Early one morning in September of 1622 a fleet of 28 Spanish galleons, including a heavily armed escort, prepared to set sail from Havana Cuba for its annual return journey to the port of Cadiz, Spain. Two of the fleet’s ships were of particular importance; The Nuestra señora De Atocha and the Santa Margarita. Their hulls were loaded to the brim with chests of gold bars, coins and silver ingots from Peru. There were also emeralds from Colombia and pearls from Ecuador; much of it for payment of taxes, bound for the coffers of King Philip IV. The Atocha’s passengers were a combination of merchants, wealthy nobleman, servants and slaves; there were also marines and sailors. Less than 48 hours later a powerful hurricane battered the fleet in the Gulf of Mexico, pushing it off course and toward the treacherous reefs of the Florida Keys.

Twenty of the fleet’s ships managed to return safely to port, but eight ships were destroyed during the storm, including the Margarita and the Atocha; its hull ripped out. 260 people lost their lives on the shipwreck of the Atocha. Only five survivors were rescued. The Nuestra Señora De Atocha and its valuable treasure, valued at over $400 million would remain at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico for 363 years until it was discovered by the treasure hunter Mel Fisher and his salvage team.

There are two elements in the story of the Atocha that are crucial to its discovery. Firstly there was the ships manifest; which is an official list of the ship’s cargo. Its existence meant that items recovered from the wreck site could be identified. However some of the valuables were not included in the ships manifest. This was because the wealthy passengers could avoid paying taxes by concealing their valuables from tax officials. The second was a worn-eaten, barely readable document discovered at the king’s library, Spain in 1970 by the researcher and historian Eugene Lyon.

The fascinating documents recorded the perilous journeys of Spanish galleons to and from the new world. How their crews faced treasure thirsty pirates and raging hurricanes. And about Spain’s war in Europe and the need for South American treasure in order to pay for it. The delicate parchments also recorded the events that followed the sinking of the Atocha and the story of the Spanish salvage master, who in 1626 led a salvage mission. His name is Francisco Nunez Melian.

Actual gold bars and coins recovered from the Atocha.

After the sinking of the Atocha numerous attempts had been made by the Spanish to recover the ships valuable cargo. Their salvage attempts had been hindered by confrontations with Dutch pirates from the Dry Tortugas, who themselves were looking for the treasured filled shipwrecks. The other problem was that divers could not dive deep enough and many drowned in the botched salvage attempts. Four years after the tragedy, Francisco Melian had invented a diving bell made of Bronze that could fit two men inside. Melian convinced King Philip IV of the validity of his new invention. The king agreed to finance Melian’s salvage operation and they set sail for the Florida Keys.

Map shows Marquesas Key at the very tip of the Florida Keys

As was common practice in the 16th century Milian used slave divers of African or Indian decent. He told the divers that any man who finds treasure will have their freedom. After searching the area off Marquesas Keys successfully using the diving bell, a silver ingot was found followed by coins and bronze cannons. Melian believed he had found the Atocha, but after checking the numbers on cannon barrels he realized he had found the Margarita. The slaves gained their freedom, but Melian spent many years searching and returning to the location, only to find that the treasure of the Atocha had eluded him once more.

The Treasure Salvors Museum became the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Museum and society.

The story of Melian’s journey described the possible location of the Atocha as near to Marquesas Key; at the very tip of the Florida Keys. This  information pointed treasure hunter Mel Fisher in the right direction. After years of searching a large area in the Gulf of Mexico, it ultimately led him and his salvage team to the wreck, where they recovered over 400,000 items; from musket balls to cannon, gold bars, emeralds, jewelry and the like. The hull of the Atocha was raised and donated to Florida Keys Community College. The valuables were divided among the investors and a certain amount is kept at the Mel Fisher Martime Heritage Museum.

All images from commons.wikimedia.com and flikr.com.