 Man explores 16th-century shipwreck, looks closer, and races to surface. When he returned to the surface, he was gasping for air. His heart pounded as he realized what was lying beneath his feet. He thought about swimming back to shore to ask for help and who was to say it would still be here upon his return. No, he was diving down again. Only now, it was a race against time, it was a matter of life and death. It was a beautiful still, sunny morning as Teddy Tucker swam along the Bermuda Coral Reef. The ocean was as blue and clear as the sky above him. It felt like the calm before the storm, and it was literally. Growing up beside the ocean, locals joked that Tucker had become more fish than man. He loved to explore the ocean's floor, especially in a place as interesting as Bermuda. Bermuda was famous for its 16th-century shipwrecks. Hundreds of ships over hundreds of years had fallen victim to a mysteriously deadly area just beyond the Coral Reef called Bermuda's Triangle. Over the years, Tucker had collected a lot of metal salvaged from the shipwrecks around the area. But he never thought he'd actually find a real-life treasure. Tucker had spent two hours swimming, with only his swimsuit shorts on and snorkeling goggles, he dove beneath the ocean overturning every object that seemed interesting. But things were about to get much more interesting and dangerous than he bargained for. It was when the first wave crashed underneath the ocean that he realized he was in trouble. Tucker resurfaced and suddenly realized that the sky had turned grey, the ocean choppy and rough, and the winds, dangerous. There was a hurricane forming. He had to get out now. He dove again swimming closer to the shore underwater, beneath the waves. But then, he saw it. Most men might have kept swimming to get to safety, but Tucker wasn't most men. From the corner of his eye, Tucker saw something unusual on the ocean floor. There was an odd bump in the sandy bed and something seemed to sparkle as it nestled on top of it. Tucker swam toward it for a closer look. He brushed its surface and dug around it. An old rusty cannon appeared. But this wasn't any old cannon. His heart leaped forwards as he realized what he saw. Along with the cannon, affixed on its sides and disguised between corals and other ocean organisms were three-quarter-inch gold buttons that were studded with pearls. Just as Tucker began to recover from his shock, he realized he had unturned what looked like silver coins from the ocean bed. Tucker couldn't believe what he was seeing, but he needed to leave for air. Then things took a disastrous turn. When Tucker returned to the surface, he was gasping for air. But not because he was underwater for so long. It was because of the big waves that were crashing overhead. The hurricane was now in full swing as the wind, rain, and waves tore through the atmosphere. But Tucker couldn't bring himself to leave. He had to discover what else was down there before the storm made everything too hard to see. Now, it was a race against time. Tucker took a big final breath and dove back towards his astonishing discovery. As soon as he dug he found more treasures, another gold and pearl button, two gold inglows with a royal Spanish tax stamp visible on their surface, and about 200 silver coins. He felt like he had just won the lottery, and he did. But the ocean was done revealing its treasures to Tucker just yet. After Tucker put his finds into a bag he carried around in his pocket, he continued to dig. He was moving as fast as he could. It wasn't soon before he found another inglow and remarkably a ten-and-a-half inch long, 36-ounce bar of gold and a smaller piece. With all of this, he could scarcely have hoped that the best was yet to come. But it was. When Tucker first saw it, it was lying upside down in the sand. He picked it up and turned it over, and his jaw hit the floor. He knew this was something even more special than any gold or treasure he found before. I picked it up and turned it over. Awestruck, I counted the large green emeralds on its face. There were seven of them, each as big as a musket ball, Tucker marveled. What was it? Teddy Tucker found the world's single most valuable object ever found in a shipwreck. The treasure, named Tucker's Cross, was an emerald studded, 22-karat gold cross. Tucker's Cross alone was worth more than $2 million. And its emerald stones are considered the most beautiful stones in the world. So how much did Tucker sell it for? Amazingly, Tucker was offered $2 million from a US ambassador to Italy but refused as he wanted the jewel to stay in Bermuda. Tucker ended up selling his most prized possession to the Bermuda government for a measly $35,000, under the condition that it will stay in Bermuda for as long as possible. But fate had different plans. After Tucker's Cross was recovered, the government of Bermuda constructed a new museum. It was to feature a collection of rare artifacts, including those found by Tucker and other finds from Bermuda shipwrecks. Word quickly spread in Queen Elizabeth was one of the first high-profile people to visit its timeless collection. Tucker helped prepare the museum for her arrival. But he made a startling discovery. While he transported the Cross to an area of private collections, he realized the Cross and the glass case wasn't real. It had been replaced by a plastic replica. Shocked, he informed the police and they immediately jumped on the case. Unfortunately, his most valued treasure is still missing today. It remains my most treasured discovery he reminisced.