Leave it to a Philly guy to channel Vince Fumo's WGSD attitude (remember the "We get s--- done" shirts the senator's aides used to wear?) and go diving into Portobelo Bay to make a find that has eluded all prior expeditions.
"It's like we're sitting on a cloud," Croce said by phone, as he stood on the north side of the Panamanian harbor at sunset, gazing toward Drake Island.
Croce, 56, founder of the St. Augustine Pirate & Treasure Museum, financed the expedition that led to the discovery of the 194-ton Elizabeth and 50-ton Delight. The ships were scuttled by Drake's crews in 1596 after the English sea captain was buried at sea.
The 12-person crew consisted of Croce and explorers from the United Kingdom, France, Scotland, Australia, Panama and Colombia. They were armed with the most sophisticated equipment in the world, including a magnetometer, GeoSwath and sub-bottom profiler that can scan the ocean floor.
"We've really, I feel, hit a home run here with what we found with Pat," said marine archaeologist James Sinclair. "Finding the Elizabeth and Delight near where Sir Francis Drake is buried is as exciting to me as helping discover the Atocha and diving the RMS Titanic."
Drake, who was born in 1540 and died of dysentery, was a privateer and naval war hero under Queen Elizabeth I, who called him "my pirate." He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe, and he terrorized Spain's New World empire.
In other words, he was a badass plunderer, Croce says, and the most successful privateer in maritime history.
"If it weren't for Sir Francis Drake, we might all be speaking Spanish," Croce said. "He was the ultimate pirate, bro. I love this guy."
