Mel Fisher - Has Anyone Dived the Atocha Trail?

[Kay Wilson]

I am diving with Atocha Trail with the Mel Fisher team in June 2013 - I'm looking for some insights from anyone who has done this trip already.

Am I likely to find any artifacts? Or should I set my expectations to just enjoy the opportunity of getting a peak 'behind the curtain'?

 

[TSandM]

One of our students did this, and he enjoyed it. He came home with a few small things -- I can't remember precisely what they were, but I think one was a small coin.

 

[DennisS]

Sweat of the sun, tears of the moon, Syd Jones, is probably the best book on the hunt for the Atocha. I'd recommend it as a backround read for your trip


Atocha Treasure Adventures: Sweat of the Sun, Tears of the Moon: Capt Syd Jones: 9781461150107: Amazon.com: Books

 

[blacksambellamy]

Here is my opnion: Those ships started to be salvaged by pirates not long after they wrecked. Then came Mel Fisher who got the mother load...he got lucky and accomplished what 99% of us can only dream of. Others came after them and they to pillaged the ocean floor and made small fortuns.


Then for years very little was heard about the salvage of the 1715 fleet untill now. Do you think its coincidence the Fisher family is pumping their treasure operation and gold and silver are at their all time highs? They know full well that there is limited treasure out there but they are giving people false hope and cashing in on their dreams. Its all a shell-game and the Fishers are the only people that will win. They know as long as people can find a coin here and there it will be enough to keep the investors coming ( at least as long as gold and silver prices are high)


Then comes the emerald parties they have where people pay to sit on a boat while one of the fisher team members sucks sand off the bottom of the ocean. That sand then gets sent up to the boat where investors sift through it looking for emeralds. I have always been suspicious of this and often thought the person on the bottom might be tossing emeralds up the hose every few hours. As long as someone finds something they all believe their investment was worth it......




The Fishers and others claim there is more treasure out there based on the ships manafests and what has been recovered so far. But if others before them recovered treasure this would account for the treasure they still think is out there.......As for the Stern Castle loaded with silver....it simply dosent exist. Todays technology would have found treasure of that size within months.

 

[Sean Fisher]

Blacksabellamy, your opinion is completely incorrect. Here are the FACTS. The Atocha and Margarita shipwrecks sank off of Key West in 1622. Neither is part of the 1715 fleet where Mel started hunting treasure in the early 1960's. Mel Fisher's Treasures sold the rights to all leases on the water's of the 1715 fleet to a company called Queen's Jewels LLC about 3 years ago. You really would not hear much about the 1715 Fleet from us as the sites are no longer ours. We do still work the wreck-sites of the Atocha and Santa Margarita all year long. We will do so until we locate the remaining 130,000 silver coins and roughly 400 silver bars that are on the manifest and yet to be located by us or the Spaniards who worked the Margarita site back in the 1600's.

We do not have "Emerald Parties". There is however a part of the Atocha wreck site that we call emerald city. It is where we have located all of the rough emeralds that we have found on the Atocha, hence the name emerald city. I have myself been that diver you speak of and have pumped the emeralds up. Mel Fisher's will allow investors to go to emerald city and sift topside for emeralds. They will also allow them to dive and watch our divers do the work as it is interesting. They don't let them work the heavy equipment for liability reasons but many have observed the process and could tell you all about it.

The prices of Gold and Silver have very little to do with the prices of our artifacts. In fact, the cost of a silver coin at melt value is $33/oz. Our coins range from $700 to $2800 for a coin without any major rarity on it so as you can see, the change of the price of the metal has little to do with the cost of our artifacts.

You obviously know little about today's technology also. Today's metal detectors can read a non-ferris metal from about 2 to 2 1/2 feet. The sand on the Atocha trail is a minimum of 5 feet deep and goes as deep as 20 feet. Although Mel Fisher's is actually about to start testing on a long range metal detector there is not one in the world yet. There are magnetometers that can see ferris metals, Iron or anything with a magnetic field, from a much farther range, but they do not see gold or silver.

Mel Fisher's is also looking for other wrecks out there today. Mostly in much deeper water. If you go to ​

Mel Fisher's Treasures - Historic Shipwreck Recovery

you can see some of the technology they are using today, including the new HAUV they are using to locate the deep water wrecks.​

 

[vladimir]

Mother lode, not load. It's mining terminology for the principal deposit of ore. It's an easy and common mistake to make.

 

[TSandM]

I know my friend who did this didn't go with the expectation of coming home with any kind of monetarily rewarding treasure. He went for the fun of diving on a real, historic wreck, and the possibility he might get to come home with some identifiable relics, which he did.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

Sean, nice to see your post. I have been following your family's quest since the early 80's and been to your Key West museum several times. I was in Halifax to see your travelling exhibit when it came north into Canada. I continue to be amazed at the finds that you guys are still making. Keep up the great work and believe me I wouldn't go to the Keys with out stopping in again.
As for Kay Wilson, you go for it, have fun and remember.... "TODAY IS THE DAY".
ZDD

 

[National Treasure]

Good as Gold? : People.com

 

[National Treasure]

Is it True Mel Fisher was caught selling fake gold coins

---------- Post added February 8th, 2013 at 06:01 PM ----------

Kay Wilson you better off saving your $2500.00 and buying up Spanish 8 Reales from El Cazador you could of bought anywhere from 30 to 50 of those Reales. In all its a vacation and keep people working.