Mel Fisher. Treasure ship "Nuestra Senora De Atocha" the largest treasure sunk in the sea
A gigantic hull made of manila oak as strong as stone, three masts, a carved stern as high as a church tower, forty heavy cannons, four hundred desperate thugs on board and a hold stuffed with gold - such were the Spanish galleons. In the 17th century, they left Cadiz and went through Havana and Veracruz to the Philippines, and from there they returned to Spain.
With the money that one ship transported, it was possible to maintain a small army. But floating safes differed in poor maneuverability - galleons died one after another. The entire coast of California is strewn with shipwrecks and gold coins, millions of dollars lie at the bottom of the sea - after all, one royal escudo is now worth about seventy thousand! But it is not easy to get close to them: the anchors and frames are overgrown with corals, the silt has deeply sucked gold and diamonds. In order to raise a thousand dollars to the surface, you need to spend ten thousand: many treasure hunters drowned their fortunes in the sea, not one of them lost his life to Spanish gold.
Half a century ago, Mel Fisher was poor, unknown and full of hope: he willingly took on everything that could bring money, and put his whole soul into each new business.
In the early thirties, Indiana was rich in enthusiasts. Mal, a big-cheeked kid from a small provincial town, was always inventing something - a diving helmet made from an old pot, a garden hose and a bicycle pump still flaunts on a shelf in the admiral's cabin of his galleon. He worked on his father's farm and played the trumpet in the local band, then studied engineering at the University of Alabama, and during World War II, Fisher's unit followed the troops and rebuilt roads and bridges. After the war, he moved to California and began to raise chickens. It was here that a passion was born that became the work of his whole life.
The sea was very close, and Mel opened a small shop for diving equipment at his farm: he sold it and rented it out. The daughter of the owner of a neighboring farm, the red-haired and laughing Dolores, took scuba diving lessons from him - a few months later the matter ended in a wedding. Soon the Fishers sold out all their chicken stock - the underwater world was much more interesting and brought quite good money. Mel and Dolores gave diving lessons, made films about marine life and gradually became infected with a passion for treasure hunting: countless treasures lay very close - a person with scuba gear could touch them with his hand.
In 1612, a storm scattered and smashed the "Silver Fleet" on the coastal rocks - after that, Spain had nothing to support the army. In 1715, a convoy carrying gold and emeralds went to the bottom - in order to fill its holds, the Potosi gold miners and the Indians driven into the emerald mines of Colombia worked for about a year. The storm did not spare anyone: the admiral, who commanded the galleon "Nuestra Senora de Atocha", gathered his officers, discussed with them the last sonnet of Lope de Vega, read a prayer and drowned, not disgracing the dignity of the Castilian hidalgo. The exact coordinates of the shipwreck have not been preserved. Mel had to find a needle in a haystack - at the same time with the money taken on credit, and all the time being under the watchful eye of the state authorities, ready to confiscate any valuable find. He had no chance, but he was Mel Fisher...
To draw attention to the search, his wife set a world record for a woman's stay under water: Dolores sat in a bathyscaphe for 55 hours, drinking juice, eating bananas and reading damp newspapers. And it was no longer about money - they were both ready to break into a cake for the sake of their dreams. Even seasoned divers succumbed to Fisher's pressure. The Silver Fleet was now being sought by a team of enthusiasts, and Mel had developed a number of ingenious tricks for investors. He invited each of them to take part in the search - he gave a scuba gear and a metal detector, and then sent them to where he carefully dug up two or three gold coins the day before. The lucky man was joyfully greeted on the shore, in the evening the whole team drank to his health by the fire, treating them to lobsters and lobsters fried in the open air ... And the bankers who lent money to Mel (before Fisher had not been able to do this to anyone), quickly became his like-minded people.
The search for treasures continued for more than 20 years. A huge Spanish anchor, a few gold coins, a piece of gold chain, a pair of silver-rimmed pistols - random finds stirred the imagination, but unpaid bills grew by leaps and bounds. For many years, luck led Fischer by the nose: before giving away his treasures, the sea demanded a sacrifice from him...
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In 1975, a wave overturned the boat, which was Mel's eldest son Dirk, his wife Angela and two divers. Everyone died: the storm came unexpectedly, and the treasure hunters did not have time to put on life jackets. Those who managed to stay on the water were smashed by the waves on the coastal rocks...
After the death of his son, Fisher changed beyond recognition. He used to be a great optimist and met each new morning with the phrase: "Catch today!" Now Mal became gloomy and seemed to be stubbornly seeking death. He swam across the shark-infested lagoon, out into the stormy sea on a fragile boat. Once the ship capsized, and only a chance saved it: a man was noticed from a dry cargo ship passing by. By that time, Mel had been on the high seas for several hours ... He seemed to challenge the elements, and she, testing him for strength, finally gave in.
One fine day, Greg Wareham, a diver from Fisher's team, found a scattering of silver bars marked with the sign of the Spanish crown - Nuestra Senora de Atocha revealed to Mel the contents of their holds. And soon the divers discovered a large underwater rock, in front of which a metal detector frantically squealed: under a pile of silt were several thousand large silver bars and three thousand boxes of gold coins.
A truly fantastic picture opened up to treasure hunters: at the bottom, among algae and corals, under lazy swimming multi-colored fish, there was a carpet of golden doubloons, each of which cost at least ten thousand. Fisher eroded the silt with the help of a device he invented, resembling a giant vacuum cleaner: a large pipe descended down, sucking up bottom sediments. When the compressor was turned off, the scuba diver who was on duty at the work site gasped: a rain of emeralds and amethysts poured on him, precious stones shimmering in sea water slowly swirled and sank to the bottom - there were several thousand of them ...
"Nuestra Senora de Atocha" carried precious stones for the Spanish king, but most of emeralds in the holds of the gallion was contraband. Giant diamond earrings, the weight of which no woman's ear could support, were made specifically to shelter stones from taxation.
Every day brought more and more new finds, and divers took pictures on small underwater reefs, which turned out to be piles of silver ... Twenty percent of what was found was received by the state, twenty - by investors, the rest went to Mel Fisher himself.
Since then, luck has not left him. He found an equally rich galleon "Santa Margarita", then the caravel of the conquistadors: bombards, corroded helmets, bronze compasses and halberd tips were raised from it. Fisher became a legend of the entire California coast and during his lifetime entered the history of underwater archeology - no one else has such a number of fantastic finds.
Those who write about Fischer consider him lucky. But people who know Mel closely prefer not to talk about this topic - until his death, which followed in December 1998, he could not forgive himself for not stopping the one who went to sea Dirk didn't remind him of the storm warning...
January 7, 2013, 18:29Mel Fisher - the most famous and successful American treasure hunter - dreamed of getting all the gold and silver that has been resting under the water and sand off the coast of Florida for many centuries.
After Fischer discovered and raised part of the cargo of a Spanish caravan that sank in 1715 east of Florida in the early 60s, his appetite was played out and he rushed in search of a new object - the legendary Atocha galleon. The Atocha's cargo consisted of gold and silver (tons of the precious metal were recorded in its cargo manifest), and how many unregistered, hidden treasures and works of art could be on board! The Spanish economy was severely damaged when the Atocha - among the other ships of the 1622 caravan - was sunk by a hurricane shortly after leaving Havana for Spain. Atocha sank at a depth of 15 meters with 250 passengers and crew on board. Although the location of the galleon was known, rescue work immediately after the disaster was hampered by bad weather, and the subsequent storm scattered the remains of the galleon on the ocean floor for several miles. The famous saga of the "Atocha" and the rest of the caravan was properly described, but subsequently forgotten and sunk in the Archives of the Two Indies in Seville, Spain. And now, centuries later, Mel Fisher appeared, burning with the desire to find the Atocha galleon and its treasures. After working in the Spanish archives, the search area for Fisher and his team stretched over 10 kilometers south of Florida and the island of Key West. Skeptics laughed at Fischer, who only managed to find a few gold and silver coins from time to time, but he continued to work and finally discovered the place of the last refuge of Atocha.
Treasure hunts interspersed with litigation: the Florida state administration defended the ownership of the finds. Finally, an agreement was reached that the state would own 20 percent of everything that Fisher and his team found.
The key to Fischer's success as a treasure hunter was his invention, dubbed the "letter box". He used it on the 1715 treasure expedition. This device is a huge unit in the shape of the Latin letter "L", which is lowered from the stern of the search vessel in order to direct the flow of water from the propeller vertically down. If the depth is shallow, a powerful stream of water will clear the seabed of silt, sand, and anything else that might hide sunken treasures. Search vessels comb the bottom with highly sensitive metal detectors and magnetometers, and when a sufficiently clear signal is recorded, the "mailboxes" lowered on the anchor chains begin to work. With a terrible roar, the “boxes” punch holes in the ocean floor, where scuba divers then descend in the hope of seeing a dull shimmer of gold or corals strewn with silver coins ... An amazing feeling is to see pure gold, hold it in your hands, knowing that the last one to touched him, found his grave in the sea centuries ago. Or try on an emerald ring on your finger. Or blow aching notes from the golden boatswain's whistle, last time sounded on the deck of "Atocha" ...
Mel Fisher discovered the treasure on July 20, 1985. The main grave of "Atocha" kept more than 200 gold and more than 1100 silver ingots (each weighing from 15 to 37 kilograms). As well as jewelry - gold rings, chains, pendants, emerald brooches and an amazingly beautiful cross adorned with emeralds. The breathtaking results of Mel Fisher's long pursuit of sea treasures can be seen at his museum in Key West, where many of the gold and silver treasures salvaged from timelessness now lie in elegant display cases.
As for Mel Fisher and his team, they are ready to continue the search (there is still something to “profit” on Atocha), if not for the position of the US federal authorities. Under the auspices of the NOAA (National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration) are the capes of Florida and the islands closest to it - Dry Tortugas and Marquesas Keys (2800 square miles), officially proclaimed by the Federal Reserve, that is, they are a restricted area for treasure hunters, especially those equipped with "mailboxes ". While waiting for the lawyers and judges to settle all the issues, Fisher returned to his first find: the remains of the treasures of the 1715 caravan. Rumor has it that the main cargo of the caravan has not yet been found, and Mel Fisher has every chance of becoming its discoverer.
On the day of September 6, 1622, when the Spanish galleon sank"Atocha", raided reefs off the south coast of Florida, after 300 years Mel Fisher is born.
Whether this is a coincidence or not, only the Almighty knows, but it is precisely Fisher found this gallion.
This most beautiful flagship of the Golden Fleetleft the port of Havana on September 4, 1622.
On board "Atochi"there were forty-seven tons of gold and silver, and the gallion was returning home to Spain.
The Spaniards took gold and silver from all the temples and did not disdain anything. Art objects, jewelry ... was in the holds"Atochi"and all this was obtained by robberies and robberies.
Probably the Almighty took pity on the victims, but passing through the strait teeming with reefs,
"Atocha"stumbled upon one of them and sank on September 6 at a depth of 15 meters with 250 passengers and crew members on board, and the subsequent storm scattered the remains of the galleon along the ocean floor for several miles.
And then one day, a successful chicken farmer, Mel Fisher decided to go to the bottom
ocean and wander along the bottom Strait of Florida.
And suddenly, oh my God, I found my first coin. Mel's delight knew no bounds.
Mel Fisher was fascinated by the idea of finding treasures buried under the water:
"An amazing feeling - to see pure gold, to hold it in your hands, knowing that the last person who touched it found his grave in the sea centuries ago. Or trying on an emerald ring on your finger. Or blowing aching notes from a golden boatswain's whistle, last heard on the deck of the Atocha..."
150 people worked for Fisher to find the treasure "Atochi".
Millions borrowed and spent on searches did not pay off.
Mel Fisher was on the verge of bankruptcy...
It was not possible to find the sunken jewels immediately. For 16 years, Mel and his crew scoured the bottom in search of treasure.
Skeptics laughed at Fischer, who managed only from time to time to find a few gold and silver coins. But still Fischer got lucky. He was able to find a sunken galleon!!!
But along with the finds, fate began to bring misfortune to the life of Mel Fisher.
Yes, here also the authorities of Florida began to claim the inheritance and endless courts began ...
On the night of July 20, 1975, a tug belonging to Fischer sank, and Fischer's son Dirk, his wife Angel and one of his crew members drowned with it.
That it was a diversion on the part of competitors or a curse, which is often believed to be imposed on treasures, is unknown.
Once started, he could not stop, the thirst for adventure was stronger than Mel.
And every time going out in search of Mel said:
"Today I'm definitely lucky"
And lucky!
A gold plate was found with a registration number corresponding to the preserved
in the Archives General of India inventory of the Nuestra señor de Atocha cargo.
In the spring of 1985, divers began to bring hoops from the barrels in which the Atocha cargo was once stored, and then the first jewels:
sixteen brooches with emeralds, several gold bars, more than four hundred silver doubloons, some of them worth $25,000.
The found grave of "Atocha" kept more than 200 gold and more than 1100 silver ingots (weighing from 15 to 37 kilograms each).
As well as jewelry - gold rings, chains, pendants, emerald brooches and an amazingly beautiful cross adorned with emeralds - all this was found by Fischer!
But only after going through hundreds of trials, all 9 judges proclaimed the desired verdict:
The found gold belongs to Mel Fisher.
As a result of his searches by Mel Fisher, he formed his own understanding of the rules for finding treasures,
which he outlined in 5 points:
1. Searching for treasures “for good luck”, according to the principle “what if I find it” is the lot of amateurs. The search must begin in the historical archives, trying to find out the place and causes of the death of the ship, to imagine the historical picture of the event. A whole team of one and a half hundred people worked for Fisher, most of whom analyzed trade reports and port books. Say, if a ship loaded with goods left point A and did not arrive at point B, this is a reason to ask if there were any naval battles or perhaps hurricanes.
2. Do not rely on luck - buy equipment. Experience shows that only well-equipped expeditions have a chance of success. Moreover, metal detectors have now become a hot commodity in Europe: in Germany, for example, about 2 million of them have been sold over the past ten years.
3. Familiarize yourself with the legal side of the issue. AT different countries. For example, quite recently, on one of the islands off the coast of Chile, a group of searchers found a treasure buried by the pirate Esteban Echeverria, which is estimated at 10 billion dollars! And what do you think? The Chilean authorities declared what was found a national treasure and pushed the guys aside. No, that's not how we play. Where better to follow the laws of the United States: treasures found with the government should only be shared if you find them less than 24 miles from the coast. By the way, according to the Brussels Convention of 1910, treasures found in neutral waters belong entirely to the finder.
4. Fear the archaeologists! For some reason, these strange people are convinced that the place for all kinds of coins and figurines that you pull out on your hump from the bottom of the sea is in dusty museums. So keep all your research in the strictest confidence.5. Like all people whose earnings can be seriously affected by luck, treasure hunters are superstitious. Therefore, remember: never exchange for trifles. I found a trinket worth a hundred dollars - better not pick it up. You will scare away REAL luck. And do not forget about the popular opinion: the person who finds the Treasure is often unhappy, seriously ill and dies prematurely or goes crazy. Freebie rarely brings good luck.
Exciting results of Mel Fisher's long chase for sea treasures
can see at his museum in Key West where many of the gold and silver valuables,
rescued from timelessness, now lie in elegant shop windows,
and Fischer's business is continued by his grandson.
Nuestra Señora de Atocha was Mel Fisher's life's work.
Spanish ship Nuestra Senora De Atocha sank at the beginning of the 17th century. Of particular interest in his fate was due to the fact that the sailing ship was transporting untold wealth stolen in the New World.
The narrow straits of Florida are notorious for frequent shipwrecks. " Atocha” became just one of the many ships that sank in these waters. treasure ship « Nuestra Senora De Atocha sank in 1622. The holds of this Spanish galleon were filled with gold, silver and emeralds worth millions of dollars. For almost 400 years, the treasures of the ship have belonged to the Atlantic.
In those days, Spain participated in many European wars, and King Philip V of Spain constantly needed to replenish his treasury, because he needed to provide a huge army with everything he needed, and his own resources were no longer enough for this. Therefore, burdened with hardships, the king sent a fleet to the shores of the New World. The ships were supposed to bring back much-needed gold, but the king had another goal. It turned out that Elizabeth Duchess of Parma was just as smart and beautiful. She refused to marry the king until he collected the most beautiful jewels in the world.
The Spanish squadron, consisting of 28 different ships, left Cuba in 1622. She was supposed to deliver colossal wealth to Spain. On board a luxury ship Nuestra Senora De Atocha There were 215 passengers who were returning to Spain on this flight. They were farmers, artisans, bankers, lawyers, priests. In addition, in its holds were 47 tons of treasures collected from the Spanish colonies in South America.
Well armed galleon « Nuestra Senora De Atocha closed the warrant, providing cover. In addition, strategic wealth was specially loaded onto this reliable ship. However, no weapons were able to protect the flotilla from the raging elements. Just five days later, when she was near the coast of today's Florida, a strong hurricane rose. The sailors fought desperately with the furious elements, but a strong gale threw the ships to the coral reefs that run along the coast. It was a very strong storm, and he got the better of the Spanish ships. Only one survived called " Griffin”, the rest crashed off the east coast of Florida.
For the ship Nuestra Senora De Atocha The position turned out to be the worst. As soon as the storm began, the ship lost a lot of sails, as a result, the ship's crew could not steer. The sailors began to board up the main hatches, but part of the crew was already overboard. tossed over the waves like a matchbox. The hurricane carried the galleon Nuestra Senora De Atocha”to the sharp reefs of Florida and hit one of the rocks. As a result, the nose was broken. I didn't have any single chance. Received damage sank at a depth of 16 meters.
Despite the number of victims - more than 1000 people, the survivors tried to save the royal treasures. They forcibly forced the local population to seek jewelry until other ships get to the crash site and start combing the seabed. Although most of the treasures were raised from the bottom, a real state remained under the water.
Information about the location of the sinking of the ship was extremely scarce, but treasure ship haunted many treasure hunters. However, one of them, who was determined and made a dream of his life out of the search, has already managed to find the treasures of the lost ship. In 1968, Mel Fisher decided to go in search of ship and its treasures. He was considered a pioneer in the diving industry. He was distinguished by energy and the desire to independently comprehend all aspects of this lesson, but the main motivation was the search treasure ship.
treasure hunt The Spanish ship was heavy, both morally and financially. A breakthrough in the search came in the summer of 1972. He used the most modern equipment, and finally, a methodical study of the seabed gave a result. One day the magnetometer received a very accurate signal. The diver went down to the bottom and reported that the searchers had stumbled upon a huge anchor. Fisher then asked an underwater photographer to capture this anchor, when the latter, after taking a few shots, decided to photograph some more fish, he came across a chain that he said was brass. Lifting it to the surface, it turned out that it was a golden chain that pointed to treasures from the ship. Nuestra Senora De Atocha". Unfortunately, nothing more could be found. Dreams of unheard-of treasures buried in the bowels of the sea were driven by Mel Fisher. He hoped to find the sunken treasure ship « Nuestra Senora De Atocha and fetch hundreds of millions of dollars for the find.
Soon Mel Fisher paid a terrible price for the fulfillment of his dream. During another search in 1975, one of his ships capsized. Three people died, including his son and stepdaughter. However, relentless treasure hunter got the team to keep going. Ships set out to sea every day. Day after day, he tried to raise the morale of the team. He often repeated that today is that day, and believed that the treasure ship was somewhere nearby, and they would definitely find the treasure.
The long search continued. One day Fischer's son, Dirk found on seabed five bronze cannons from a Spanish galleon. Further, the researchers suggested that the ship itself could be located not far from them. A team of treasure hunters immediately began to raise artifacts upstairs. As a result, 3876 emeralds were raised.
There was also a place for bureaucracy in this case. In 1985, after lengthy hearings, Mel Fisher's legal battle ended in his victory. Nine justices of the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hand over treasure hunter exclusive rights to lift treasure ship « Nuestra Senora De Atocha". Part of it was valued at $30 million, but about half a billion was still at the bottom.
Mel Fisher's youngest son, Kane continued his search. His perseverance, self-confidence and desire to fight against all odds made him explore new and new areas. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. During this time, Kane managed to find many interesting artifacts: nails, hoops, pottery and other products. According to Kane's theory, the ship lost its treasures due to the hurricane. The crumbling stone ballast, which helped stabilize the ship, lightened the galleon, and the wreck was carried by the current to the area where the guns were lost. It was there that the treasure hunter supposed to find traces of the ship. The Fischer family's optimism did not fade.
For almost four centuries, the ocean hid treasure ship « Nuestra Senora De Atocha”and on July 19, 1985, Kane Fisher got close to his remains. In search of a real obsession for his family, crucial moment, and suddenly luck smiled at the treasure hunters. Divers were lucky to see scattered coins and silver artifacts on the seabed. There was also a pile of ballast in the area. It became obvious that the treasure was already close. The coming night forced the treasure hunters to interrupt their search. The team members, excited by the discovery, could not sleep well. And then the cherished day came - July 20, 1985, the history of ten days ago repeated itself. Initially, two divers Andy Matrozzi and Greg Oran went to the bottom to check this area. They decided to inspect the bottom in a southeasterly direction. Suddenly one of them saw something that literally enlarged his eyes. He pointed with his finger at the rise of sand.
Treasures of the ship "Nuestra Senora De Atocha"
It was a goldmine of the Spanish galleon " Nuestra Senora De Atocha» - a lot of silver bars. The divers were seized with real euphoria. Grabbing a few ingots, the treasure hunters surfaced, shouting loudly: “ We found treasure". Mel Fisher has been waiting for this moment for 16 years. At his headquarters in Key West, he received a landmark radio message. Soon Mel Fisher himself descended to treasure ship. When he reached the bottom, his hands shook with excitement. Soon, chests containing gold coins, chains, emeralds, jewelry, and more were discovered nearby. As a result of his discovery, Mel Fisher is recognized as the greatest treasure hunter.
Over the next few years treasure seekers continued underwater work and lifted from the galleon about 500 thousand artifacts worth $ 400 million.
There is now a Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West run by Kim Fisher. Treasure hunters Until today, about 40 tons of treasures in the form of ingots and other valuables have been lifted, and about 8 tons (35 boxes of gold, 300 silver bars and 100 thousand silver coins) remain at the bottom, the rights to which belong to the Fisher family.
Treasures of the ship « Nuestra Senora De Atocha are scattered along the coast of Florida. Gold, silver and precious stones are valued at over $600 million. Despite Mel Fisher's best efforts, the work is far from over. In fact, only 2/3 of the entire cargo was found.
In 1998 the legendary treasure hunter Mel Fisher died of cancer, but his children continued the difficult work of their father. They remember his words: Keep on fighting and the cherished day will finally come».
treasure hunt galleon " Nuestra Senora De Atocha”turned into a real epic for the Fisher family, and yet he fulfilled his cherished dream, and we can be sure that while the remains of the coveted cargo are buried in the silt, the next generations of divers will continue to try their luck.
P.S. According to expert historians, there were 47 tons of gold and silver on board the Spanish galleon, not counting smuggled jewelry, which accounted for 20 percent of the total cargo.
In 1999, Melvin Fisher, the man who owns the unofficial title of "king of treasure hunters," died.
World fame brought him a find made off the southern coast of Florida. Near the city of Key West, he raised from the bottom of the precious cargo of the Spanish galleon Atocha, which had flown onto reefs in 1622. It was not just a most valuable find, the value of which amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars - it was the embodiment of the dream of treasure hunters about an old ship overloaded with gold and jewelry.
In the treasure hunt magazine Treasure Quest, Fisher is called "the champion who has won all the battles with the authorities, officials and other enemies of treasure hunters."
And it all started like this ... A man by the name of Fisher ("Rybo-lov")decided to live up to his name. He was already forty years old, four sons grew up in the family, but he dropped everything when he heard about a chance find: in 1963, the builder Kip Wagner picked up a Spanish silver coin on the coast of Florida. Wagner was not too lazy to send a request to the General Archive of the Indies and found out that in 1715 the Golden Fleet almost completely sank in these places. The rescue expedition of the Spaniards could not pick up precious jewelry scattered along the bottom, sixty thousand coins, gold and silver ingots. Fischer suggested that Wagner organize a company to develop the gold-bearing bottom.
The main problem was to clear the bottom. Fisher invented a special device: a curved cylinder placed under the propellers directed the water vertically down, washing away sediment with a powerful jet. This device was then called - "mail box". During the year of work, Fisher and Wagner picked up 2,500 doubloons, among which were especially rare coins of 1702 - collectors bought them for twenty-five thousand dollars each.
In 1970, Fischer chose the goal of his life: it was Nuestra Señora de Atocha. This most beautiful flagship of the Golden Fleet left the port of Havana on September 4, 1622. On board the Atocha were forty-seven tons of gold and silver. The storm destroyed the Atocha and with it seven more ships, the most promising of which was considered the Saint Margaret.
Four years later, the Spaniards sent a rescue expedition.Captain Francisco Nunez Melian found the "Saint Margaret" and picked up three hundred and fifty silver bars.Everything else was still lying at the bottom. Divers tried to find Atocha more than once, but they were confused by the change in geographical designations: in the 17th century, the Spaniards called the island of Matecumbe not the modern Matecumbe, but the southern tip of Florida. After learning from history professor Eugene Lyons that the most likely place for the death of the Spanish fleet was the Marquezas Islands, located near Florida, Fisher concentrated his search in this area. He has now used modern technology including, but not limited to, atomic analysis of water and images from space. Nevertheless, in the first years, only muskets and sabers could be obtained from the bottom, only in 1973 did silver coins go, and on July 4, on Independence Day, the first ingot appeared. The registration number engraved on it corresponded to the inventory of the Atochi cargo stored in the General Archives of India.
But then luck turned away from the enterprising Rybolov.On the night of July 20, 1975, a tug belonging to him sank, and Fisher's son Dirk, Dirk's wife, Angel, and one of his crew members drowned with him.It is not excluded that there was sabotage by competitors.
Millions borrowed and spent on searches did not pay off. Mel was on the verge of bankruptcy. The sea took away his loved ones and gave nothing in return. And yet, despite his troubles, he held on to the last. In 1980, the treasure hunter finally got lucky. With the help of a magnetometer, an anchor was found, by which it was possible to unmistakably identify the ship: it was not the Atocha yet, but the Saint Margaret, but the valuables raised from this ship ensured another five years of searching.
In the spring of 1985, divers began to bring hoops from the barrels in which the Atocha cargo had once been stored, and then the first valuables: sixteen brooches with emeralds, several gold bars, more than four hundred silver doubloons.
On July 20, to the day ten years after Dirk's death, Atocha revealed its cherished secret.Two divers, Andy Matrosky and Greg Wareham, stumbled at a depth of eighteen meters on an underwater rock overgrown with algae. Instruments prompted: "rock" consists entirely of silver ingots. The Spanish flagship returned treasures that had lain at the bottom for a quarter of a millennium: 3,200 emeralds, 150,000 silver coins and 1,000 forty-kilogram silver bars.Fisher's production, according to the most conservative estimates, is estimated at four hundred million dollars.