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 4.5 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.
This week we have found 21 emeralds, and we’re still counting. Investors love the thrill of the hunt for these beautiful gems. A system is put in place where one Mel Fisher’s crewmember heads to the bottom where he utilizes an airlift to excavate a carefully gridded area. The material (including water, sand and hopefully emeralds) is transported via hose to the surface where it is sent through a series of increasingly smaller grates that separate the larger materials from the smaller; it then sends the water back overboard. At this point investors and crewmembers working these grates, known as “sluice boxes”, sift through the sediment searching for the green gems. At first it seems like a daunting task, that one would never be able to pick out such a small piece amongst all of the material. However, when one does come across an emerald it is unmistakable and impossible to miss. No matter how many times it is explained this is something most don’t fully understand until it happens to them. Then a big smile and an understanding nod come along with their first emerald find.
Trips to Emerald City will continue again tomorrow and we will have a final count for the July trips at the beginning of the week. The next time we will head out to Emerald City will be in September so investors keep an eye out on your emails because space is very limited and the trips tend to be completely full within the first week of offering.
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Emerald found this week by investors Erin and Jeremy Saunders.
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More emeralds found this week by investors.
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Mel Fisher Crewmember using the airlift to excavate at Emerald City.
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Two levels of the grates, covered in sediment while investors search for emeralds.
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Investors sifting for emeralds.
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Visual of the grid used to map out areas worked and emeralds found.
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