Old Money - How treasure from an eighteen-century shipwreck ended up in the hands of a Florida couple

How treasure from an eighteenth-century shipwreck ended up in the hands of a Florida couple.

- By Lauren Collins - Illustration by Vincent Mahé

Nothing made Gay Courter happier than being on a ship. She and her husband, Phil, had travelled the world by everything from hydroplane to hot-air balloon, but something about the sea air and the rocking motion of the water gave her an unparalleled feeling of well-being. In late January of 2020, the Courters embarked on their twentieth cruise together-a twoweek tour of Southeast Asia aboard a ship called the Diamond Princess. They began their adventure in Tokyo, where they dined on fugu, the occasionally fatal puffer fish. Gay had a tradition of giving every trip a name. She was calling this one Seventy-five and Still Alive. They assumed that they'd already survived the most harrowing bit.

The Courters live by the water in Crystal River, Florida. They have three children and eight grandchildren. They are semi-retired and own a production company that makes documentary and educational films. Phil builds things and plays the banjo. Gay writes. She is the author of eleven books, ranging from The Beansprout Book, which, according to her Wikipedia page, “introduced beansprouts to American supermarkets and the general public, to The Midwife, a best-seller in 1982. Her most recent novel, published in 2019, is set on a cruise ship. According to its promotional material, the book juxtaposes the sumptuousness of a dream vacation with the horrors that lurk around the bend.