The Great 17 Year Hunt For The Lady Of Atocha's $400m Treasure [50:12]

YouTube ^ | February 26, 2025 | Real History

[SunkenCiv]

Mel Fisher spent 17 years searching for the legendary Spanish galleon, Nuestra Señora de Atocha, which sank in 1622 carrying vast treasures of gold, silver, and emeralds. Facing countless setbacks, legal battles, and personal losses, Fisher's persistence finally paid off in 1985 when his team discovered the shipwreck off the coast of Florida. The find was worth over $400 million, making it one of the greatest treasure discoveries in history. 

The Great 17 Year Hunt For The Lady Of Atocha's $400m Treasure | 50:12 
Real History | 452K subscribers | 598,232 views | February 26, 2025

[SunkenCiv]

Mel Fisher's Treasures is the world leader in historic shipwreck recovery and the source for authentic shipwreck treasure! Mel Fisher was a dreamer, a visionary, a legend and most importantly, the World's Greatest Treasure Hunter. We carry on Mel's dream of sharing with the public the priceless historical and cultural heritage that these treasures represent. We continue to actively search for and recover the remaining lost treasures of the Atocha and the Santa Margarita while also searching for other yet to be discovered shipwrecks.

Each precious piece of history we recover goes through an extensive conservation process in our state of the art conservation lab. It then goes on to be studied and then recorded in our comprehensive data base. Our team of researchers, conservationists, archeologists, boat captain and crews have a blazing passion to locate and bring forth historic shipwreck treasures to the world.

Mel Fisher's Treasures

[SunkenCiv]

The last of the three National Geographic LaserDiscs is something different compared to the first two. Instead of looking into the ecosystem of some place, this time we're looking into the story of Mel Fisher, a treasure hunter, and his hunt for the shipwreck "Nuestra Señora de Atocha" (Spanish for "Our Lady of Atocha"), which sunk in the Florida Keys in 1622.

National Geographic Video: Atocha: Quest for Treasure (1986) | 57:26
Windows OS | 9.14K subscribers | 352,406 views | September 18, 2019

[SunkenCiv]

[sauropod]

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[mbrfl]

Mel Fisher endured a lot of hardship during his quest, including losing a son from a boating mishap during the salvage operations as well as fighting a multi-year legal battle with the State of Florida over the state’s claim to 25% ownership of the treasure. Fisher eventually won the law suit.

[rlmorel]

BFL

[lastchance]

My late husband grew up with one of the main divers on the Atocha. They were room mates when he and I first dated. It was fascinating listening to his stories of the search and find. I also got to see a lot beautiful jewelry and coins.

Another good book on the search is by Eugene Lyons. If memory serves a more precise spot where the Atocha went down was discovered by looking in Spanish records. The Spaniards kept very good records but when they were first reviewed by those searching someone did not understand the Castilian dialect they were written in, and originally the wrong spot to search was chosen. When that mistake was discovered they were able to go to the correct area.

[Paal Gulli]

At the Mel Fisher museum in Key West they had a gold bar from the wreck trapped inside a plexiglass case so you could lift it to feel its heft but couldn't get it out.

In 2010 some yabbo stole it. By the time they caught him (8 years later), he had sawed it into small pieces and sold it off as he needed gas money.

It was known as "gold bar #27" and there were no casting marks or assayer's stamps on it, which gave them to believe it was "off the books" and being smuggled.

The press reported it weighed 74.85 ounce but nothing I've seen mentioned whether that weight was in ounces Avoirdupois or ounces Troy, which makes a difference because a Troy ounce (traditionally used for weighing precious metals) is heavier by a little more than 9%. IIRC, it was 16.5 karat and spot today is $4000 and change so -- if it was 75 Troy ounces of 16.5k -- today the gold would be worth $200,000 and change. Ounces Avdp would be more like $188,000.

It's value was a sticking point at the trial of the thief because the museum people wanted to lump in a about $300,000 on top of the value of the gold itself for its artistry and historicity. Insurance only paid a little over $100,000.

Anyhow, AFAIK, the museum never replaced it in the exhibit.

[jimtorr]

Actually, Mel himself said that he never found the bulk of the treasure. His surviving son continued the search after Mel’s death, and even though he found hundreds of millions more treasure, if memory serves, he also said he still hadn’t found the the main hold of the ship.

I was lucky enough to be in Key West in 1987, and was able to go thru the “museum” where some of the treasure was stored while what they had was being divyed up for the shareholders. Stacks of silver bars were piled all over the place. Many glass cases were filled with gold, jewels and jewel encrusted gold objects.

Lots of armed guards, of course.

[Carriage Hill]

BKMRK.

[SunkenCiv]

Yeah, that’s discussed near the end of the main (newer) vid — in particular a box of emeralds that’s known to have been loaded on the ship, worth about $500 million.

[SunkenCiv]

Wow. One thing it does show, that thieves don’t steal out of need, they steal because they’re thieves.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks! The moment I had remembered from the NG video years ago was also crucial to the story told in the newer documentary — that the identification of the wreckage was made possible by the manifest of its last cargo, with the numbered silver bars having been weighed.

[lastchance]

You are welcome. I think one reason for such exact record keeping was for insurance purposes in case of just such a loss.

[SunkenCiv]

And tax purposes.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Mr. GG2 had an emerald from the Atocha. I think it was about 9-10 karats. He finally decided to sell it about 12 years ago and called Kim Fischer who he knows pretty well. Kim put it on consignment in the museum and sold it for him.

[lastchance]

Good point.