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Nuestra Señora de Atocha (Our Lady of Atocha)
was the most famous of a fleet of Spanish ships that sunk in
1622 off the Florida Keys while carrying copper, silver,
gold, tobacco, and indigo from Spanish ports at Cartagena,
Colombia, Porto Bello in New Granada and Havana bound for
Spain. The ship was named for the parish of Atocha in
Madrid, Spain.
Above: The Marquesas Keys as seen from
space. Image courtesy of NASA.
On September 4, 1622, the Atocha was
driven by a severe hurricane onto the coral reefs near the
Marquesas Cays, about twenty miles west of Key West. With
her hull savagely ripped open, the vessel quickly sank,
drowning every one aboard except for five survivors (three
sailors and two slaves). The Atocha was heavy-laden
with gold, silver and precious gems, bound for the
treasuries of Spain
Impact of the Loss
After the surviving ships brought the news of the
disaster back to Havana Spanish authorities dispatched
another five ships to salvage the Atocha and the
Santa Margarita, which had run aground near where the
Atocha sank. The Atocha had sunk in approximately 50 feet of
water, making it difficult for divers to retrieve any of the
cargo or guns from the ship. A second hurricane in October
of that year made attempts at salvage even more difficult by
burying or scattering the wreckage of the ship still
further.
The loss of the 1622 fleet had an immediate impact on
Spain, forcing it to borrow more to finance its role in the
Thirty Years' War and to sell several galleons to raise
funds. While their efforts over the next ten years to
salvage the
Santa Margarita were successful, the Spanish
never relocated the Atocha.
Modern Recovery and Legal Battle
The cargo of the Atocha, valued at hundreds of
millions of dollars by today's standards, lay lost beneath
the sea for nearly 360 years. American treasure hunter Mel
Fisher and a team of sub-contractors, funded by investors
and others in a joint venture, searched the sea bed for the
Atocha for over 20 years. The team discovered the
wreck and associated silver, gold and emeralds in 1985.
Fisher had earlier recovered the wrecked cargo of the
Santa Margarita in 1980.
After the discovery the United States government claimed
title to the wreck, and the State of Florida seized many of
the items Fisher had retrieved from his earliest salvage
expeditions. After eight years of litigation, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled in favour of Fisher.
The mother load was finally discovered on July 20th 1985.
It was Mel's son, Kane, that radioed the news to Treasure
Salvors head quarters on the Florida coast, from the salvage
boat Dauntless
External links
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