Had a day off work in the middle of this week so I ventured down to Old Town to wander around and people watch the tourists. Being a boat bum, pirate treasure always attracts my attention. So I stopped in the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum to check out their displays (entry fee is just $15).
Being a history buff, I was interested in the history behind the wrecks recovered as much as the shiny baubles. The two major wrecks recovered were the Atocha and Santa Margarita. These galleons of the 1622 Fleet were sunk near Marquesas Keys, a few miles east of Key West, FL. The main treasure location (estimated at approximately $450 million) included 40 tons of gold and silver; there were some 114,000 of the Spanish silver coins known as “pieces of eight”, gold coins, Colombian emeralds, gold and silver artifacts, and 1000 silver ingots, and is still being worked on. Large as it was, this was only roughly half of the treasure that went down with the Atocha. The wealthiest part of the ship, the stern castle, is yet to be found. Still missing are 300 silver bars and 8 bronze cannons, among other things.
The search took over 16 years and cost Mel the life of his son, daughter-in-law and one of his divers as their boat sank due to bilge pump issues while searching for the treasure.
The Real Pirates
After the find, Mel offered to share a part of proceeds with the US Government (I believe something around 30%). The rogues in Washington DC, answered with “We’ll take it all, thank you very much”. Unfortunately in 1975 you couldn’t just pull your saber, grabbed your bottle of rum and take proper sea dog action. 10 years of legal battles led to the US Supreme Court awarding the Mel Fisher group 75% ownership of the treasure.
Key West Was Build On Wrecks
Key West was built on the trade of diving wrecks and retrieving the goods of ships that had floundered on the reefs (some activities bordering on piracy) on the Atlantic side of the island. Mel’s museum is a perfect fit to the local culture and feel. It’s hard sitting on your boat as the sun sets to the west not to day dream of grabbing your scuba gear and finding one of the many gold and silver laden wrecks that disappeared into the waters around Key West.