IN SEARCH OF THE CASPIAN TREASURES

A famous American diver and treasure hunter, Bill Warren, has an idea to explore the sunken ships in the Caspian Sea. He has lived in Baku for several years. He has officially made an appeal to the Azerbaijani authorities, and his proposal is under consideration. Warren is the author of the book Shipwrecks and Discoveries, who has previously dived in search of sunken ships in the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, the Black Sea and other parts of the world. He has told us about the reasons that brought him to Azerbaijan.

- First of all, can you please tell us how you ended up in Baku?

- I arrived to Baku four years ago to meet my future wife, a beautiful Azerbaijani woman named Gulshan. We met and talked a few months on the internet, and then she invited me to Baku. I knew that Azerbaijan was an oil rich Caspian country, but I did not know anything about your culture and the wonderful city of Baku. Another reason for my visit to Azerbaijan is a business that I am planning to start here.

- How did you decide to solve the mystery of sunken ships in the Caspian Sea?

- I started diving in the late '70s in California. After some time, this hobby turned into a business. I had a team of eight divers-hunters. We used to hunt for sea-urchins off the coast of Los Angeles. During one of the dives, I found a very old wooden ship. Since that time, I began to study the history of shipwrecks, trying to figure out if they were transporting gold, silver, precious stones, jewelry, rare Chinese ceramics, etc. Over the years, I have found hundreds of wrecks around the world. I have dived for treasures of sunken ships in the waters of Africa, Bahamas, California, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean, and the Black Sea. This is an exciting experience, and the rewards can be great. And everywhere I and my team of divers and experts in the electronic system, which allows to detect shipwrecks on the seabed, we conducted operations after getting a consent relevant authorities.

- Why are you interested in the Caspian Sea?

- It offers a unique opportunity to discover ships sunken in the old days. I became interested in this issue closely. I have found out that lots of ships sank in the Caspian over the history of Caspian navigation as a result of storms, hurricanes, sea battles, and pirates attacks. They can be found on old maps and using modern technical facilities. The loads on these ships varied and sometimes they were quite valuable. A researcher from the Museum of History of Azerbaijan, hydro-archeologist Victor Kvachadze has conducted researches related to the discovery of sunken ships since 1968. He has discovered more than 900 historical artifacts a few kilometers off the coast of Absheron Peninsula. Most of the objects were found in shallow waters. The divers also found a sunken city. Among the objects, there are pieces dating back to the Bronze Age. Many of these objects are exhibited in the Museum of History of Azerbaijan. Lots of artifacts of historical value were found on the sunken ships of the famous Russian Cossack, Stepan Razin, and the ships of Peter the Great’s era. These historical figures were responsible for the sinking of hundreds of Persian ships. Naval battles were near the coast of present-day Azerbaijan. And in 1970, a Russian diver and his team found a gold piece with precious stones made in the 17^th century. At the time, it cost $1 million. The book written by the head of that expedition provides many interesting details about the historical values still on the Caspian seabed.

I suggested that the Azerbaijani government could take advantage of my experience of diving to explore the shipwrecks and cities in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. I have everything to fulfill this job: a company, experienced specialists and divers. By the way, the book "Caspian Atlantis" was published in ‘70s as a summary of results of the Azerbaijani researchers. It says that one can find not only ships, but also settlements, city walls, even the whole cities under the water. So, from a historical point of view, the Caspian Sea is the unknown world of lost cities and shipwrecks. I also proposed filming a documentary on our projects, which could be demonstrated through popular TV channels including Discovery Channel, History Channel, National Geographic, etc.

- What is the most valuable in your collection of sunken objects?

- Unfortunately, we were not able to raise the most valuable thing to the surface. In Mauritius, in Africa we have found the English ship East Indiaman at a depth of just 5 meters, which, according to the archives, contained several kilograms of diamonds from India. It sank breaking on the coral reefs. We failed to dive because of the huge waves. Later, in the Bahamas, we found a wreck of the English ship that belonged to the fleet of King Charles II. There were precious stones, gold and silver coins, armor, dating 1670, and thousands of other historical artifacts. There was even an article published in Treasure Diver Magazine. We also found many historical objects on the ship of Charles I sank in 1633. This ship was discovered during our expedition to the UK. The vessel was lying at the bottom of Firth of Forth in Scotland, near Edinburgh. The cost of treasures, only the royal gold products (280 pieces) was $2 billion. These were the golden objects from royal dishes. A documentary was filmed about the wreck and the treasures discovered on it. The Queen herself wrote us a letter of gratitude.

- We know that you are good at singing and even plan to start jazz career in Azerbaijan...

- Yes (laughs). I would really like. I started singing when I was eleven. My first concert was held in Los Angeles. At age 17, I won two national singing contest in the US. Then I studied and perfected my skills. I gave concerts in famous concert halls such as the casino MGM Grand in Las Vegas, in Hollywood Palladium, which is located on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood. Also, I gave concerts for many charitable organizations, including the World Opportunities Intl, which organizes the delivery of food, medical supplies for people in need around the world, especially in Mexico and Africa.

In 1985, I met with Frank Sinatra, when he was singing in the church. He later asked me to sing at his wedding anniversary. I also interviewed him on my television show called Palm Springs Gold Show. Later we became friends. Sinatra taught me some musical tricks that I use today in my concerts. Unfortunately, the people in Baku knows a little about the amazing creativity of Frank Sinatra. Usually, I sing his songs. Recently, the representatives of the Ministry of Culture have organized my audition at the Rashid Behbudov Theater. I would love to perform in the Baku Philharmonic.