Nuestra Senora de Atocha
Sunk in 1622
Found by Mel Fisher
The
Atocha tragically ended her voyage on a reef off the Florida
Keys on September 6, 1622, taking with her 264 souls many of
whom, were of royal blood. She scattered over 47 troy tons of
treasure over 50 miles of ocean bottom. There were only 5 people
to survive the wreck.
Ironically
Mel Fisher was born almost 300 years to the day that the Atocha
went down. His obsession for the Atocha treasure has lasted over
20 years. During this time, Mel found himself selling off other
treasures that he had found, trying all the time to get people
to invest in his dream... the Atocha.
Fighting
off bill collectors, power and utilities cut-offs. He could not
even pay his own divers at times. Mel was forever going to court
to keep other salvage companies away from the wreck areas.
The
biggest tragedy was the death of Mel's son Dirk, Dirk's wife
and another crew member. This happened when his salvage boat
"The Northwind" sank over the wreck site on July 20,
1975.
Mel
Fisher continued on his search despite all the financial problems,
death of family and friends. He ended up finding the mother lode. |
