“Silver” Anniversary of Key West’s Golden Treasure Hoard

25 years ago, back in July 1985 the sunken Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha was finally located on the seabed, just 35 miles from Key West. It had taken shipwreck salvager Mel Fisher 16 years to find the ship, which sank during a hurricane in September 1622. His long search proved very worthwhile, as he and his crew uncovered a $400 million cache of treasure and artefacts.

The hoard included more than 40 tons of silver and gold, including bullion, 10,000 “pieces of eight”, gold coins (many in mint condition), Colombian emeralds, silver and gold artefacts, exquisite jewellery, as well as many more mundane, everyday articles that provide a fascinating glimpse into the life on the high seas in the early seventeenth century.

The man who made it his life’s work to find the Atocha was Mel Fisher, who read Treasure Island as a child and never gave up on finding his own treasure trove. He and his wife were amongst the first to commercially explore scuba diving, by fishing for spiny lobster in the cold waters of California and then opening the first dive shop in the world in Redondo Beach.

In 1962 Mel was persuaded to turn his diving skills to treasure hunting and salvage by Kip Wagner, and together they successfully located and salvaged ships from the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet that was lost to a hurricane off Florida’s east coast. This took them ten years, but during that time Mel also began the search for the Santa Margarita, which he located in 1980 containing a $20 million hoard, and then her sister ship, the Atocha, a royal guard galleon reputed to be laded with treasure when it sank, both victims of a major hurricane in 1622.

Finding the Atocha, claimed to be the richest treasure find since Tutankhamen’s tomb, was the highlight of Mel’s career, and his sons still continue in the same tradition of salvage to this day. In fact, they are still working on the Atocha wreck as she continues to reveal her secrets even after 25 years.

Mel died in 1998 but his life’s work can be truly appreciated through a visit to the Key West museum run by the not-for-profit Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society. Objects from the Atocha and other shipwrecks, including the Margarita and the English merchant slaver Henrietta Marie, are conserved, studied and displayed. Gold and silver bars, coins, cannons and smaller weapons, rare navigational instruments, ornate jewellery and even a 77.7-carat emerald are on show.

The 25th anniversary of Mel’s amazing find is to be celebrated at the annual Mel Fisher Days festival, which runs from 15 to 18 July this year. Highlights include a reunion of the “golden crew” that searched for the Atocha with Mel and who will happily regale all who care to listen with tales of the experiences in seeking the shipwreck.

For more information on the museum, visit Melfisher.org. For information about Mel himself and the Mel Fisher Days festival, visit Melfisher.com.