The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

TRIBUNE Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A BAHAMIAN-LED underwater explorer rejected a business proposal based on “trade secrets” allegedly misappropriated from the treasure hunting operation headed by Walker’s Cay’s millionaire owner.

Jimmy Fox, a Long Island native, and the then-Bahamas Shipwreck Management group, abruptly cut-off all talks and links to Dan Porter, principal of Maritime Research & Recovery (MRR), upon learning he was embroiled in a furious legal battle with Carl Allen, and Allen Exploration, which featured allegations of Customs, Immigration and other Bahamian law violations.

Legal filings by Mr Allen and his exploration outfit allege that Mr Porter and MRR misused its confidential and proprietary information to seek business partnerships with Bahamas Shipwreck Management and other rival salvagers by offering the location of sunken wreck “targets” located in this nation’s waters.

However, Tribune Business has obtained confirmation that Mr Fox and the Bahamian-led exploration group severed all ties to Mr Porter and MRR during the 2025 first quarter due to the accusations and claims being made against him by Allen Exploration.

“As it stands now, with all the negative press toward you in the local papers from your last project, we are going to have to decline involvement with you or your vessels. We will revisit this as per the outcome,” Mr Fox told Mr Porter in a message entitled ‘working relationship’.

Despite cutting ties, he nevertheless praised Mr Porter, who had previously worked as a contractor for Allen Exploration until the two sides fell-out and parted ways in August/September 2024, as “the most professional person I have met in this business”.

Mr Fox and his attorneys declined to comment when contacted by this newspaper, but it is understood they felt there was too much negativity around Mr Porter and MRR due to the allegations against them, while also fearing that entering into any business relationship could drag Bahamas Shipwreck Management into the battle with Allen Exploration.

They were also unaware, and had no way of knowing, that the proposal offered by Mr Porter was based on “trade secrets” misappropriated from Allen Exploration, and would not have entertained any discussions or talks had they been aware.

Tribune Business understands that Mr Fox and his group hold valid exploration and recovery licences to search for ship wrecks, and associated valuables and artifacts, in areas close to Mayaguana and Bimini. Work is more advanced on the former, and the name Bahamas Shipwreck Management is no longer being used, but the two licence areas are separate and apart from Mr Allen’s.

Mr Porter’s bid to strike an exploration deal with the Bahamian-led group and others, in the immediate aftermath of his bitter break-up with Mr Allen, is revealed in documents filed with the North Texas federal court as part of their legal battle. It shows the MRR chief approaching Allen Exploration rivals with offers of “target” wrecks and the use of his Freeport-based salvage vessels.

The business proposal rejected by Mr Fox and Bahamas Shipwreck Management also provides an insight into the vast potential wealth source hidden beneath this country’s waters - long-lost artifacts of significant cultural, heritage and monetary value amounting to millions of dollars - provided they actually exist and can be recovered.

Mr Porter, in a September 12, 2024, e-mail said he had identified “two areas that I believe warrant serious archaeological investigation” - one on the northern Great Bahama Bank, and the other south of Bimini. The first, he asserted, contained as a “primary target” the wreck of the San Antone Del Brasil 1551, for which he possessed “sound locational information”.

Also present in the same area, Mr Porter added, was the wreck of the Santa Maria de la Concepcion. He wrote that this vessel, weighing 110 tons, was “lost north of Bimini” in 1528 carrying “an unspecified amount of plunder” that the Spanish conquistadors had seized in Mexico.

Suggesting that the northern Great Bahama Bank is a fertile exploration and recovery ground for treasure hunters, he also identified the Santa Maria de los Remedios, which was wrecked in 1559 “while returning to Spain carrying 768,110 pesos in gold and silver”.

“Area number two is located south of Bimini,” Mr Porter added. “The primary target there is known as Santiago El Grande, lost in 1765, with a large amount of treasure said to be south-east of Beaks Cay by seven miles.”

However, Mr Allen and Allen Exploration, in their court filings, alleged that much of this target location information was based on Mr Porter and MRR misuing “trade secrets” misappropriated from them. They specifically cited details obtained from log books produced by an earlier underwater explorer, Bob Marx, in the 1970s.

“The Marx logs and related materials were part of the archives purchased by Carl Allen from the Marx estate and kept at Allen’s Bahamas Maritime Museum,” Allen Exploration alleged in May 5, 2026, legal filings.

“Porter had access to those materials through his AEX-related position, including access to the locked room in which the archives were kept. Porter nevertheless used the information to generate project opportunities………. By September 11 and 12, 2024, Porter had prepared and circulated co-ordinates and materials for areas to be pursued through Bahamian participants.”

Allen Exploration alleged that Mr Porter, in seeking to exploit its “trade secrets” to find new business, first reached out to Ricky Darville, a now-deceased “Bahamian treasure salvor” before finding his way to Mr Fox and his group. It claimed that this was “not an accident”, because Mr Porter was seeking to use their exploration licence and have them act as a ‘front’ for him.

Doing so, Allen Exploration asserted, would “provide the veneer of Bahamian cultural heritage being recovered by a local Bahamian citizen”. However, this never happened because no deal between Bahamas Shipwreck Management and Mr Porter/MRR was ever sealed or finalised.

Mr Porter, giving evidence under oath before the North Texas court, denied that he had misappropriated Allen Exploration’s trade secrets and used them to tout for business with other underwater explorers. He argued that much of the information said to have been misused came from publicly-accessible databases.

“I believe that Allen Exploration believes that they have the only information out there in the shipwreck industry, and they haven't been in the industry long enough to realise that there's a wealth of information out there through archival data,” Mr Porter argued.

“There's public forums, like TreasureNet, where a lot of the old-timers will post a lot of information, a lot of the lore; you kind of have to filter through some of it. There was also lot of information from Bob Marx that was shared with many people. And there's archives of shipwrecks, of galleons and other financially feasible targets that are out there.

“One of my biggest sources for the information that I had on the northern area of the Grand Bahama Bank, not the Little Bahama Bank where Mr Allen's lease is at, on the Grand Bahama Bank, and then also south of that, came from a gentleman named Allan Gardner. He gave me thousands of targets, and he gave me a list of over 20 shipwrecks,” the MRR principal continued.

“The same wrecks that he was looking for are the wrecks that I have listed for Mr Fox. And there's lists of archivist Jorge Proctor, stuff off of TreasureNet, Luis Camacho, they all have lists, Robert Westrick. When I put the list of these shipwrecks together that we wanted to target, I talked to all these guys.

“They gave me their files on these wrecks. There was a wreck known as the San Anton, and the - El Dorado, they called it. And there's a gentleman named Tony Kopp that lives in Sweden. He posts on TreasureNet all the time. And he's been posting on TreasureNet about working on that particular wreck since 2005. He's got pictures of the anchors that were found by Bob Marx in 1983. He's got the pictures, he's got the logs, he's put large reports on TreasureNet about some of the targets that we're looking for.”

But Judge Reed O’Connor, the North Texas chief judge, in his October 21, 2026, decision found there was “a preponderance of evidence” to support the allegation by Allen Exploration that MRR had failed to return a “search database” and breached the two sides’ confidentiality agreement.

He found that Mr Porter had provided no evidence to substantiate his claim that the information cited by Allen Exploration was already publicly accessible and available to anyone. Still, the two separate proposals produced by Mr Porter for Bahamas Shipwreck Management give a fascinating insight into the history, value and wealth potentially lying on this nation’s seabed.

“After nearly three decades of moratorium imposed by the Government of The Bahamas, we are poised to dive into these fertile waters, uncovering treasures that have remained hidden for generations,” Mr Porter gushed, in a seeming pitch to investors, over what he termed the ‘Great Bahama Bank expedition 2025’.

“We have identified four high-potential shipwreck targets within our two lease areas, each promising extraordinary artifacts and treasures. Our dedicated team has already initiated preliminary visual site location based on our historic shipwreck index….

“We anticipate uncovering additional historic shipwrecks that could dramatically exceed the value of our initial objectives. This venture is not only an adventure but also holds the potential for remarkable financial returns… Join us on this thrilling expedition into the clear Bahamian waters, where history, adventure and significant treasure await.”

Giving more details on the targets he had identified, Mr Porter wrote: “If a successful salvage operation were conducted on the San Antón do Brasil, the projected rewards could be substantial, both financially and culturally.

“The ship was believed to carry immense wealth, with estimates suggesting over 780,000 castellanos in gold, silver and precious stones, which could yield hundreds of millions of dollars. Additionally, the galleon was thought to carry culturally significant artifacts, such as gold statues, jewellery and Inca relics, likely fetching high prices in the art and antiquities markets….

“The site could also become a destination for adventure tourists, creating new economic opportunities for local communities. Moreover, museums and educational institutions could develop programmes centred around the story of the San Antón do Brasil, enhancing public engagement with maritime history,” he continued.

“Overall, a successful salvage operation could yield significant financial rewards while making valuable contributions to the rich cultural heritage, education and scientific research for The Bahamas.”

Turning to the Santiago El Grande, Mr Porter branded it as “undoubtedly one of the ten richest shipwrecks lost in the Western Hemisphere” and ranking “among the five richest still awaiting discovery”. He said its registered cargo included 240 tons of silver bars and ingots; 1.85m pesos in silver coins; two-and-a-half tons of gold; 12 chests of pearls; and 27 chests of emeralds and stones.

“The potential rewards from the salvage of the Santiago El Grande could be substantial, considering the estimated value of its cargo. The ship is believed to have carried an impressive amount of treasure, which could easily exceed hundreds of millions of dollars in today’s market, especially given the rising prices of precious metals and gemstones,” Mr Porter wrote.

He made similar assessments of the Santa María de la Concepción and Santa María de los Remedios wrecks, asserting that the latter was carrying 768,440 pesos in registered gold and silver “which could translate into tens of millions of dollars” and a value in the hundreds of millions.

However, just one month after telling MRR members and investors on February 12, 2025, that he was “in the final stages of completing our agreement with Mr Fox and his team”, Mr Porter admitted in an e-mail that the deal was off and there was no prospect of a tie-up or doing work for Bahamas Shipwreck Management.

“I wanted to give you an update on the situation in The Bahamas,” Mr Porter wrote to a potential MRR investor on March 25, 2025. “Following discussions with Jimmy Fox, we have mutually agreed to disassociate from one another due to ongoing issues with the Government.

“While the underlying causes of these issues are not my concern (as that is a separate matter), the fact remains that the involvement with me is hindering the project’s progress. Regrettably, I did not anticipate it would come to this point, but it has.”