But I guess authors have to know the type and all sorts of types if they're going to populate the books! Glad you enjoyed the novel.Annis - I would indeed think there's a lot of mileage to be made out of the story of that treasure - also as a modern day thriller or adventure story, or a timeslip. It could be the start of a great film script too. The possibilities are endless. Strange that no one has ever really explored such a goldmine for fiction.
If the treasure did go down, then Empress Matilda's crown is definitely in with it. It disappeared at about that time. Of course the more mundane answer is that a lot of it survived the Wellstream disaster only to be looted at John's death, or to be used to pay his mercenaries, but it would take someone very hardened and not superstitious to deconstruct a crown, and it's hardly something you can sell on without questions being asked.... so perhaps somewhere, under all that silt and mud, it's still waiting....
