England's Vanished Crown Jewels

**England's Vanished Crown Jewels** is the 19th episode in Season 3 of Expedition Unknown.

## Plot Synopsis

Josh Gates goes on a quest to find the legendary lost treasure of King John; exploring the deadly marshlands of England to find the despised king's crown jewels, which were swept away in a freak tidal surge in the 13th century.

## Historical Context

"In the 13th century, King John's convoy was transporting a massive horde of royal treasure worth an estimated $70 million but somewhere along the journey, the caravan took a wrong turn and was never seen again."

- Josh Gates

## Summary

Josh goes to The Wash in East Anglia, England and meets Dr John Bacon, an environmental scientist, who shows Josh that King John's caravan may have fallen victim to a deadly spring tide or storm surge that flooded The Wash. Josh heads to London and to the national archives where he meets Dr Ben Robinson, an archaeologist, and Dr Jessica Nelson, head of medieval collections. They are able to look at old scrolls and see where the caravan may have possibly crossed The Wash.

Ben and Josh go on an aeroplane and use LIDAR over The Wash to see what it would've looked like in medieval times. Josh visits King's Lynn and meets Gary Drayton, a metal detecting expert, and Charlie Field, a treasure hunter, and they dredge and metal detect a promising crossing point across The Wash. They find n old royal wax seal and an old purse latch.

Josh meets with Dr Clive Bond, an archaeologist, and his coworkers Erin Kavanagh and Martin Bates. Josh runs an electromagnetic pole to help see what sediments are in the ground to help determine if the field they are exploring was once part of The Wash and the results seem to indicate that it was. They dig pits and find an old nail, a wax seal of another King John, and a strap end with the king's head on it.

## Final Words

"With the sun disappearing over the horizon, my quest for King John's lost caravan comes to an end. I've explored the deep end in search of the treasure, and perhaps even hovered on the brink of an epic discovery. Because of the sheer size of the king's baggage train, it's possible that both places we explored were in their ill-fated path across the Wash. And so the hunt for a missing piece of British history continues but with dedicated archaeologists, historians, and treasure hunters on the case and dramatic new finds, it might just be a matter of time before these 800-year-old jewels emerge from the mud to shine once more."

- Josh Gates

## Notes & Trivia

* *This is where you can put notes and trivia, anything that is interesting or strange can be included here*

## Quotes

* "Since you could crawl through London faster than you can drive here..."
* "How many hat bits are too many hat bits for one scene? This many."
* "We're gonna use this footage Ben, also, for my new series called, "Big Guys, Little Planes."
* "In fact, they're so sympathetic to King John here in King's Lynn they actually erected a statue of him. Or of the Burger King. In fairness, it's very hard to tell the difference."
* "English cooking at its finest."

## References

1. ↑ https://travel.home.sndimg.com/content/dam/images/travel/fullrights/2017/3/4/TEXU313H\_King-Johns-Jewels\_256846\_936463.1480887.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.725.suffix/1491594004117.jpeg