On the gallows as he was about to be hanged for piracy, Olivier Levasseur supposedly tore a string of lettered beads from his neck and flung them into the milling throng saying: “Find my treasure, the one who may understand it.” Although the original bling has long been lost, treasure hunters and marine archeologists have been poring over the 17-line cryptogram on it for nearly 300 years hoping to find his ship, the Nossa Senhora do Cabo, and the fate of its $138 million in treasure.

As high school pals Jeff Hummel and Matt McCauley shared a passion for treasure hunting around their Mercer Island, Washington, home. Finding the elusive S.S. Pacific topped their list of pursuits. Some 40 years later, they may have realized their dream.

Fanny Palmer felt uneasy as she headed to Victoria, British Columbia’s Esquimalt Harbor on the morning of November 4, 1875. The 18-year-old daughter of a local college professor was going to board the S.S. Pacific for one of its bimonthly runs to San Francisco.

Even the non-poker players on the U-1206 had a sense they survived World War II because of a flush.

Where to find $17 billion under the sea is hardly a secret. A tangled snarl of claims to the holy grail of treasure wrecks plus technical challenges of visiting the ship are thwarting the recovery of its prize. The San Jose is some 2,000 feet below the waters off Colombia, where it sank in a battle in 1708.