Rick Brant, Don Scott, Dr. Tony Briotti, and Dr. Hobart Zircon travel down to the Virgin Islands on what is planned to be a pleasure trip. The boys' only goal is to unearth a possible sunken shipwreck and find a golden, Spanish statue lost centuries before to pirates. Archaeologist Tony plans to look for submerged Native American artifacts, while physicist Zircon expects to spend time just fishing. Soon after they reach Charlotte Amalie, the boys run across JANIG security agent Steve Ames in a chance encounter on the street. That accidental meeting sends them into the midst of danger and intrigue, and for once, they have no idea why. All they can do is search for their shipwreck off the coast of
Clipper Cay, keep watch on the people harassing them, and try to puzzle out exactly what is actually going on.