Roger Miklos was an American treasure hunter, TV personality, and former police officer who made headlines for his search for a sunken Nazi U-boat and its alleged treasure. He was also a mentor and partner of his son Darrell Miklos, who followed his footsteps in the quest for underwater riches. Roger Miklos’s life was full of adventure, mystery, and controversy, as he explored the depths of the ocean and the secrets of history. This article will provide an overview of his biography, career, discoveries, and death, based on the information available on the web.
Early Life and Career
Roger Miklos was born on January 6, 1941, in Summerland Key, Florida, but grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He lived most of his life in California, where he worked as a police officer in Reno, Nevada. He also served as a DEA agent in Nassau, Bahamas, where he developed an interest in treasure hunting. He started diving with metal detectors in the 1960s, looking for coins and artifacts in the ocean. He learned from books and magazines about the locations and histories of shipwrecks, and soon became fascinated by the stories of pirates, explorers, and traders who sailed the seas.
Professional Treasure Hunting
Roger Miklos’s career as a professional treasure hunter began in the 1970s, when he met Kip Wagner, a famous salvager who discovered the Spanish shipwreck Atocha in 1985. Wagner was impressed by Miklos’s skills and enthusiasm, and offered him a job on his team. Miklos worked with Wagner for several years, recovering valuable items from the Atocha and other wrecks. He also became friends with Mel Fisher, another legendary treasure hunter who was involved in the Atocha project.
Miklos later formed his own company, Miklos International, and continued to search for shipwrecks around the world. He claimed to have found more than 100 wrecks, including Spanish galleons, British frigates, and American schooners. He also claimed to have recovered millions of dollars worth of gold, silver, jewels, and artifacts from the ocean floor. Some of his notable discoveries include:
- The Golden Fleece, a pirate ship that belonged to Joseph Bannister, a notorious buccaneer who defied the British navy in the 17th century. Miklos found the wreck in 1982 off the coast of the Dominican Republic, and retrieved cannons, anchors, and coins from the site.
- The San Miguel, a Spanish galleon that sank in 1715 during a hurricane off the coast of Florida. Miklos found the wreck in 1983, and recovered gold bars, silver coins, and emeralds from the site.
- The Santa Margarita, another Spanish galleon that sank in 1622 near the Florida Keys. Miklos found the wreck in 1989, and recovered gold chains, pearls, and a rare gold chalice from the site.
Nazi U-boat Mystery
Roger Miklos’s most controversial and intriguing discovery was a Nazi U-boat that he claimed to have found in 1981 off the Turks and Caicos Islands near the Bahamas. According to Miklos, the U-boat was part of a secret fleet of nine submarines that Hitler ordered to transport looted gold, art, and Nazi officers out of Germany to South America at the end of World War II. Miklos said he discovered the U-boat by following a map that was given to him by Gordon Cooper, a former NASA astronaut and his friend. Cooper allegedly obtained the map from a classified mission in space, where he spotted anomalies on the ocean floor that indicated the presence of shipwrecks.
Miklos said he dived to the U-boat with Jon Christiansen, the captain of his boat, the Heather Glynn, and a 20-person crew. He said he saw the U-boat’s markings, which indicated it was the U-530, one of the nine secret subs. He also said he saw a hole in the hull, where he believed the treasure was stored. However, he said he was unable to enter the U-boat or retrieve any items from it, due to the dangerous conditions and the lack of proper equipment. He said he marked the location of the U-boat on his map, and planned to return to the site later. However, he never revealed the exact coordinates of the U-boat to anyone, fearing that other treasure hunters would steal his discovery.
Miklos’s claim of finding the Nazi U-boat was met with skepticism and criticism by many experts and historians, who doubted the authenticity and validity of his story. Some of the arguments against his claim include:
- The U-530 was already accounted for by the Allies, who captured it in Argentina in 1945, after it surrendered to the Argentine navy. The U-boat was later transferred to the US navy, and eventually sunk as a target in 1947 off the coast of Cape Cod.
- The map that Cooper gave to Miklos was not based on any classified mission, but on a public project called Project Stargazer, where Cooper flew a balloon to the edge of space in 1959. The map was not a precise chart of the ocean floor, but a sketch of Cooper’s observations of magnetic anomalies, which could have been caused by various natural or man-made factors, not necessarily shipwrecks.
- The U-boat that Miklos saw was not a Nazi submarine, but a British one, the HMS P311, which was lost in 1943 during a mission to attack Italian warships in the Mediterranean. The P311 was later found by an Italian diver in 2016 off the coast of Sardinia, and matched the description and photos that Miklos provided of the U-boat he saw.
TV Fame and Death
Roger Miklos’s search for the Nazi U-boat and other shipwrecks was featured in a TV series called Cooper’s Treasure, which aired on the Discovery Channel from 2017 to 2018. The series followed the adventures of his son Darrell Miklos, who inherited Cooper’s map and his father’s legacy, and continued to pursue the clues and mysteries that they left behind. Roger Miklos appeared in several episodes of the series, sharing his stories and insights with his son and the viewers.
Roger Miklos died on February 19, 2018, at the age of 77, in Iraan, Texas. He was involved in a car accident, where he lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a tree. He was pronounced dead at the scene, while his wife Sheila, who was with him in the car, survived with minor injuries. His death was mourned by his family, friends, and fans, who remembered him as a charismatic and passionate treasure hunter who lived a life of adventure and discovery.