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.

Captain Andy described the area where he is working. "We are near the northernmost part of the Atocha site, between the stern castle trail and the new carpenter's trail, in an area that has never been excavated. This is virgin territory we are working in right now," he said with a gleam in his eyes.