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New World Treasures.com
Spanish Colonial Coins and
Artifacts
History Of The Shipwreck Nuestra
Senora De Atocha
(The Atocha Story)
Spanish expansion in the New
World was rapid and by the late
1500's Mexico City, Lima and
Potosi had populations that
exceeded the largest cities in
Spain. It would be another half
a century or more before the
chief cities of colonial North
America; Boston, Philadelphia,
and New York, were to be founded.
Colonists were granted huge
tracts of land to grow tobacco,
coffee and other products for
export to the mainland. More
important to the throne however,
was the continent's mineral
wealth of silver and gold, which
were vital to Spain's continued
growth.
Trade with the colonies followed
a well-established system.
Beginning in 1561 and continuing
until 1748, two fleets a year
were sent to the New World. The
ships brought supplies to the
colonists and were then filled
with silver, gold, and
agricultural products for the
return voyage back to Spain.
The fleets sailed from Cadiz,
Spain early in the year,
following the approximate route
that Columbus had taken years
before. Upon arrival in the
Caribbean, the two fleets would
split up, the Nueva España Fleet
continuing on to Veracruz,
Mexico and the Tierra Firme
Fleet to Portobello in Panama.
Here, the ships were unloaded
and the cargo of silver and gold
brought aboard. For the return
trip the divided fleets
reassembled in Havana, then rode
the Gulf Stream north along the
coast of Florida before turning
east when at the same latitude
as Spain.
The treasure fleets faced many
obstacles; the two greatest of
which were weather and pirates.
It was well known that the
hurricane season began in late
July, so for this reason the
operation was timed for an
earlier departure. For
protection against pirates, each
fleet was equipped with two
heavily armed guard galleons.
The lead ship was known as the
Capitana. The other galleon,
called the amaranth, was to
bring up the rear. A recently
constructed 110 foot galleon,
the Nuestra Señora de Atocha,
was designated the amaranth of
the Tierra Firme Fleet.
The fleet departed Spain on
March 23, 1622 and after a brief
stop at the Caribbean Island of
Dominica, the Atocha and the
Tierra Firme Fleet continued on
to the Colombian port city of
Cartagena, arriving in
Portobello on May 24th. Treasure
from Lima and Potosi was still
arriving by mule train from
Panama City, a port on the
pacific side of the Isthmus. It
would take nearly 2 months to
record and load the Atocha's
cargo in preparation for
departure. Finally, on July 22,
the Tierra Firme Fleet set sail
for Havana, via Cartagena, to
meet the fleet returning from
Veracruz. In Cartagena, the
Atocha received an additional
cargo load of treasure, much of
it gold and rare first year
production silver from the
recently established mints here
and at Santa Fe de Bogotá. It
was late August, well into the
hurricane season, before the
fleet arrived in Havana.
As a military escort, the Atocha
carried an entire company of 82
infantrymen to defend the vessel
from attack and possible enemy
boarding. For this reason, she
was the ship of choice for
wealthy passengers and carried
an extraordinarily large
percentage of the fleet's
treasure. Unfortunately,
firepower could not save her
from the forces of nature.
On Sunday, September 4th, with
the weather near perfect, the
decision was made to set sail
for Spain. The twenty-eight
ships of the combined fleet
raised anchor and in single file
set a course due north towards
the Florida Keys and the strong
Gulf Stream current. The Atocha,
sitting low from its heavy
cargo, took up its assigned
position in the rear. By evening
the wind started to pick up out
of the northeast growing
stronger through the night. At
daybreak the seas were
mountainous and for safety most
everyone was below deck seasick
or in prayer. Throughout the
next day the wind shifted to the
south driving most of the fleet
past the Dry Tortugas and into
the relatively safe waters of
the Gulf of Mexico.
The Atocha, Santa Margarita,
Nuestra Señora del Rosario and
two smaller vessels all at the
tail end of the convoy received
the full impact of the storm and
were not so fortunate. With
their sails and rigging reduced
to shreds, and masts and tillers
battered or broken, the ships
drifted helplessly toward the
reefs. All five ships were lost,
the Atocha being lifted high on
a wave and smashed violently on
a coral reef. She sunk
instantly, pulled to the bottom
by her heavy cargo of treasure
and cannon.
The next day, a small merchant
ship making its way through the
debris rescued five Atocha
survivors still clinging to the
ship mizzenmast. They were all
that were left of 265 passengers
and crew.
Salvage attempts began
immediately. The Atocha was
found in 55 feet of water with
the top of its mast in plain
view. Divers, limited to holding
their breath, attempted recovery
but were unable to break into
the hatches. They marked the
site and continued searching for
the other wrecks. The Rosario
was found in shallow water and
was relatively easy to salvage,
but the other vessels could not
be located. While the salvagers
were in Havana obtaining the
proper equipment to retrieve the
Atocha's treasure, a second
hurricane ravaged the area
tearing the upper hull structure
and masts from the ship. When
they returned, the wreck was no
where to be found and salvage
attempts over the next 10 years
proved futile. However, the
Santa Margarita was discovered
in 1626 and much of her cargo
salvaged over the next few
years. But, time and events
slowly erased memories of the
Atocha. Copies of the ship's
register and written events of
the times eventually found their
way into the Archives of the
Indies in Seville, Spain. These
documents, like the treasure
itself, were to lay in obscurity
waiting for the right set of
circumstances centuries later.
The twentieth century was a
period of tremendous
technological advancement. For
the Atocha, one of the most
significant occurred in 1942
when a French naval lieutenant
named Jacques-Ives Cousteau
developed the self-contained
underwater breathing apparatus,
or SCUBA for short. It allowed
divers to remain underwater for
extended periods of time. SCUBA
contributed to the discovery of
ten wrecks from the 1715 Spanish
treasure fleet near Vero Beach,
Florida. This highly publicized
1960's salvage operation,
conducted by Real Eight
Corporation, ignited an
unprecedented interest in
Spanish colonial shipwreck
salvage, which remains strong to
this day. It was this event that
drew people such as Mel Fisher
into the industry and onto the
path of the Atocha.
After participating in the 1715
fleet salvage operation, Mel
formed a company called Treasure
Salvors and began searching in
earnest for the much talked
about Atocha. His effort over a
sixteen-year period from 1970 to
1986 is a book in itself. But,
in short lead to the discovery
of the Santa Margarita in 1980
and the Atocha on July 20, 1985,
her hull lying in 55 feet of
water, exactly as recorded by
the first salvagers in 1622.
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