I’d made a lot of money with my last find and I needed to figure out a way to spend some of it without getting into trouble. I would start a lost and found business. I loved reading John D McDonald books and Travis McGee seemed to always find a way to help people while still making enough money to live the Beach Bum life, in a very comfortable way. What I didn’t want was all the violence he seemed to be a part of.

I found a place where I could buy a radio signal detector, the price was good, but it was kind of bulky or at least the antenna was. MOTE Lab was getting rid of them and getting new ones, so I not only got the detector, I got a list of dolphins on the Gulf that had been tagged. It would be a good cover for going out and looking for other things. Now I needed to figure out a way to look employed.

I talked to an insurance company about boats lost in shallow water, nothing below fifty feet. He told me he would get in touch with me after he talked with some other guys from the claims department. I also put an ad in the Orlando Sentinel and the Tampa Tribune, both were two-inch square that would stand out. Naming a new Salvage and Lost and Found Company, insured and bonded. I was going to do this right. Everything I found for others was going to be reported. The other stuff I might come up with, well you know. It took a few months to get things worked out. I now have a real business and a few projects to work on.

I hauled up a couple small boats, one on Lake Harris and one on Lake Yale. I hired a friend, and it was easy to float them up and tow them in, after expenses I made a few hundred dollars. I was also spending a lot of time cruising the gulf around Tampa figuring that would be where things would be more likely to be dropped. I did find a bale of pot, I left it alone. No way was I going to mess with drugs. Over the next six months or so I brought in a couple more boats and found a lady’s ring. I was making enough to live if all I ate was peanut butter. It was a great cover for now and I was having fun.

Hurricane Frederic had hit the Gulf Coast, and I thought I would go up to Destin and just look around. I had a camper shell on my truck, so with a mattress, water, food, all the things I would need to stay for a while, I hooked up the boat and took off. It only took a couple hours to get there, then another couple to find a place to camp and put the boat in. Destin Marina was out so I went to Marler Bridge. I saw a Police Officer and asked if I could stay there a few nights and was told yes. He also told me I could stay at the park if I wanted to. I decided just to kick back for the day and drove over to the park and fixed some dinner. It was only about 4:00, too late to do much but too early for bed. I saw a family just a little way towards the playground so after eating I went over and talked a bit.

The next morning, I was out early and by noon I was towing 3 small boats that I had found drifting. I tied them off across from the bridge on the island there. I went back and tied my boat to the dock and figured I needed to find a cop somewhere or go by their station. You have to remember that back then everyone wasn’t a suspect. This was real Florida, if you kept your hair neat and talked to them like you would want to be spoken to, most likely you wouldn’t have a problem. Just like now there were good cops and bad, it just seemed like there were more good ones then. I saw a county car and waved him over, so I never had to leave the park. When he stopped, I went over and told him what I had been up to and gave him a card. I told him since these were real peoples boats and not insurance companies claims I was just trying to figure out what to do with them. I got a real good Sheriff Deputy, his name was Sgt. Keith White, and he was all about helping. He radioed in that I had a few boats and where they were. I had written the registration numbers down for the two that had them, the smallest only had a 6 HP motor so didn’t need one. He was told they would look up who the owners were and would contact them. He asks if I was going to keep looking for more and I said no, if I found more while out looking for bigger boats I would bring them in though. He said I could leave anything I found on the Island, and they would find the owners if possible. He gave me a card and said to call him if I found more or if he wasn’t in just leave the numbers with the dispatcher. He was a real nice guy and just wanted to help his community any way he could. He told me not to worry about my truck and trailer as he would have his guys watch out for it.

I was feeling pretty good, I wasn’t finding anything I could make money off of, but I was helping everyday folks. I had money and as far as I was concerned just getting out acting like I was working and doing a little good was payment enough. I went to a restaurant and got some chicken and sweet tea. The area I was in didn’t have much damage, but I was looking for bundles that might have been pushed towards shore. Being on the upper part of the Bend I thought maybe something might surface.