DATE: Friday, October 31, 1997              TAG: 9710310639

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAUL CLANCY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: ASSATEAGUE ISLAND                 LENGTH:   73 lines

ACCESS DISPUTE DELAYS EXCAVATION OF POSSIBLE TREASURE SHIPS CLOSE

The excavation of possible treasure ships close to Assateague National Seashore has been called off for the year in a dispute with the National Park Service over access to the sites.

Ben Benson, president of Sea Hunt, the company that is exploring several wrecks at the Virginia end of the barrier island, says unresolved differences with the Park Service will keep him out of the water until winter's end.

The sites, some less than a half-mile from shore, may hold answers to two age-old theories: that one ship went down with a king's ransom of treasure and the other contained the ancestors of the famous wild ponies that today roam the island.

Sea Hunt also has found a wreck believed to be that of a presidential yacht that sank off Assateague in 1891.

Benson spent more than a year obtaining permits from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the agency that coordinates federal offshore explorations.

But just as he began preliminary investigations to identify the wrecks in early October, the Park Service called for a meeting in Washington to learn more about his plans and ``discuss its concerns,'' Benson said.

Those concerns, which Benson said he shares, included the welfare, safety and enjoyment of the park by the beach-going public.

But the real question is the park's jurisdiction over offshore operations.

The wrecks actually belong to the state, which owns everything within three miles of its coast. Under the terms set by the Marine Resources Commission, Sea Hunt would share with the state whatever wealth and artifacts are uncovered.

Several years ago, Congress gave the states clear title to anything lying on the ocean bottom within three miles of the shoreline.

The Park Service doesn't disagree that the state owns the ocean bottom, but claims the right to oversee anything within its boundaries - which it defines as anything within a half-mile of the park.

``We are mandated by law to manage anything within the Park Service boundary,'' said Marc Koenings, superintendent of Assateague Island National Seashore.

Even though the Corps of Engineers approved the permit, Koenings said neither his agency nor the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service was contacted. ``If we had been brought in in the first place, this problem might not have occurred,'' he said.

Benson had agreed to excavate only after Sept. 15 and before March 15 to minimize conflicts with recreational activities, leaving a fair-weather window of only about 60 days. Facing a delay that could stretch for several months, Benson says he's giving up for the year.

``It's an exercise in patience,'' said Benson, who holds a five-year permit.

Using sophisticated electronic equipment, he has found what could be as many as 12 sunken vessels in a one-square-mile area.

Among the most tantalizing finds: the possible site of the Juno, a treasure ship bound for Spain that went to the bottom in 1802 with all souls and a possible fortune in treasure; and La Galga, a frigate that guarded a fleet of treasure ships but met a similar fate in 1750. Its crew reached shore and, according to legend, so did the horses.

This winter, Benson said, Sea Hunt will hire researchers to comb through archives in Spain, France, England and Puerto Rico for additional information about the Juno, including possible passenger and cargo lists.

And because visibility at the Juno site is often near zero, Benson said, his divers will practice diving blindfolded this winter in the Bahamas.

``The delay isn't all that bad,'' Benson said, ``because we now have a daunting problem: what to do with all those ships.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo

STEVE EARLEY/File photo

A woman who lives on Chincoteague holds coins found by her mother on

the beach at Assateague. The coins washed up on the beach near the

site where salvagers believe the wreck of the Juno is located. KEYWORDS: SUNKEN TREASURE EASTERN SHORE

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