The Treasure Hunter

by Robin Moore, Howard Jennings

Gold, the glowing sacred metal of the ancient Incas, the elusive prize so many men have dreamed of and for which so many have died. Howard Jennings, real-life treasure hunter and long-time friend of author Robin Moore, have joined to tell Jenning's story in this romantic adventure fiction. It is an incredible tale, one that tells of rivers of emeralds in snake-filled jungles; of desert gun duels fought in the shadow on ancient Inca pyramids; of hairbreadth escapes from bandits in the mist-shrouded Andes; of love, courage and obsession. Most of all, it is absolutely true. It is also a compendium of treasure hunting lore, in which Howard Jennings not only discloses the secrets that have made him wealthy, but actually pinpoints the location of several still-undiscovered (and in some cases, never-before-discussed) treasure hoards.

Genres: Nonfiction

261 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

Robert Lowell "Robin" Moore, Jr. was an writer best known for his books The Green Berets: The Amazing Story of the U.S. Army's Elite Special Forces Unit,The French Connection: A True Account of Cops Narcotics and International Conspiracy and, with Xaviera Hollander and Yvonne Dunleavy, The Happy Hooker: My Own Story.

Moore also co-wrote the lyrics with Barry Sadler for the Ballad of the Green Berets, which was one of the major hit songs of 1966.

At the time of his death, Moore was residing in Hopkinsville, Kentucky (home to Fort Campbell and the 5th Special Forces Group) where he was working on his memoirs as well as three other books.

During World War II he served as a nose gunner in the U.S. Army Air Corps, flying combat missions in the European Theater of Operations. Moore graduated from Harvard College in 1949.

Thanks to connections with fellow Harvard graduate, Robert F. Kennedy, Moore was allowed access to the U.S. Army Special Forces. It was General William P. Yarborough who insisted that Moore go through special forces training in order to better understand "what makes Special Forces soldiers 'special'." He trained for nearly a year, first at "jump school" before completing the [[Special Forces Qualification Course]] or "Q Course", becoming the first civilian to participate in such an intensive program. Afterward, Moore was assigned to the 5th Special Forces Group on deployment to South Vietnam. His experiences in South East Asia formed the basis for ''The Green Berets.

Biography Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_Moore

Reviews

[Mike Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mr. Jennings' adventures certainly are entertaining, but they're a throw-back to the age of empire when there were no rules. As long as you were white, you could do no wrong. Except, there were rules. Rules that he was quite aware of. Rules that he took great care to get around. He was, simply put, a thief. Even when he recovered his first bit of treasure, he knew that he was digging on private property without permission from the owner. Most of his recovered treasure was Inca gold from South America, and every single ounce of it was stolen antiquities. In at least two places in the book, Mr. Jennings makes the argument that his rape of virgin archeology sites in the jungles of South America actually provided a service to the world by bringing their existences and treasures to light. Thieves, like drug addicts, always try to justify their actions. But, in the end, he was just a thief that stole national treasures for his own enrichment. He actually mentioned that, in some places, he could be summarily executed for simply being in possession of any one of the dozens of artifacts that he smuggled out of their countries of origin. He shares the traits of the financial wheelers and dealers that almost brought the world's economy to its knees: knowledgeable, ambitious, driven, single-minded, daring, greedy, unrepentant & devoid of a moral compass.

[Joseph Hamilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robin Moore narrates forty-three pages of this book and Howard Jennings the other 210. It starts in Jamaica in 1960 when they go as unprepared novices to an off shore island to search for treasure and find none. The chapter title appropriately includes the word “fiasco.”

In the second chapter Howard smuggles stolen emeralds out of Columbia netting $56,000.

In the third chapter they retrieve a treasure chest that the treasure hunter Frederick Mitchell-Hedges had left behind on Roatán island, Honduras, netting $22,000. These chapters seem to be happening in 1963 when Robin is preparing to write his best seller about the Green Berets in Vietnam.

In the fourth chapter the time is 1964 and Howard robs some ancient Indian graves in Peru. He sells eleven gold artifacts for $26,000.

In the fifth chapter Howard realizes that the conquistadors hit Columbia and Peru hard but neglected Ecuador and this hunch pays off with sales of £3,700 and $4,200.

In the sixth chapter Howard outfits a proper expedition with industrial equipment and vacuums up gold from the Paulaya river on the Mosquito coast of Honduras. He pays his Indian workers forty cents a day, having earlier written caustically about an alcalde paying his Indians twenty cents.

In the seventh chapter Howard reads about the Swedish archeologist Carl Hartman who dug in Costa Rica in 1896, 1897 and 1903. He tells Robin an old Indian who worked for Hartman stole and buried some gold. Together they find his grandson, now an old man, and retrieve 103 gold artifacts, splitting it three ways with Howard and Robin’s share realizing $68,000 at sale.


In three of these chapters there is a local alcalde who stalks Howard hoping to relieve him of any recovered treasure.
As noted here, the book was published on January 1, 1974.
Howard was one of 176 people killed in the midair collision of British Airways Flight 476 on September 10, 1976. He was 51. (See Find a Grave Memorial ID 118391828.)

[Kristopher Larsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've never read a book by an unrepentant grave robber and antiquity smuggler before . . . Definitely a book of its era, for better or worse (primarily the latter.) Got it due to the Roatan Port Royal tale but most of it is about looting Ecuador.

[Jared · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chronicles a man who chose to live a more adventurous life. Well, actually, the author of the Green Berets thought it would be interesting to co-write a biography with his friend while he had some downtime. It's entertaining.

[Darinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining story of an adventurer/treasure hunter.