Cooper’s Treasure sees Darrell Miklos and his crew on high alert after they spot a sketchy random boat seen out in the middle of the open ocean close to where they are setting up a dive.
The open seas are scurvy dog central and can be as wild and dangerous as the legendary old wild West where outlaws, pirates, and criminals of every stripe can get away with malfeasance, murder, and mayhem.
Read our interview with Darrell Miklos!
None of this is lost on marine archaeologist Jim Sinclair, seen in our exclusive clip as being very concerned while he is looking over Darrell Miklos’ shoulder as Mike Perna looks over his for guidance as he steers the boat broadside. Eric Schmidt takes a closer look and Miklos assesses the situation.
He decides to shut down their planned dive and reel in the camera and gear pronto.
Miklos explains their caution: “When you’re miles from shore [and] you’re all by yourself [is] when you’re completely vulnerable.”
What they see is a small ship shadowing their moves, and then coming towards the boat where Miklos, Eric Schmidt, Mike Perna and Jim Sinclair are on a small boat outfitted with very expensive recovery tech gear, cameras, and submersibles to investigate a possible dive spot for wreckage salvage.
The unknown boat comes near the guys and the feeling out each other chit chat begins. The other boaters ask if the Miklos crew are searching for planes, and an odd conversation about what animals they are looking for ensues.
But this idle small talk is really just a due diligence “sorting of the vibes” moment, and Perna is totally ready to hit the gas if any gunfire erupts. It’s a serious and tense scene.
“We have tens of thousands of dollars worth of equipment right out here in the middle of nowhere potentially sitting on a wreck that is
worth millions of dollars. We really have to be careful,” adds Miklos.
The docuseries chronicles Darrell Miklos’ physical dives off the Bahamas and Florida. His mission this season is to explore the wrecks of eleven ships believed to hold vast amounts of treasure.
In doing this, he plans to verify, honor and continue the hard work of astronaut Gordon Cooper, who bequeathed a treasure-trove of maps outlining where “anomalies” or suspected wrecks lay in shallow waters. Cooper did all this mapping while orbiting the Earth’s atmosphere in space.
Miklos found treasures and artifacts right out of the gate in the premiere and tonight’s episode is part of the tight timeline of eight weeks to find recoverable gold, silver or gems or be “finished” for good.
Read about the crew and more on Cooper’s Treasure!
He explained in the previous episodes he was “mortgaged up to his eyeballs”, but is convinced he has the right core crew and the best tools and technology to work hard, fast and smart.
Watch tonight to see how this encounter unspools and if the guys pull up anything interesting to add to their pile of recovered finds!
Cooper’s Treasure airs Friday at 9 pm ET/PT on Discovery.