Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida

            The Spanish Galleon “Nusestra Señora de Atocha” sailed with a fleet of ships to the New World late in March, 1622.  It was behind schedule when it arrived 9 weeks later in Portobelo. It took a month to unload its merchant cargo and another month to replace it with treasure cargo of the King’s royal revenues and the personal wealth of the “Atocha’s” affluent passengers.  Concern was growing about the amount of cargo and number of people on board and, by the time the ship arrived in Havana, officials were anxious.  Hurricane season was well underway.  Should the treasure fleet delay its return to Spain or risk sailing?  Spain’s need for the treasure of the 1622 Fleet finally won out.  

On September 4th, 1622 the heavily burdened and structurally compromised “Nusestra Señora de Atocha” set sail for Spain with 27 other ships during the height of hurricane season.  The “Atocha” was the ship of choice for the majority of the affluent passengers who sailed with the 1622 Fleet.  They traveled not only with their wealth of silver ingots but with their personal treasures of family heirlooms, opulent jewelry, sacred objects, and elaborate tableware.  The “Atocha” carried 250 people, more than 350 barrels of indigo, 525 bales of tobacco, 589 copper ingots, 161 gold pieces, 200,000 silver coins, 1200 pounds of silver items, and 1038 silver bars in registered cargo when it sank off the Florida Keys.  The cargo weighed over 150 tons and would be valued today at a half-billion dollars!  

July 20, 1985 was the day at last when Mel Fisher, arguably the world’s greatest treasure hunter, found his dream of dreams, the priceless treasure cargo of the fabled lost Spanish galleon “Atocha.”  The dream that had consumed him for more than 16 years now came true before the eyes of the world.   He had found stacks of silver bars, chests of silver coins, gold, jewels, and thousands of other unique artifacts from the “Nusestra Señora de Atocha,” a treasure that adventurous souls through centuries had only dreamed of finding.

After years of litigation, the Supreme Court of the United States confirmed Fisher’s 75% ownership of the recovered treasure against claims by the state of Florida and others.  Part of the treasure (chiefly coins) is now being sold in shops owned by the Fisher family. (Mel Fisher himself died December 19, 1998, at the age of 76.)  Fisher’s company, Salvors, Inc., found remains of several other shipwrecks in Florida waters, including the “Atocha’s” sister galleon, the “Santa Margarita,” lost in the same year, and the remains of a slave ship known as the “Henrietta Marie,” lost in 1700.  Only half of the “Atocha’s” treasure has been recovered, so the hunt continues.

The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum has on display many treasures recovered from sunken Spanish galleons.

Taken in: United States / Florida / Key West (show map)

Taken on: December 16, 2016

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Sets appears in: • Search for Sunken Treasure

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Camera:	Sony DSC-RX100M3
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