Toll Free 800-650-9030 International 239-948-6915
Order By Fax 239-949-9537
Toll Free 800-650-9030 International 239-948-6915
Order By Fax 239-949-9537
© 2007 Atocha Treasure Company LLC All Rights Reserved
| It is important to understand that the Mocha site is not a single area but rather is a scatter over seven miles long. With such a huge site, obtaining accurate locational data has presented an ever-present problem both for the searching and for the excavation mapping. Treasure Salvors uses a two-step method. The first is triangulation from two tower-mounted Del Norte trisponders. Each search boat has a receiver which measures the distance to each tower in meters once a second. The coordinates provided give accurate placement of the boat within 1-3 meters. This is adequate (or searching and recovery along the scatter trail. Each object recovered is tagged on the bottom with a unique number, photographed, drawn if appropriate and entered with Del Norte coordinates into the log maintained by each boat captain or the archaeologists assigned to that boat, before it is brought up. | |
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The mapping of the lower hull structure has been by means of a base line with stations every 30 feet along the 180 foot line. Figure 2 provides a preliminary map of the lower hull area. in late October this area was covered with sheets of Visqueen and heavily ballasted to protect the wreck from the ravages of winter storms. The initial wreck appears to have resulted from striking one of the reefs to the south of where the lower hull now rests. The absence of a keel at that location suggests that it was torn loose in the initial impact. The ship sank at the location of the lower hull structure. Within days the location had been buoyed by Spanish salvors who were unable to get into the ship. They noted that the ship lay in approximately 54 feet of water, that all ports and hatches were closed, the ship was basically intact and the mizzen most was sticking out of the water. Of the 265 persons on board, five survived by clinging to the mast head. |
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The salvors could see the Santa Margarita, a sister ship of the Mocha, grounded in 17 feet of water some three miles to the north. The third capital treasure ship of the 1622 fleet was the Rosario, and it had grounded on the Dry Tortugas to the west. During the first month after the sinkings the salvors concentrated on the Rosario. A second hurricane then struck. The Margarita and the Atocha disppeared. The salvors were later able to find parts of the Margarita and salvage a portion of her cargo, but the Atocha was not relocated until the present effort. The second hurricane appears to have broken loose the upper hull and decks, carrying away everything but the lower hull structure. The latter, consisting only of timbers below the turn of the bilge, was pinned to the ocean floor by approximately 80 tons of ballast, 40 tons of silver bars and coins, and 30 tons of copper ingots. |
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The upper portion of the ship was carried to the northwest, breaking up along the way. U finally grounded some seven miles from the lower hull structure, dropped its heavy load of cannons and was completely broken up. At the present time numerous artifact studies are underway, as well as preservation and cataloging procedures. Ballast stones, ceramics coinage, ship’s parts, weaponry, comparisons of the Mocha construction contract with the evidence from the timbers, and comparison of the Mocha cargo manifest with recovered materials are but a few of these. In the years to come enormous amounts of detailed information will be generated and published concerning this, the most spectacular Spanish colonial wreck site yet found in the New World. The two following preliminary reports, one by Mitchell Marken dealing with ceramics and the other by James Sinclair reporting on aboriginal motifs on colonial silver objects, reflect the beginning of these studies. |
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From The Archives Of
The Search For The Atocha |
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