Mel Fisher Museum, 200 Greene St. Key West, FL. Atocha Treasure. Gold, Silver, More.

Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Museum

200 Greene Street, Key West, Fl.

Some four hundred years ago the Tierra Firme Fleet (Fleet) of twenty-eight ships left Havana, Cuba during hurricane season. The day was September 4, 1622. They were 6 weeks behind schedule. It was a combination of the New Spain Fleet and Tierra Firme Fleet. Both had treasure ships. Most of New Spain Fleet's treasure was transferred to the Atocha and her sister ship the Santa Margarita. Because it was better equipped with a larger number of cannons the Atocha was assigned to be the last ship of 28. It was known the Dutch were laying in wait off the north coast of South America. The Fleet had 8 gun ships to guard the treasure. The Dutch wanted the treasure. Spain was at war with the Dutch and the French at the time, the beginning of the 30 Year War. The Fleet headed North from Havana to the Straits of Florida, the best passage to the Atlantic to avoid the Dutch armada.

On September 5, somewhere in the Straits of Florida the entire Fleet ran into a very powerful hurricane. It is on record the Nuestra Senora de Atocha (Atocha) hit a reef, then torn apart by the mighty hurricane. Sadly, it went down with seven other ships that were all near the rear of the Fleet. It is hard to imagine the cramped conditions so long ago of 265 people on board the Atocha. But my research says there were. Of those, 260 lives were lost of the 265 on board. Five survived, three crew members, and two slaves. The other twenty ships were able to sail far enough away to ride the storm out in the Gulf of Mexico. The fate of the passengers the seven other ships were presumed dead. It is estimated that 550 were drowned.

The Fleet consisted of merchant, military and treasure vessels. Some of the treasure was from South and Central America. Lima (Peru, Bolivia), Columbia, Venezuela, Mexico and other locales provided by the New Spain Fleet. The bulk of the Spaniards wealth came from the largest producing silver mine at the time in Lima, in the 4,000'+ above sea level Incan village which would become know as Posoti. It became the most important silver mint of the Spanish and created what seemed to be unlimited wealth, which was needed especially in times of war. And the 30 year war was in it's infancy.

Part of the treasure discovered included silver coins that had been struck from the Posoti silver mine at the Spanish mint in Posoti and the Spanish mint in Mexico City, eight very rare coins struck in Columbia, and more. It is believed more rare coins from the Columbian mint are still on the bottom of the sea. The Mexico City coins among others were transferred from the New Spain Fleet to the Atocha. The Atocha treasure consisted of 200,000 silver coins, gold bars, 138 gold coins minted in Spain presumed to belong to passengers, pearls, precious jewels and stones including emeralds, rings, and pottery, plates, and of course eating and cooking utensils, etc. were on board as well.

The aftermath of the hurricane left the eight vessels broken into many pieces and ended up in a huge area on the bottom of the ocean that stretched from the Keys to the Dry Tortugas. So far the Atocha and the Santa Margarita have been the only ships of five found that were laden with treasure. I will let you discover just how much treasure was found when you visit the museum. As of 2024 three of the eight unfortunate ships that went down in 1622 are still patiently waiting to be discovered. One of those is believed to have been located, and is believed to be loaded with even more treasure. We will have to wait and see.

Today's the day! On July 20, 1985 Mel Fisher and his crew discovered the wreck of the Atocha. It had been many long years and lots of cash used before the doomed Atocha gave up it's location and millions in treasure, estimated to be 400 million dollars to date. The Mel Fisher Museum is a fascinating history lesson and learning experience. You should go, and spend enough time to see everything, and read about it too. It is that well done. we gave this museum 5 Stars and I believe you may too. Not to be missed.

UPDATE: Mel Fisher's crew also discovered the location of the Santa Margarita, the sister treasure ship of the Atocha. They now are searching for a third treasure ship that went down in the same hurricane!

DID YOU KNOW? You can dive the active salvage sites? Or stay on board and sift for emeralds! Details can be found at the Museum.

more coming soon

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