Gold from a ship - level 3

11-09-2013 14:00

A treasure hunting family in Florida has hit the jackpot after finding $300,000 worth of gold from a shipwreck.

It's every pirate's dream but for the Schmitt family it was a shocking reality.

"You know, the first was excitement, followed by a lot of, just, you know, almost crying."

They found gold coins and chains from a wreckage of 11 ships that went down in a hurricane in 1715. But they have to split the haul between the company who own the wreckage rights and the State of Florida who can take 20% of the find to put in museums.

Difficult words: treasure hunting (looking for valuable things), shipwreck (destroyed ship), haul (large amount of illegal or stolen things), find (discovery of something valuable).