Deep beneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, a remarkable hunt is unfolding. Joe Sziga, a retired fisherman turned treasure hunter, believes he has found the final clues leading to a long-lost fortune—an estimated $200 million in gold and emeralds. But the wreck he is searching for, the Isabelita, is more than just a lost ship; it’s a haunting relic of history, linked to piracy, slavery, and an unsolved mystery.

The Lost Ship and Its Fortune

According to Sziga, the Isabelita was a 33-meter-long vessel operating in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea in 1817. But its journey took a dark turn when it was intercepted by the French corsair Louis Michel Aury, a privateer with a history of raiding merchant ships.

As the Isabelita attempted to escape, it ran aground on a reef, leaving the crew no choice but to dump heavy cargo overboard to lighten the ship. That cargo? Potentially gold, emeralds, and other valuables—along with ballast stones and anchors, some of which Sziga has already uncovered.

With modern deep-sea technology, Sziga and his partner, Captain Samuel Koury, are convinced they are one step away from a historic discovery. Their plan? To dive deeper as soon as weather conditions improve.

A Tragic Human Cargo

But beyond its rumored riches, the Isabelita carried something far more devastating: human lives. Historical records show that the ship was a slave vessel, transporting 117 enslaved people. Of those, only 95 were later accounted for. The remaining 22 vanished, their fate lost to history.

For Sziga, this wreck represents more than just treasure. He hopes that his discovery will help identify the descendants of those onboard.

“My goal is that someone will reach out and say, ‘My great-great-grandparent was on that ship,’” he told ABCNEWS.

A Legal Battle That Reached the Supreme Court

After the Isabelita was captured, it arrived in Georgia, where it became the center of a massive legal dispute over the fate of the enslaved people. The case eventually escalated to the U.S. Supreme Court, reflecting the brutal realities of the 19th-century slave trade.

For Sziga, uncovering the ship’s remains is a mission to bring history to light. If he finds new evidence—artifacts, human remains, or historical documents—it could rewrite what we know about piracy, slavery, and hidden maritime history.