Divers recently found a rare treasure from a legendary shipwreck that sank off the coast of Florida in the 1600s.
Crews with Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions found a 22.5-pound silver bar at the site of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha that is on the sea floor near Key West, Fox News reported Tuesday.
The Spanish galleon that sank during a hurricane in 1622 was heavily laden with treasure including silver, gold, and emeralds. Some of its treasure and silver bars were initially discovered by Mel Fisher’s team in the 1980s, and this bar was the first to be found at the site since 1999, which thrilled divers.
Sean Browne, who leads investor relations for Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions, said the team used a metal detector in the area and happened upon the bar that was heavily encrusted and is now being cleaned up.
“One of its most distinctive features is the small depression on the top surface where it was tested for purity before being loaded aboard the Atocha in 1622,” he explained.
The crew was on its final dive of the day when they made the discovery in June, according to Local 10. Browne said the bar is estimated to be worth $100,000 and will probably be kept as a historical artifact.
Video footage showed the divers finding the bar:
The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum detailed the treasure the Atocha was carrying when it sank:
For the 1622 return voyage, Atocha was loaded with a cargo that is, today, almost beyond belief — 24 tons of silver bullion in 1038 ingots, 180,00 pesos of silver coins, 582 copper ingots, 125 gold bars and discs, 350 chests of indigo, 525 bales of tobacco, 20 bronze cannon, and 1,200 pounds of worked silverware! To this can be added items being smuggled to avoid taxation, and unregistered jewelry and personal goods; all creating a treasure that could surely rival any other ever amassed.
The Nuestra Señora de Atocha sank with 265 people onboard. Only five young sailors survived by holding on to the stump of the mizzenmast, which was the only part of the wrecked galleon that remained above water. Rescuers tried to enter the drowned hulk, but found the hatches tightly battened. The water depth, at 55 feet, was too great to allow divers to work to open her. They marked the site of her loss and moved on to rescue people and treasure from Santa Margarita and Nuestra Señora del Rosario, other ships also lost in the storm.
According to Browne, every discovery at the site brings the story together.
“This find is an exciting reminder that one of history’s greatest treasure hunts is still very much underway,” he added.
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