Who is Gary Drayton? The detectorist striking gold on Oak Island
Meet self-taught treasure hunter Gary Drayton, who swapped Grimsby for the gold-filled beaches of South Florida and Oak Island.
Image: Gary Drayton | The Curse of Oak Island
We love a great treasure-hunting story at Sky HISTORY, and few do it better than self-taught metal detectorist Gary Drayton. A 14-karat diamond ring with an enormous barracuda swimming in the background. Glittering gold chains on a sandy beach. Fragments of ancient coins. A fiery Atlantic Ocean sunset...
This is just a taster of some of the eye-catching posts featured on Gary Drayton’s Instagram account. But his real treasure-hunting playground? Oak Island, where he scours the land and sea for relics, riches and the next Bobby Dazzler.
The early days
Gary grew up in Grimsby, a Lincolnshire port town where the Humber tidal estuary meets the North Sea. It’s a far cry from the gold-sand beaches of South Florida where Gary now lives, or Nova Scotia where he hunts for treasure with The Curse of Oak Island team.
But Grimsby is where Gary got his first taste for treasure. He spent years scouring the East Midlands for old bottles, clay pipes, marbles and doll heads. This included sifting through Victorian trash pits and 'mud hopping' along the banks of rivers. Dirty work, yes. But the rewards were plenty. Gary found an impressive collection of bottles dating to the early 1600s and clay pipes from the 16th century. One of Gary’s oldest finds was a perfume bottle from Roman Britain.
Bottle digging might sound humble, but it was what sparked Gary’s fascination with metal detecting. He stumbled across lots of coins while searching for bottles, which inspired him to buy a metal detector. It helped him find his first Piece of Eight (also called a Spanish silver dollar) after moving to the Sunshine State. A few months later, Gary found a piece of gold from the 1715 Treasure Fleet.
Gary’s biggest finds
Since his early metal detecting days in South Florida he’s found hundreds of treasures, ranging from contemporary diamond jewellery and Rolex watches to centuries-old coins, bronze ship spikes, war artefacts and Spanish treasure. Talk about rich pickings!
His finds eventually saw him invited to join The Curse of Oak Island team. He’s the resident metal detecting expert and works alongside treasure hunters Rick and Marty Lagina.
Gary’s secrets to success
What makes Gary Drayton so successful? Legendary shipwreck salvager Bob Weller says he has the three P’s:
Patience, persistence and perseverance.
And of course, a dash of Lincolnshire charm has helped make Gary a household name. He’s even coined his own catchphrases, including 'Holy Shamoly', 'That's a top pocket find' and our personal favourite, 'That's a Bobby Dazzler'.
A glimpse at Gary’s toolkit
Gary relies on a range of Minelab detectors to track down treasure. His first Minelab was the Excalibur, and he still swears by it today.
'As any long time Minelab user will tell you, the only way to beat a Minelab is by using another Minelab so I always have other specialist tools in the old tool shed,' says Gary.
When it comes to hunting for pirate treasure, Gary can’t look past the ultra-deep detection power of the GPX 5000 and large Commander search coils. The compact Equinox 800 is ideal for travelling while the CTX 3030 is his top pick for jewellery hunts on tourist beaches.
Gary’s 'twin optical scanners'
Gary credits his unique beach and water hunting methods, as well as his well-honed site reading skills he cheekily refers to as his 'twin optical scanners'.
'A metal detector is just another string for my treasure hunting bow, a tool I use to compliment the eyes-only skills I learned along the way,' says Gary.
So, while you’re often see Gary trawling the beach with a state-of-the-art metal detector, you’ll just as likely find him in nothing but a swimming costume and a snorkel, hunting for treasure with his trusty twin optical scanners.
It’s this multilayered approach to treasure hunting that’s helped Gary track down showpieces like a 300-year-old emerald ring worth $500,000.
Gary on socials
How does Gary describe himself?
Metal detecting expert, treasure hunter and author. Always be yourself. Unless you can be a pirate - then always be a pirate.
- Gary Drayton’s Instagram account
Gary the teacher
Gary doesn’t just love the thrill of treasure hunting. He’s passionate about sharing it with others. He offers personal beach treasure hunting lessons in Florida where you’ll get tips, tricks and insights from the legend himself.
'Anyone can swing a metal detector and hope to get lucky, but treasure hunting is about research, site reading and metal detecting skills. Add a little patience, persistence and perseverance and you will not have to rely on luck to find Bobby Dazzlers.'
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