A 22.5-pound silver bar was recovered from the wreck site of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, off the coast of Key West, according to an announcement from Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions. Salvors consider this the “most significant” discovery in decades on this wreck.
Capt. Drake Nicholas and the crew of the salvage vessel DARE on June 13 recovered the silver bar — the first recovered by the salvage team since June 1999 — in about 50 feet of water. The bar is worth between $50,000 and $100,000, said Sean Browne of Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions.
“Every major discovery begins with a single artifact,” Gary Randolph, president of Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions said in the announcement. “This silver bar is a remarkable piece of history in its own right, but it also renews interest in the area where it was found.
“After 27 years without recovering a silver bar from the Atocha site, this discovery reminds us that some of the most exciting chapters of the search may still lie ahead.”
History of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha
On Sept. 4, 1622, Spanish treasure galleons Nuestra Señora de Atocha, Santa Margarita and 26 other ships left Havana, Cuba bound for Spain.
The following day, a hurricane hit the fleet and blew them towards the Florida Keys. Seven of the ships succumbed to the hurricane and were scattered from the Marquesas Keys to present day Dry Tortugas National Park.
At the time of the sinking, the ships were heavily laden with gold, silver, gems and other valuables bound from the New World for Spain. The cargo’s value was estimated to be $450 million.
“Modern-day treasure hunting really began here in our own Indian River area,” said the late historian Dr. Eugene Lyon in a 1979 Indian River Press Journal article.
History of treasure hunting on Treasure Coast
Mel Fisher was one of the many men who followed a trail of sunken Spanish galleons, that had been scattered off the Treasure Coast coastline after a 1715 hurricane. Fisher made a reputation for himself during the ‘60s, working alongside Kip Wagner’s Reale Eight and his group Fisher’s Treasure Salvors off the shores of Sebastian.
During this time, Mel Fisher and his group, Fisher’s Treasure Salvors Inc., developed blowers, also called “mailboxes,” while working with Reale Eight off the Treasure Coast.
The units resembled factory exhausts and used the boat’s prop wash to eat away at the bottom of the ocean floor, a 2001 Stuart News article reported.
This accelerated the ability to recover rare pottery, jewelry and gold and silver coins amongst other artifacts in the mid 1960s.
Fisher’s other decade-long quest lead him to the Florida Keys to search for the Nuestra Señora de Atocha. Hard work paid off in 1985 when Fisher and his “Golden Crew” discovered the seventeenth-century ship carrying $450 million worth of treasure after searching for 16 years.
The Guinness Book of World Records in 2014 declared it the world’s most valuable shipwreck.
Today, treasure salvors work under Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions, a historic shipwreck salvage operation based in the Florida Keys. Thousands of artifacts have been recovered from the Atocha and Santa Margarita wreck sites since 1985. The company owns the salvage rights to the Atocha and Santa Margarita shipwrecks and their cargo wherever they may be found.
Under Florida law, individuals who wish to explore for or recover artifacts on state-owned submerged lands must obtain the appropriate permits.
Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions recovers, conserves, documents, and catalogs artifacts from these historic wreck sites. Members of the public can view treasures from the 1622 Fleet at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, a nationally recognized research and archaeology institution, as well as at the Fisher family-owned Mel Fisher’s Treasure Museum in Sebastian.
See treasure salvors have found
Mel Fisher’s Treasures: A museum at 1322 US 1 in Sebastian, opened by world-famous treasure hunter, Mel Fisher in 1992. It features a short video, interactive displays and an authentic Atocha gold bar. The museum also offers treasure enthusiasts the opportunity to try their hand at treasure hunting with metal detector rentals. It is open Monday–Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays, noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors (65+), and $4 for children (ages 5-12), with children 4 free.
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Kaila Jones is a visual journalist for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers. You can reach her at kaila.jones@tcpalm.com and can view some of her recent work here.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Treasure salvors find rare, 22-pound silver bar on Florida ship wreck
Reporting by Kaila Jones, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Kaila Jones, Treasure Coast Newspapers | USA TODAY Network
