| October, 2012 Rare Tool Found |
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An ancient iron tool used for extracting teeth in the early 1600s was found recently on the trail of the Atocha. The find brings into focus the rudimentary medical practices that were used on patients 400 years ago. The tool is called a dental pelican, named because of its resemblance to a pelican's beak. The tool consisted of a claw mounted on a shaft, and a second iron shaft with a half-moon-shaped bolster on the end, the part of the tool that rested against the gum beneath the tooth being removed. The tooth was pinched between the claw and the bolster, and then extracted. This very rare medical tool is now in our Conservation Lab undergoing reverse electrolysis, under the watchful eye of our Senior Conservator, John Corcoran. |
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August, 2012 -- Bill Lorraine |
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The crew of the Magruder just found an estimated 3-carat, rectangle "box-cut" emerald ring. The setting appears to be 22-karat, straw-colored gold. Seasoned diver Bill Burt discovered the ring in 36 feet of water. Divers also uncovered a foot long pottery sherd and a musket ball in an adjacent hole. The remarkable find occurred in the quicksands about six miles north of the main pile in a virgin area of the Atocha trail. Divers could see the stratification layers of shell and sand as they entered the excavated hole, which is common in new territory. |
September, 2011 -- Sharon Wiley |
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Last week on the Atocha site proved, once again, that we are on the right trail. Captain Andy and the Magruder crew went out on Friday and were able to dive a couple of days before they moved to Emerald City. In those two days they found two EOs (encrusted objects), two silver coins and an extraordinary artifact - a bronze seal in exceptional condition. The oval-shaped seal was found about 200 yards south of where we found the 9-carat emerald ring in July, 2011. This seal is a very important piece since it was found right along the same line as the gold rosary, the gold bar, and the beautiful emerald ring. There is a crest on it which may identify the owner and could possibly confirm that this is also the owner of the emerald ring. It is another clue towards uncovering one of the many mysteries of the Atocha. |
| June, 2011 -- Sharon Wiley Emerald Ring Found |
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Emerald and Gold Ring Uncovered from the Famed Atocha Wreck Site June 23, 2011, 35 miles West of Key West, Florida on the shipwreck site of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha a large emerald and gold ring along with two silver spoons and two more silver objects were uncovered by Mel Fisher's Treasures salvage vessel JB Magruder and her crew: Captain Andy Matroci and crewmembers Tim Meade, Bill Burt, Bill Reighard. |
| April, 2011 -- Carold Tedesco Emerald Ring Found |
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The Blue Water Rose team have discovered an emerald ring on the Santa Margarita site! Captain Dan radio'd in from sea that it is dark green, square cut, and probably about 1.5 to 2.5 ct, set in a simple gold setting. Boat will return to dock Fri or Sat. More news and pictures then! |
| April, 2011 -- Shawn Cowles GOLD BAR FOUND! |
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A 2-pound solid gold bar and 20 more silver coins were found on the Atocha wrecksite over the weekend. Andy Matroci, Captain of the Magruder, said the gold bar is 12 inches long. Remarkably, this bar is unmarked, leading to speculation that it was being smuggled as contraband aboard the ship. Many of the Atocha gold bars previously found were marked with karat stamps indicating the purity of the gold and Spanish royal tax stamps, indicating the 20% tax had been paid on the bar. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| March, 2011 -- Sharon Wiley Four Foot Long Gold Chain with Gold Cross and Religious Medallion |
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35 miles West of Key West, Florida on the shipwreck site of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha a four foot long gold chain adorned with an intricately designed black enameled gold cross, a two sided gold religious medallion, a black bead and a gold floweret was uncovered by Mel Fisher's Treasures salvage vessel; JB Magruder and her crew: Captain Andy Matroci, First Mate Ryan Stapula and crewmembers Bill Burt and Tim Meade. The four foot long gold chain is comprised of 55 individual gold links resembling cotter pins totaling 40 inches. There is a longer gold link that connects to a two inch tall by 1 1/4 inch wide gold cross. The cross has ornate round floweret designs on each of the four ends. On the lateral edges of the cross there is what appears to be inscribed Latin wording. |
| February, 2011 -- Sharon Wiley 23 Coins Found! |
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Captain Andy Matroci and his crew on the Magruder just came in to our Key West headquarters after a successful 12-day trip on the Atocha site. Of the 42 holes he excavated, 22 of them contained Atocha artifacts, including the last 8 holes in a row! This is an unprecedented success rate of over 50%! Needless to say, Andy and his crew can't wait to get back on the site and gradually widen the search around this "hot" excavation area. The booty recovered just during the last trip is impressive 23 silver coins, a rapier sword blade, a cannonball, an intact barrel hoop, numerous iron spikes that held the ship together, pottery shards and ballast stones. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| August, 2010 -- Sharon Wiley Atocha Copper Ingot Found! |
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The Mel Fisher salvage vessel Dare just found a significant artifact - a 60-pound copper ingot. The crew is digging north of the main pile, blowing with their "mailboxes" for sometimes as much as two hours to get down through 4 feet of hard-packed claylike mud, in 55 feet of water. In some areas, they have blown through the mud, all the way down to bedrock. The newly-found copper ingot weighed in at 60.5 pounds. A random sample of 50 Atocha copper ingots, found in previous years, gave an average weight of 54.2 lbs. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| July, 2010 -- Bill Lorraine Reserve Your "Emerald City" Trip Early |
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Sifting for emeralds at the Emerald City site has become one of the favorite events for investors in the Atocha/Margarita Expedition. Here, non-divers can participate in the adventure of finding Atocha emeralds. One of our professional divers with an "airlift" suction device will be at the ocean bottom sucking up the sand, shells and emeralds to the back of the boat, and our investors rake through the piles of sand looking for emeralds. We found 41 emeralds during our most recent visit to the site in July. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| May, 2010 -- Carol Tedesco Silver "Pieces of Eight" Discovery on 1622 Fleet galleon Santa Margarita |
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Kicking off the 2010 search and recovery season, underwater exploration divers for Keith Webb's Blue Water Ventures Key West discovered a five-pound fused conglomeration of artifacts Wednesday afternoon, among which a number of sea-blackened silver "pieces of eight" treasure coins are clearly identifiable. Returning to port from sea late Friday night, Captain Dan Porter, Operations Manager for BWV, said that it won't be known exactly how many of the hundreds-of-years-old coins are in the calcareous concretion until the mass has undergone conservation.
View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| April, 2010 -- Carol Tedesco Greenstone Amulet Found on Santa Margarita Shipwreck |
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Nearly 400 years before Keith Webb’s Blue Water Ventures—joint-venture partner of Mel Fishers Treasures—began searching for the remains of the 1622 fleet shipwreck Santa Margarita in the Florida Straits, two 17th century salvors, Captain Gaspar de Vargas and Havana businessman Francisco Núñez Melián, used Florida "Indians" and pearl divers from the Caribbean island of Margarita to recover treasure from the sunken galleon. On April 21, 2010, BWV diver Gavin Rall (left, with Capt Dan Porter, right) surfaced with this carved, polished greenstone artifact. Read more here... |
| December 21, 2009 -- Bill Lorraine Atocha Gold Button Found |
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This week, divers on the salvage vessel, "Magruder" found an ornate solid gold button on the trail of the Atocha, along with 11 "pieces of eight" silver coins. The gold button was found by diver Tim Meade. When gold comes out of the ocean, it is the rich familiar color of gold, unchanged by hundreds of years on the ocean floor. Gold is an inert metal, and does not oxidize, or rust, so the conservation process for gold artifacts is usually very short, only a few days. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
 October 13, 2009 -- Bill Lorraine "Rarest of the Rare" Atocha Coins Identified |
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This past summer a clump of 47 silver coins were found on the Atocha site. They were fused together with 400 years of black oxidation. After careful cleaning in our conservation lab, it became clear that 4 of these coins were extremely rare, made at the Spanish mint in Cartegena, New Grenada, which is the modern country of Colombia. They bear the mintmark RN, for Nuevo Reino, or New Kingdom of Grenada.
View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| October 5, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley Gold Amethyst Ring Found |
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The crew of the Magruder has submitted their recently found artifacts to the lab this morning which included the beautiful Amethyst Ring found during the middle of their trip. This is a rare one-of-a-kind artifact that Kim Fisher discussed with us from his office, "It is a plain gold band with a large box-shaped gold setting on the top with an amethyst inside.
" View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| October 2, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley Gold Reliquary |
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The crew of the Blue Water Rose has uncovered a magnificent Gold Reliquary from the site of the Santa Margarita shipwreck. The artifact is 1 1/4 inches high, 1 inch wide, 3/8 inch deep and has a 3/8 inch ring through which a chain would likely have been strung.
It is, according to Carol Tedesco of Blue Water Ventures, "made of heavy, richly colored high karat gold, set with an oval of clear material, possibly rock crystal, providing a window into a recessed interior." Within this recessed interior there are small pieces of gold foiling along with other small, unidentified items.
View Entire Story, Photos and Video Here. |
| September 22, 2009 -- Shawn Cowles Labor Day Treasure from the Atocha |
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Captain Andy Matroci's crew on the JB Magruder found an intact rapier, a dueling sword. This slender, sharply pointed sword was used for thrusting attacks and features a complex hilt, which was constructed to provide protection for the hand wielding it. This sword, along with one silver coin, was found at the northernmost point of the "carpenter's trail" of the Atocha. View Entire Story, Photos and Video Here. |
| September 20, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley Emeralds Found |
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On the most recent trip to Emerald City the crew of the JB Magruder along with the help of a group of our determined investors were able to recover 21 emeralds from the wreck site of the Atocha. As you will see in a sample of the photographs below the emeralds vary in size, shape and color. According to Emerald experts the highest quality emeralds from the Atocha wreck, which originated in the Muzo mine in Columbia circa 1622, can be valued at upwards of $19,000 per karat which gives our partners extra incentive! View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| September 2, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley Margarita Gold Breaks Water! |
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We love finding gold. Its sheer beauty captures the imaginations of all treasure hunters. Last week Captain Dan Porter of the Blue Water Rose, working in partnership with Mel Fisher's Treasures, found two pieces of a solid gold chain on the debris trail of the Santa Margarita which is the sister ship of the Atocha. The two ships sank in the same hurricane in 1622 and Mel Fisher first found part of the Margarita in 1980. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| August 26, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley Unique Artifacts in Conservation |
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Through the summer we have been continuing work on what has been dubbed the Carpenter's Trail. A recently found encrusted object has been in the conservation process and has emerged to be an in tact vice. The tightening mechanism is still in very good condition and it is rather incredible to see that a hand made tool from the early 1600s has many of the same qualities as a modern day vice.
View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| July 10, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley The new technology is working! |
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Last weekend the Mel Fisher salvage vessel, "Dare" found 4 copper ingots, bringing the total to 7 copper ingots found this summer. We are now able to read up to 4 feet into the ocean bottom to locate artifacts on the Atocha/Margarita site. The previous depth was about 15 inches, and that was only for ferrous material - iron. The new EM technology also reads gold, silver, copper and iron, a huge improvement for us. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| July 20, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley Spike Clump Conservation! |
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The crew of the Magruder found a very large clump of spikes on the Atocha trail which Senior Conservator John Corcoran has begun to work on. The large slab of encrusted spikes had to be carefully separated into more managable sections in order to fit into the wet storage tanks. Corcoran has so far separated 380 individual spikes from the main clump.
View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| June 9, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley Silver coin research underway! |
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Over the weekend John Corcoran, our Senior Conservator, completed the conservation of the clump of 47 coins recently found by the DARE on the Atocha wreck site. They've now been turned over to Sue Pierson, our Curator. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| June 5, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley Another Silver Platter Found on the Atocha |
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Captain Andy and the crew of the Magruder just brought in a large silver serving platter which is 14 inches in diameter and its pre-conservation weight is 5.5 lbs. It is fully encrusted so we are very eager to begin the conservation process and determine whether it is silver gilt like the other one and if there are any descriptive markings that may lead us to discovering who owned the platter. It is an entirely different area than where the Dare crew recently found their silver-gilt platter which is exciting because we have two areas of the trail that are very promising and are producing very impressive artifacts. Check back often as we will update the article as the conservation process begins and we can really get a good idea of what the platter looks like. |
| May 13, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley Silver coin clump found containing 47 coins! |
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Key West, FL May 13, 2009 - The DARE brought up a clump of silver coins to the surface after being untouched for nearly 400 years. The clump was brought into the conservation lab yesterday and Senior Conservator John Corcoran gently separated the coins to get an official count and begin the electrolysis process... View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| April 16, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley Silver Gilt Rosewater Platter Reveals 1622 Bishop's Coat of Arms! |
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Key West, FL April 16, 2009 – A large silver gilt platter that was recently found on the wreck site of the Nuestra Senora de
Atocha turns out to be a Rosewater Platter and has revealed unique markings that indicate it may have belonged to a powerful
Bishop in the early 1600s. Captain Jose "Papo" Garcia and his crew of the salvage vessel DARE recently found a silver gilt Rosewater Platter, which measures 17 1/4" in diameter on the wreck site of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha. It is rare to find such a unique piece with such detailed markings. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| April 4, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley Rare Glazed Pottery Bowl |
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Key West, FL April 4, 2009 - The crew of the DARE recently found this beautiful piece of hand-glazed Majolica pottery on the Atocha wreck site. It is very rare to ever find a piece of intact pottery due to the manner in which the ship sank. Most of the pottery was shattered into small piece during the hurricane and then spent nearly 400 years being tossed about the ocean floor. We can clearly tell that this piece is half of a bowl and has hand designed decorations on its surface. Due to the glazed nature of this piece it is likely that it belonged to ... View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| March 17, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley Rare Silver Serving Ware Found on "Atocha" Shipwreck Site |
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Key West, FL (PRWEB) March 16, 2009 - 35 miles West of Key West, on the shipwreck site of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha a collection of rare silver serving ware was found by Mel Fisher’s Treasures salvage vessel the salvage vessel DARE lead by Captain Jose "Papo" Garcia, First Mate Borys Fajardo and crewmembers David Zinni, Joshua Fisher-Abt and Miguel Morales. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| March 11, 2009 -- Sharon Wiley The Dare Finds Silver! |
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Our Senior Conservator, John Corcoran, just completed the delicate conservation process of a very beautiful silver plate. The plate was found by the crew of the Dare in January 2009 on the Atocha site. While it is still very fragile we are always excited to see when an encrusted piece turns out to be in such good condition as it is difficult to tell pre-conservation the extent of the damage caused by the oxidation process. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| July 16, 2008 -- Sharon Wiley Investors Find Emeralds! |
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Three times a year investors with Mel Fisher's Treasures have a rare opportunity to hunt for beautiful green emeralds from the Muzo mine in Columbia in an unlikely place…out on the ocean. This Saturday daily trips out to a location on the Atocha wreck site known as "Emerald City" began. This is an area where nearly 6 pounds of Columbian emeralds have been found thus far from the Atocha wreck, none of which were on the manifest. This means that all of the emeralds found were contraband, or smuggled onto the ship, which was actually quite common in the 1600s due to a high rate of taxation on the transportation of treasure. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| June 30, 2008 -- Sharon Wiley Ornate Gold Chalice Update! |
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The Gold Chalice has proven to be more breathtaking than anyone could have imagined. Senior Conservator at Mel Fisher's Treasures, John Corcoran, has begun the initial stages of the conservation process. By gently removing the calcareous concretion he has revealed a solid gold piece so beautiful it is nearly impossible to believe it tumbled around the ocean for nearly 400 years. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| June 25, 2008 -- Sharon Wiley Gold Chalice Discovered on Margarita Trail! |
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On June 24, 2008 our joint venture partners, Blue Water Ventures discovered an amazing, gold chalice on the Margarita Shipwreck site 35 miles off the coast of Key West. Captain Dan Porter, First Mate Jesse VanHouten, diver Chris Rackley and Data Specialist Allie Porter all played key roles in the planning and hard work that lead up to this find but it was diver Michael DeMar who was fortunate enough to be the one to come across the ancient artifact in the birm of the excavation site. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| May 19, 2008 -- Sharon Wiley Rare Gold Artifact Found on Margarita Trail! |
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Divers from the Blue Water Rose found a gold artifact, believed to be a combination toothpick and
earwax scoop, in about 22 feet of water, on the Santa Margarita wreck site. According to
archaeologists, the 3-inch-wide, 17th-century grooming tool was probably worn on a gold chain.
Research of the artifact should determine its historical origin and value, which could be as high
as $100,000 according to underwater archaeologist Dr. R. Duncan Mathewson. |
| March 04, 2008 -- Sharon Wiley Extremely Rare Coins Discovered! |
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A coin clump recovered from the Santa Margarita site was recently separated in the conservation
process by Head Conservator John Corcoran and revealed an unexpected grouping of very rare coins.
Along with John, Sue Pierson and Carol Tedesco began investigating the coins' markings and along
with some traditional Phillip II and Phillip III shield coins there were 7 Mexico Mint,
One Reale, Carlos and Johanna era Pillars and Waves coins. This would date the coins back to
1548-1556, far older than the majority of coins found aboard either the Atocha or Margarita.
View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| February 26, 2008 -- Sharon Wiley Press Release! 12 Inch Gold Bar Found on the Atocha Wreck Site! |
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This weekend the crew of Mel Fisher's Treasures' salvage vessel J.B. Magruder struck gold and found a 12-inch gold bar estimated to be approximately 3 pounds on the wreck site of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha; 35 miles off the coast of Key West. Captain Andy Matroci, first mate William Burt and crewmembers Ryan Stapula, Scott Lang and Charles Craig uncovered this large gold bar and a small handful of silver coins. View Entire Press Release and Photos Here. |
| February 21, 2008 -- Sharon Wiley Atocha Wreck Site Yields Uniquely Preserved Artifact! |
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After spending nearly 400 years on the ocean floor artifacts show many signs of erosion. Some artifacts, due to how they came to rest on the ocean floor, may have been slightly more protected than other artifacts. This allows us to see more detail on these artifacts and understand more about how they were used such as on one recently recovered arquebus barrel. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| November 26, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley The 400 Year Old Mystery! |
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Andy Matroci and the crew of the Magruder recently brought in a very interesting artifact from the
Atocha wreck site that has been dubbed the 400-year-old mystery. It came into the lab as an encrusted
object and just this week John was able to finish removing the encrustation from the "Breech Chamber"
and it is now in electrolysis. The chamber is wrought iron and the handle is forged on which means that it is not all one piece. It would go into a wrought iron verso and was pre-loaded with gunpowder to be ready to use at a moments notice. Scrap metal or gunners dice would also be loaded in to make the weapon even more deadly. A wedge would then be driven in behind the breech chamber to secure it and prevent gases from leaking out which would have caused it to be less powerful. This was used more for close range targets as in anti-personnel shots for example because despite their attempts to prevent gas leaks, it still occurred and therefore the weapon wasn't effective at longer ranges. View Entire Story and Photos Here. |
| October 15, 2007 -- Ron Pierson Update! J.B. Magruder Finds Interesting Artifact! |
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The Silver Religious Medallion that was recovered last summer has made its way through conservation and
its quite an astonishing piece. As you can see from the before and after picture the images are much
more defined and now the piece will be stable and preserved for years to come. We are in the process
of researching what exactly the engravings mean and will complete an update once we have accurate
archaeological data. View Photos Here. View Original Story Here. |
| June 26, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley The Blue Water Rose strikes gold, AGAIN! |
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Just in case finding gold once this month wasn't fun enough for everyone, the crew of the Blue Water Rose has done it again just to make sure. They found half of a gold bar with a 22 karat marking on it in roman numerals, a gold bar piece with a 21 karat marking, a gold bar bit, and 2 round gold pieces with 2 prongs just like the ones they brought in last week! They also have MANY artifacts including a sword handle and a significant portion of an olive jar. Check back to the boat happenings page tomorrow morning for a complete count of the hundreds of items they have brought in. We can't wait to see what they find next trip, Today's the Day! View Photos Here. |
| June 13, 2007 -- Gary Randolph Today’s the Day for Margarita Gold! |
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Today was the day.....for Keith Webb, President and CEO of Blue Water Ventures of Key West, a group of dedicated treasure finders sub-contracting on the Margarita site for Mel Fisher’s. I just got a very exciting call from Captain Greg Bounds of the Blue Water Rose. He said, "WE FOUND GOLD!" They hit a spot that produced some amazing treasures. View Entire Story with Photos & Video Replay of the Pearl Box Opening Here. |
| September 28, 2006 -- Sharon Wiley Emerald City Produces Again! |
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The week of September 18 our investors had the unique opportunity to go out to the "Emerald City" site and work alongside the J.B. Magruder crew sifting for coveted Atocha emeralds. As one diver operated the airlift, investors and other crewmembers on deck sifted through all of the sediment and water that was pulled to the surface via airlift. View Entire Story & Photos Here. |
| August 21, 2006 -- Ron Pierson J.B. Magruder Finds Interesting Artifact! |
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In addition to finding 10 more silver coins, 21 musket balls and a skeleton key, the
JB Magruder’s last trip to the "Bank of Spain" resulted in a very interesting new find;
what appears to be a gold wash religious artifact. Although it is difficult to know
the exact history of this amazing artifact, it is certainly a unique new find that is
attracting a lot of attention here in the lab. View Photos Here.
There is much to learn about this artifact in the upcoming weeks of conservation and we will share what we find out here on the recent finds page. Check back often. View Update to This Story Here. |
| August 15, 2006 -- Morgan Perkins Blue Water Crew Finds First Gold!! |
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The Crew of the Blue Water Rose recovered their first gold from the Margarita site. Showing
they are quick learners with a keen eye for treasure hunting, the guys brought up a small
gold flake followed shortly thereafter by a gold floweret with raised filigree design, both
recovered by Diver Chris Rackley. The ornate gold floweret was likely a part of a rosary. Congratulations to Blue Water Ventures and the crew of Blue Water Rose! View Photos Here. |
| July 31, 2006 -- Morgan Perkins Busy Summer for J.B. Magruder! |
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The JB Magruder has really been doing a great job this summer and the guys are finding a
wonderful varitey of artifacts. They came in with 17 silver coins from their most recent
trip. The crew also also recovered 2 cannonballs and an iron projectile from the same
general area they receovered the 52 musket balls last trip. We have only recovered 3 of
these iron projectiles, or bar shot, this century: August 2000, June 2001, August 2002.
These are amazing pieces of weaponry, mainly used to break the mast of an encroaching
pirate ship. These bars are on average 2 feet long with pointed ends upon which the
artillery men would jam a wooden cannonball of sorts, when it was fired out of the cannon
the wood would catch on fire and the bar would pivot through the air. Looks like the guys are honing in on a portion of the weapons storage area of the ship. Perhaps next trip we'll have a bronze cannon to ogle over, or some gold bars that were being smuggled back to Spain. View Photos Here. |
| July 11, 2006 -- Ron Pierson Margarita Site Seeing Action! |
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The activity on the Margarita site is really heating up. The "Blue Water Rose" came in
last week with about eight large buckets filled with artifacts from the site. Along with
the many pottery shards and iron spikes they also brought in a round padlock and some
very unique pottery (See Bizocho Style Pottery) below. They are currently searching an area
north of the main site where they had started a magnetometer survey last year. As they
are working through the list of mag hits, they are finding quite a few Margarita
artifacts in this area. The density of the artifacts in this area leads us to believe
that a large section of the ship went through this spot. Within the next week or two, the "Blue Water Ventures" guys plan on taking their new survey vessel out to continue the mag survey from last year. They've purchased a brand new Geometrics 882 magnetometer and we're going to be giving them a bit of training with this new unit to get them started in the right direction. View Photos Here. |
| July 11, 2006 -- Morgan Perkins Bizocho Style Pottery |
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The ceramic item recently recovered from the Margarita site is a fragment of a
vessel crafted form Bizocho style pottery. Bizcocho is identified by its creamy or off white color. This type of ceramic exhibits a smooth surface and traditionally has detailed design either molded or carved into the clay. Several examples of Bizcocho have been recovered from the 1622 Fleet, the most striking, on display at the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society demonstrates a Spanish conquistador-and this is only a small portion of a larger vessel. This particular piece, recovered by the salvage vessel Blue Water Rose, has a finely crafted fuana motif. The artifact is thin walled, as typical of this form. The fragment recovered indicates a rounded vessel reminiscent of an olive jar design, perhaps a small vase or jug. Further information will be gained if other sections of the vessel are recovered along the trail. |
| July 7, 2006 -- Joe Beaton Gold Button Found! |
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I just spoke with Captain Andy from the Magruder. He told me that they found a Gold button and eight coins on their last trip out. They are also consistently finding random artifacts. Diver Bill Burt found the small gold button/dress mount on June 30, 2006. They were working not far from the bishop's cross recovered in 1985 up the trail in the quicksands. Spirits are up and it is only a matter of time before they find the "Stern Castle". |
| May 12, 2006 -- Sue Pierson Investors Find Emeralds! |
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Investors diving from the J.B. Magruder found 11 emeralds during division week, 8 - 12 May, 2006. This is surely an experience they will not soon forget. Joining the ranks of "Treasure Finders" are investors Scott Hays, CJ Rhoades, Deborah Phillips, Margaret Freeburg, Ken Cherry, Brenda Ayers, Bill Peterson, and Debbie Matejewski. Congratulations!! |
| April 9, 2006 -- Gary Randolph 2 Gold Bars Found! |
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I just got off the phone with Captain Andy on the salvage vessel J.B. Magruder and he told me they just found two gold bars today!!! They’ve been working an area in the Quicksands just West of the Emerald Cross area and had found about 15 silver coins so far, then today our newest diver Kent and “Wild Bill” went down to check a hole and soon after arriving on the bottom Kent saw a 7” long gold bar laying exposed on the bedrock. It was a very solid bar nicely marked with six or seven tax stamps. He took it over to show Bill and he motioned for Kent to take it up right away to let Andy and Jeff know what they had found. Kent took it to the surface and after celebrating for a few minutes they decided to go back down and take some underwater pictures of it. Before getting in the water with his camera Jeff said, “I sure hope Bill finds one too.” Well, wouldn’t you know it, after Jeff and Kent had taken a few pictures Bill comes swimming over to them with another gold bar very similar to the one Kent had just found. Soon after these great finds the winds start kicking up and forced the Magruder to take shelter in the Marquesas. The forecast doesn’t look good so the guys will be coming in tomorrow. What’s very interesting about this find is that most; if not all of the gold bars found in this area in the past have been contraband bars with no tax stamps. It’s quite possible that the guys are on to a new “stash” or chest of gold that was on board the Atocha. We’re hoping they find a lot more of them in this area next trip. We’ll get some photos up on the web site after the guys get back to the office. Congratulations to Captain Andy, Jeff, Bill and Kent. Check out these photos and videos: |
| April 9, 2006 -- Ron Pierson 14 Silver Coins Found! |
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Although somewhat overshadowed by the recovery of two beautiful gold bars unaffected by
the harsh undersea environment, 14 silver coins from the Atocha were also recovered by
the crew of the J.B. Magruder on the 9th of April. Unlike the gold bars however,
hundreds of years on the ocean floor drastically changed the appearance of the silver
coins (see photo on the left). As one of the newest members of the Mel Fisher’s
Treasures Team, I found myself asking many questions about the conservation process
and how these black, completely encrusted little disks are cleaned up and returned
to identifiable Atocha silver coins. Over the next few days, the coins will be
conserved and cleaned by Mel Fisher’s Conservationists, Morgan Perkins and
John Corcoran. I will tag along with a camera to learn more about this process
and share what I learn for all of you. Just select Coin Cleaning Process to see for yourself. |
| August 20, 2005 -- Cliff Sirman Galleon Anchor Found! |
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| July 06, 2005 -- Taffi Fisher Abt Lobster Man Recovers Kang Hsi Vase! |
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| June 07, 2005 -- Donna Lynch 4 Foot Long Gold Rope Chain! |
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| October 18, 2004 -- Morgan Perkins Gold Earring! |
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| August 25, 2004 -- Taffi Fisher Abt $100,000 Treasure Trove Recovered Off Fort Pierce! |
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| August 25, 2004 -- Taffi Fisher Abt Way To Go Gold Duster Crew! |
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| August 25, 2004 -- Taffi Fisher Abt Treasure Coast Living Up To Its Name! |
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| July 19, 2004 -- Kristen Kunas Anchor Found On Unexplored Part Of The Atocha Trail! |
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| July 12, 2004 -- Kristen Kunas Another First! |
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| June 15, 2004 -- Taffi Fisher Abt Treasure coast living up to its name! |
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| February 9, 2004 -- Caroline Menighan From the blue comes the gold! |
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| October 29, 2003 -- Morgan Perkins Exciting new finds! |
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