It is hard to imagine that in Key West‘s earlier history there were so many shipwrecks off the shores of our beautiful island that the native Indians called this land, “Island of Bones.” One of the more famous shipwrecks was that of the 1622 Spanish galleon, The Nuestra Senora de Atocha.

Every time I hear of a new discovery, it is exciting to imagine the adventure in the seas off our early coast. Just this year on March 12, another piece of treasure from the Atocha was found 35 miles off Key West.  This find, estimated to be valued at a quarter million dollars, is described as a 4-foot-long gold chain with a finely detailed black enameled gold cross.  The chain also has a gold religious medallion, black bead, and gold floweret attached to it.

I’ve learned many stories about the sunken treasure off Key West from my visits to the The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum located at 200 Greene Street. The story of the Atocha starts with the departure of a fleet of 28 Spanish galleons traveling from Havana back to Spain in 1622.  Several of the ships were carrying cargo with values beyond imagination.  According to Treasure of the Atocha by R. Duncan Mathewson III, the Atocha alone was carrying 40 tons of silver and gold and 70 pounds of emeralds.  The description of cargo at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum adds that the ship also carried 350 chests of indigo, 525 bales of tobacco, 20 bronze cannons as well as unregistered jewelry and personal goods.

The Atocha with her crew of 265 was hit by a severe hurricane on September 6, 1622, just as she entered the Florida Straits.  The ship sank with all of her treasure and crew off the coast of Key West. The Spanish dispatched five ships to salvage the Atocha when news of the disaster found its way back to Havana, but the treasure could not be recovered.

Mel Fisher, the well-known American treasure hunter, spent 16 and a half years searching off Key West for the sunken treasure of the Atocha. On July 20, 1985, his son, Kane, who captained the salvage vessel Dauntless, sent an ecstatic message to his father that the treasure had been found. The excavation of the “shipwreck of the century” began.

Fortunately, Mel Fisher wanted artifacts to be cataloged and preserved properly for history, and he hired an archaeologist, Duncan Mathewson, to help with this research.  After the discovery of the wreck of the Atocha, the team worked to preserve a treasure load estimated at $450 million, and this represents only half of the treasure that went down with the Atocha!  Another $450 million of treasure remains to be found off our coast. The site of the wreckage is referred to as “the bank of Spain.”

This history of sunken treasure, which is still unfolding, adds to the mystery and excitement of Key West.  I am ready to help with your “treasure hunt” for the perfect property on Key West.  Give me a call today. Margarita Villoch: 305-304-8505.