April, 2008 -- Sharon Wiley
Adjudication 2007!
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Today was a big day for everyone here at Mel Fisher’s Treasures. As is customary each year we
appeared along with our faithful attorneys Professor William Vandercreek and Gene Lewis before
Federal Judge King for the Adjudication of Title for the treasures recovered on the Atocha and
Margarita wreck sites in the year 2007.
View Entire Story Here.
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April, 2008 -- Gary Randolph
Dare Work!
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February, 2008 -- Sharon Wiley
Taffi Fisher-Abt on GMA
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The crew of Good Morning America ventured down to the Treasure Coast last week to spend some time
learning about treasure hunting. The 1715 Plate Fleet was the focus of their weekend special. Taffi
Fisher- Abt and her family also made a trip to the Good Morning America studios this past weekend
and brought priceless treasure artifacts with them to share with the country during their live
broadcast.
View Entire Story and Photos Here.
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January, 2008 -- Sharon Wiley
Post Electrolysis Conservation
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There is a lot of work to be done in the conservation process aside from electrolysis. Immediately
after an artifact is taken out of the electrolysis tank it is tested for chlorides, if any are
detected then it is placed back into electrolysis. After we are sure the chlorides have been
completely extracted, the item is placed in several different distilled water baths over the
course of 2-3 weeks to leech the sodium carbonate out of the metal.
View Entire Story and Photos Here.
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December 20, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
Pearl Update!
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We would like to give a brief update on the status of the pearls that were found this past summer on the
Blue Water Rose, our joint-venture partner. We have started the very beginning stages of the
conservation process and the pearls are currently going through desalination.
View Entire Story and Photos Here.
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December 3, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
The Dare Receives a Huge Lift!
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The 28th of November was a big day for the DARE and her crew. At 10 am Captain Jose "Papo" Garcia navigated the
harbor around sunken boats and through a small opening to get to the boat lift that would pull the
83.5', 90-ton vessel out of the water into the boatyard.
Crewmembers and boatyard employees slowly moved the boat into position over-top the slings and with
one guy in the water began to tighten the slings around the bottom of the DARE. The man stayed in the
water as the lift began to pull the DARE out of the water and a few adjustments were made using hand
signals to make sure she came out of the water straight and level. The tires strained under the
weight of the boat but there were no glitches in the process and the DARE was lifted easily out
of the water.
View Entire Story and Photos Here.
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December 2, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
Lower Keys Medical Center Performs CAT Scans!
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An interesting part of the archaeological process that most people may not be aware of is the trip to
the hospital that they sometimes take. That’s right, last week 13 artifacts from Mel Fisher’s
Treasures’ conservation lab took a trip to the Lower Keys Medical Center to undergo CAT Scans. Why?
Because sometimes it is critical to know where exactly the artifact is inside of the concretion and
how much of the metal is actually left, if any at all. As you may recall in a previous article we
talked about how the encrustation could be used as a mold if the artifact itself had completely
eroded over the years. By performing a CAT Scan on the encrusted object (mainly swords, arquebus
and other unique items) the conservationist is able to know where the metal is inside the encrusted
object and can then figure the best way to approach conservation of these very delicate artifacts
without destroying any portion of the metal.
View Entire Story and Photos Here.
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October 25, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
The Conservation Process
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Due to the extreme number of Encrusted Objects that have been found this summer I thought it might be
interesting to take a little bit closer look at the conservation process for these items. When an
Encrusted Object is found the archaeological process begins. As with any other artifact found on
the wreck sites the boat captain will number, tag and record each item and the coordinates of where
it was found. Upon returning to shore the artifacts are brought back to the conservation lab and are
checked in by John Corcoran, our Senior Conservator and the boat Captain one by one. They are then
placed in wet storage to avoid interaction with the air, which would harm the artifact until we have
a chance to work on them.
View Entire Story and Photos Here.
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October 10, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
Interesting Artifacts Abound!
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As many of you know this summer has yielded many artifacts on both the Atocha and Margarita sites.
Because of this our Senior Conservator, John Corcoran has been extraordinarily busy taking care of the
many items the boats have been bringing in. There have been numerous Encrusted Objects (EOs) brought
in; which are items that have a thick concretion on them and we are unsure of what exactly they are
before conservation. It is John’s job to determine if the artifact is salvageable or if it has already
completely eroded away while sitting on the ocean floor. In this case it is better to use the
encrustation as a mold for a replica of the original artifact.
View Entire Story and Photos Here.
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September 15, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
Mel Fisher's Treasures Bike Wash!
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Mel Fisher’s Treasures hosted our first Bike Wash during bike week and The Poker Run here in Key West
this past weekend. While Friday was a bit slow because everyone was just getting into town and getting
settled into their hotels, Saturday was a completely different story. We washed bikes 4 at a time for
the entire scheduled length of the bike wash, plus some.
View Entire Story and Photos Here.
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August 15, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
Mel Fisher's Treasures to "Go Deep"!
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The Canadian film crew from Arcadia Productions is back in town this week getting more footage for the
hour long show they are producing. The piece was originally only supposed to be 15 minutes long but has
turned into a full hour show of its own. The crew was here when the Blue Water Rose found all of the
gold and pearls in June and couldn't resist coming back for more. After diving out at the wreck site
yesterday this afternoon they are flying high over the Atocha wreck site in a helicopter getting some
aerial shots of the Magruder. The show will be one of seven hour long shows in a series
called "Go Deep". It will air in Canada on the History Channel and in the United States on the
Discovery Channel. It is set to air this fall, so keep an eye out for more information. Today's the Day!
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July 12, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
Pearls Update: Assistance Requested From GIA!
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Akira Hyatt, a gemologist from the New York office of the GIA (Gemological Institute of America) has come
to Key West to assist Gary Randolph, Jim Sinclair and Duncan Mathewson with the examination of the
Margarita Pearl collection and to help us in structuring a plan to take 30 selected pearls to their
lab in NY for some non-destructive analysis and testing. They will then be giving us a report on their
condition and any impurities that may have leached into the pearls, possibly from the lead box in which
they where found so that we will have a better idea on how to conserve and stabilize them properly.
This first batch of 30 pearls will be our test case and once the GIA’s testing and reports are
complete, our conservation process can be implemented and evaluated. Once the first batch has
been put through the conservation procedure, we will check our results and continue to do the rest
as long as we haven’t encountered any problems with the conservation processes we decide to use.
Our sorting and counting of the pearls is continuing and it has becoming apparent that our initial
estimates of 2,000 pearls where a bit low. We are currently over that number and have not even started
counting the smaller pearls as of today. This will most likely take another week or two to complete the
sorting and counting of this extremely rare collection of pearls.
View Photos Here.
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June 15, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
Blue Water Ventures Finds Gold!
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It seems everyone is interested in ancient treasure. Since the Blue Water Rose returned to port
newspapers and television stations have been picking up the story. Here are a few links to some
newspaper articles including one from Blue Water Ventures Key West President and CEO,
Keith Webb's, home town.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/061507/met_177338289.shtml
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/15/america/NA-GEN-US-Treasure-Ship.php
http://beta.abc3340.com/news/stories/0607/431625.html
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March 15, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
Montessori Elementary Students Visit Mel Fisher's!
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Letter from Students
Thank you for giving us a tour. We learned a lot of new things. Our favorite part was lifting the
gold bar. We also liked the emerald cross, the poison cup, the big green emerald, and holding the
gold chain and disk. View Full Story and Photos!
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March 08, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
Mel Fisher's Middle School Visit!
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February 26, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
Miami Boat Show Appearance
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January 30, 2007 -- Sharon Wiley
Magruder Makeover!
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December 13, 2006 -- Gary Randolph
Cannon Unvailed!
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December 1, 2006 -- Sharon Wiley
DEMA Cocktail Party at the Palms!
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September 28, 2006 -- Sharon Wiley
Investors Donate Atocha Arquebus Barrel!
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September 27, 2006 -- Sharon Wiley
The Dare Showcased on Telemundo!
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August 22, 2006 -- Sharon Wiley
Comcast Spends a Day on the JB Magruder!
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July 31, 2006 -- Sharon Wiley
Former Florida Governor Bob Martinez Visit!
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July 19, 2006 -- Sharon Wiley
Monroe County School Recieves AED!
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July 24, 2006 -- Susan Rowe (Panama Foreign Correspondent)
Mel Fisher days in Panama!
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July 10, 2006 -- Ron Pierson
Deo Visits the Mel Fisher's Crew!
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June 15, 2006 -- Ron Pierson
Shocking News!!! Sean Fisher -- ARRESTED!
For a good cause.
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June 7, 2006 -- Sharon Wiley
Mel Fisher's Crew and Investors
to appear on Travel Channel
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May 17, 2006 -- Sharon Wiley
Dateline NBC interviews
J.B. Magruder Crew
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April 28, 2006 -- Sharon Wiley
Mel Fisher's to air on Tonight Show
with Jay Leno July 13, 2006
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October 7, 2004 -- Elishea Strickland
Bid Adieu and an Auspicious Welcome
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September 3, 2003 -- Jean Thornton
A First Visit to an 1800's Shipwreck
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