhood dream, doesn’t it?” Burrud says at the end of the film. “But as we’ve seen it’s a dream that can come true.”

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