Outer Banks NC author and real estate broker, John Amrhein, Jr., has just published his comprehensive documentary about the real story behind Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island book. And as fate would have it, the Outer Banks of North Carolina is the birthplace of this amazing true adventure.  His new book, Treasure Island: The Untold Story, is about a treasure stolen from a Spanish galleon at Ocracoke in 1750 and buried in the Caribbean on the real-life treasure island called Norman Island. After nine years of research in the archives of Europe, the Caribbean, and the United States, Amrhein resurrects a story almost forgotten and never truthfully told until now. This Outer Banks book now stands with those written about the Wright Brothers, The Lost Colony, and Blackbeard, as international historical centerpieces.

This is not Amrhein’s first discovery. In 1983, he discovered the Spanish warship La Galga buried beneath the sands and marshes of Assateague Island, Virginia.  Amrhein began his research into the lost Spanish warship, La Galga, in 1978. Two years later, he had the evidence he needed to pinpoint the Spanish wreck. But the ship was not lying where all logic and archival documents would suggest. This would-be treasure hunter realized that the ship had been buried in a forgotten inlet and was lying within the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. With this revelation came another surprise: La Galga was the legendary Spanish galleon associated with the wild horses of Assateague. Not only was the legendary galleon mentioned in the children’s classic, Misty of Chincoteague, but the great nephew of a character in the book helped Amrhein locate the wreck. Today, the author is lobbying the federal government to excavate and display the many artifacts believed to be buried within the refuge. In 2007, he published The Hidden Galleon, which documents his amazing search in the archives, beneath the sea, and ultimately on land. With his second book now published, he has documented the complete history of the 1750 Spanish fleet. The historical events documented in these two books have inspired two children’s classics and have become movies.

How cool is this? Of course we knew the Outer Banks was full of history, but its pretty neat that this is the birthplace of such an amazing adventure and that an OBX local discovered it!  Treasure Island: The Untold Story is available at Outer Banks bookstores and online in all ebook formats. Make sure you check it out!