Jun 16, 2007 1:50 pm US/Eastern
Divers Discover A Treasure In Gold On Keys Wreck
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KEY WEST (CBS4) ―
"Ahoy mateys - it's gold and treasure the likes of which you've never seen."
Treasure salvagers from Blue Water Ventures Key West have uncovered a wealth of gold and other 17th century artifacts from a shipwrecked Spanish galleon off Key West.
The estimated worth is more than a million dollars.
The treasure includes a gold bar, 8 gold chains, two of which are over four feet long, and eleven ornate gold pieces.
The artifacts are from the Spanish galleon Santa Margarita that sank in a storm in 1622. The treasures were found in nearly 18 feet of water about 40 miles west of Key West.
The artifacts and treasure were taken to Fisher's Key West headquarters for cataloging and conservation.
Discovered by Mel Fisher in 1980, the Margarita was part of a 28 ship Spanish flotilla that left Havana bound for Spain on September 4th, 1622. Onboard the ships were silver from Peru and Mexico, gold and emeralds from Colombia, and pearls from Venezuela. September 5th, the ships were overtaken by a hurricane as they entered the Florida straits. During the storm, 8 ships were sunk including the Margarita, and Fisher's most famous find - the Nuestra Señora de Atocha.
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