SerpApi.Org
The Nuestra Señora de Atocha is believed to have been carrying incredible treasures when it sank in 1622
NEED TO KNOW
- A 22.5 lb silver bar was recovered from the Nuestra Señora de Atocha shipwreck site off Key West, Fla.
- The bar features a purity test mark from before its 1622 voyage
- The Atocha sank during a hurricane in 1622 with only five of 265 passengers and crew surviving
Treasure hunters off the coast of Florida recovered a 22.5 lb silver bar from the site of 404-year-old Spanish shipwreck.
The crew of Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions found the hidden treasure while actively searching the site where the Nuestra Señora de Atocha sank off Key West in 1622, according to a Monday, June 15, post on their website. Fisher, a treasure hunter who died in 1998, famously discovered the “Atocha Mother Lode” in 1985, and his team has been exploring the area since and charting their finds.
During one of their latest searches, the silver bar was uncovered after crew members removed layers of sand from a site 50 feet down.
“As more of the object became exposed, it became clear we were looking at a silver bar,” Sean Browne, head of investor relations for Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions, told local Fox affiliate WAGA-TV.
When Captain Drake Nicholas brought the bar back to the surface, the crew was left in disbelief.
“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,” Browne told the outlet, adding that the bar is likely worth between $50,000 and $100,000 today.
This discovery marks the first time a silver bar has been recovered from the site since 1999, making the moment particularly special for Nicholas and lead diver Blake Baker, who were children at the time.
“I really didn’t know what to think,” Nicholas told CNN. “As I was uncovering it, I really didn’t believe it at the time but the more I got it uncovered and the first time I touched it and pulled it out of the mud I knew what it was.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
On the morning of September 5, 1622, a ferocious hurricane’s winds took the seas and eventually pushed the Atocha and several other Spanish ships traveling with it towards the reefs along the Florida Keys, according to the Gemological Institute of America. Soon after, a massive wave smashed the boat against the rocks and it sank. Only five of the 265 people aboard survived.
The Atocha and the Santa Margarita, another ship that sank, are believed to have been carrying treasures “including thousands of silver coins, hundreds of silver bars, gold artifacts, jewelry and emeralds from Colombia’s legendary Muzo mines,” according to the team at Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions.
The group said that the latest find is proof that there is still more to uncover all these years later.
Read the original article on People
