Neptune's Fortune

The Billion-Dollar Shipwreck and the Ghosts of the Spanish Empire

By: Julian Sancton

Narrated by: Vikas Adam

The riveting true story of a legendary Spanish galleon that sunk off the coast of Colombia with over $1 billion in gold and silver—and one man’s obsessive quest to find it—from the New York Times bestselling author of Madhouse at the End of the Earth

“Splendid . . . Sancton is an expert guide through eighteenth-century European geopolitics [and] modern marine archaeology.”—The Wall Street Journal

Roger Dooley wasn’t looking for the San José. But an accidental discovery in the dusty stacks of a Spanish archive led him to the story of a lifetime, the tale of a great eighteenth-century treasure ship loaded with riches from the New World and destined for Spain. But that ship, the galleon San José, met a darker fate. It was drawn into a pitched battle with British ships of war off the coast of Cartagena, and when the smoke cleared, the San José and its bounty had disappeared into the ocean, its coordinates lost to time.

Though a diver at heart, Dooley was an unlikely candidate to find the San José. He had little in the way of serious credentials, yet his tenacity and single-minded devotion to finding and excavating the ship powered him across four decades, even as he became a man in exile from the country of his birth. As Dooley jousted with famous treasure hunters and well-funded competitors, he slowly homed in on a patch of sea that might contain a three-hundred-year-old shipwreck—or nothing at all.

Neptune's Fortune is a thrilling adventure, taking readers from great naval battles on the high seas to the sun-soaked shores that nurtured history’s most notorious treasure hunters, to the archives that held the secret keys to lost fortune on the ocean floor.

Critic reviews

“Sancton is a masterful storyteller, and he has struck gold—pun intended—with Neptune’s Fortune. Through extraordinary research across three continents and with a journalist’s eye for the telling detail, he has penned a rollicking tale of buccaneers, shady treasure hunters, and sea battles both past and present. Readers are in for a rare treat.”—Scott Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of Lawrence in Arabia

“[R]iveting . . . a tale worthy of Indiana Jones himself.”—Smithsonian Magazine

“Neptune’s Fortune is a wonderful book, full of heroism, greed, piracy, sunken treasure, and adventure on the high seas. A wild, incredible story from beginning to end, with a central character straight out of Hemingway, it’s even more remarkable because it’s true.”—Eric Schlosser, New York Times bestselling author of Chew on This and Fast Food Nation

“Neptune’s Fortune is about treasure and the subculture of treasure seekers, but more importantly it reminds us of the deeper and more satisfying riches that come embedded within a splendid historical tale that’s been researched meticulously and told exceptionally well.”—Hampton Sides, New York Times bestselling author of The Wide Wide Sea

“Neptune’s Fortune is a real-life drama, a maritime riddle, a swashbuckling adventure, and, above all, a riveting tale.”—Susan Casey, New York Times bestselling author of The Underworld

“Roaring with excitement, Neptune’s Fortune is a deeply reported adventure, a study in obsession, and a thoroughly engrossing read. Sancton writes in the fine tradition of great narrative nonfiction that transports the reader into private worlds and into marvelous larger-than-life characters.”—Susan Orlean, bestselling author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book

“[A] thrilling maritime saga . . . technically complex [and] nail-biting . . . [Neptune’s Fortune] is a rollicking historical mystery and a beguiling human drama rolled into one.”—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“[G]ripping. . . . Sancton navigates the fraught tensions among archaeologists, governments, private salvors, and Indigenous groups with nuance and clarity. This is more than a treasure-hunt tale; it’s also a compelling examination of history, ethics, and obsession beneath the waves.”—Library Journal, starred review

“A rousing historical treasure hunt.”—Kirkus Reviews

“[A] riveting, nonfiction tale of sunken treasure worth unimaginable sums that reads like fiction.”—Booklist

This was a very interesting book!

I loved the story, the way it unfolded and the history. I also enjoyed the narrator. He did a great job!

Great story of history and treasure

Very well researched and for everyone that loves a treasure a real treat. I came to love the chat.

Not As Described

I really wanted to like this book and I do not like giving neutral or negative reviews but I want to be honest in case it helps someone else. The premise of this book sounded amazing but the book itself was nothing like its description! It was very dry and repetitive. In the whole book there’s maybe 15 minutes about the actual ship/sailing/wreck and very little about the treasure. I kept waiting to hear the author recreate the ship sailing and how it must have been like and the wreck but it was almost washed over, hardly any time spent in that payoff I was so hoping for. The narration is excellent and I did learn a lot from the book but I had to deep dive my own research to do that. The author just didn’t set the scene well but the whole book was setting the scene! It’s hard to describe it but the book was just a let down for me, very anticlimactic and dry and a slog to listen to. It wasn’t the ocean faring, treasure seeking, fun and engaging story I had hoped for. Sad I used my last credit on it.

You Are Going to be Let Down

First - the narration is 5 star all the way!! Thank God for amazing narration. Spoiler - they never get the treasure. This had all the potential to be an amazing story - but after so much effort, this was a disappointing flop. I wish Roger finally got his. If you are an Audible fan, this version was 6 hours too long. If you seek an amazing billion dollar ending….well……you’ll be so disappointed. Deceiving title.