Treasure Find Hints At More Sunken Riches

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Treasure Find Hints At More Sunken Riches 2 gold-bearing galleons focus of Florida search Associated Press KEY WEST, Fla. — in September 1622, a hurricane spawned in the Leeward Islands swept westward and struck a Spanish fleet of 23 ships off the coast here, sending two galleons laden with untold riches to the bottom After a 16-year search for the Nuestra Sonora de Mocha and the Santa Margarita that has been punctuated by occasional discoveries, treasure-hunter Mel Fisher feels he’s about to discover the mother lode. ‘‘I’m very excited,’’ Fisher, 62, said after finding treasure worth at least $2 million a week ago. ‘~But it seems that every five years we make a good, substantial find. I’ll know in another week if this is just another tantalizing find.”
A crew of 25 divers working for Fisher’s Treasure Salvors company brought up i3 gold bars, a 7-foot gold chain and several silver plates, emeralds and more than 500 pieces of eight. “Three of the large gold bars are over 3 pounds each,” said Bleth McHaley, a vice president of Fisher’s company who has been associated with the search for 14 years. ‘They were made in the same mold, shipped together and lost together.’’ Most encouraging was a 5-foot section of a spar. McHaley said it is the first major piece of the Atocha to be identified from original construction papers, among the 50,000 Spanish documents Fisher found in his research. Cannonballs, spikes and other artifacts confirmed to be from the three-masted Atocha also were dug up from the ocean bottom in 40 to 45 feet of water in an area 40 miles west of Key West. This is my hobby.’’ Fisher said, a gold doubloon hanging from his neck on a thick, gold chain, both from the sunken treasure. “I retired 21 years ago. I won’t retire from this,’ said the former chicken farmer from Redondo Beach.
Divers Locate ‘Reef of Silver’ From Galleon KEY WEST, Fla. (AP)—After 16 years tracking the watery grave of a 350-year-old-treasure-laden Spanish galleon, salvagers Saturday reported that they have found the bulk of the riches, which they say may be worth $400 million. ‘Today it looks like we came to the end of the rainbow and the pot of gold.” said Mel Fisher, 63, owner of Treasure Salvors. “It’s been a gigantic 16-year puzzle. The feeling today is like when you put in the last piece.” Bleth McHaley, vice president of Treasure Salvors, said: ‘The captain said he found a reef of silver bars and more coins than they can even see.’
	McHaley said the manifest of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sunk in a 1622 hurricane listed up to 1,200 silver bars. At today’s prices, the treasure is worth $400million, she said. ‘Put the charts away—we’ve got! Silver bars ... we’ve got it!” the captain of one search ship screamed over a radio to McHaley as she talked to a reporter. In late May, Fisher found about $2 million worth of gold, pieces of eight, silver and gems but said the main treasure had eluded him.

From The Archives Of The Search For The Atocha
Explorers Find Long Lost Ships	He Dreams Of Spanish Treasure	Hunting Key West Waters	Shipwreck Salvage Is Finders Keepers
	Treasure Find Hints At More Sunken Riches	The Treasure Trove On Sanibel

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