Underwater Treasure Search Central: Monetary Possibilities and Problems

Monetary Possibilities and Problems
When you're searching for treasure, things get expensive! And I mean in the thousands-a-day range! And the R.O.V. can cost up to 4 million dollars! So you need a source of money. Shipwrecks are a great place for this. But sometimes, you get a possibility, but you need time to dig up the wreck and get the stuff. So what do you in the meantime?
Go searching for other treasure, of course! There are different kinds of treasure and expensive stuff on the sea floor. Some things are in modern containers... those big, metal boxes that transport things everywhere, on many types of vessels. They fall off ships, float just under the water level for a while, and then sink. Sometimes, these metal containers have valuable cargo. It can be anything... from gold and silver to wine!
Wine can be a highly-valuable cargo. Of course, there are different factors. If the wine bottles pop open, the wine escapes. If seawater somehow gets in, the drink gets nasty... even toxic! Sea pressure can even pop the cork. Since the bottling is a little different, champenge (sp?) has a better chance of surviving, but not always. It's a risky situation, though sometimes worth it.
Before the giant metal boxes came in the '50s, barrels were the thing everything was transported in. It didn't matter what it was, it went along in a barrel. So if you find a shipwreck of barrels, or barrel-shaped objects, there's a good chance it may be valuable.
Then again, it may not. Seawater decays wood, so barrel-shaped objects may simply be tar that has hardened in the barrel's cast-shaped form. That's not worth much in monetary value. Admittedly, there is sometimes something hidden inside tar loads, like coins, gold, or silver, but it's not always worth more dives, since you'll mainly be getting tar.
Then again, it could be the drug opium, which is still pretty valuable today to pharmencudical (sp?) companies. Opium could harden into the cast-form, making it look like a barrel. It's another unsure and risky thing if you're bringing up barrels or barrel-forms. That's when you're usually glad you have a lab on board, so you know whether or not it's worth diving again once you test a sample.