A coin clump recovered from the Santa Margarita site was recently separated in the conservation process by Head Conservator John Corcoran and revealed an unexpected grouping of very rare coins. Along with John, Sue Pierson and Carol Tedesco began investigating the coins’ markings and along with some traditional Phillip II and Phillip III shield coins there were 7 Lima Mexico Mint, One Reale, Carlos and Johanna era Pillars and Waves coins. This would date the coins back to 1548- 1556, far older than the majority of coins found aboard either the Atocha or Margarita.  View Entire Story and Photos Here.

This weekend the crew of Mel Fisher’s Treasures’ salvage vessel J.B. Magruder struck gold and found a 12-inch gold bar estimated to be approximately 3 pounds on the wreck site of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha; 35 miles off the coast of Key West. Captain Andy Matroci, first mate William Burt and crewmembers Ryan Stapula, Scott Lang and Charles Craig uncovered this large gold bar and a small handful of silver coins.  View Entire Press Release and Photos Here.

After spending nearly 400 years on the ocean floor artifacts show many signs of erosion. Some artifacts, due to how they came to rest on the ocean floor, may have been slightly more protected than other artifacts. This allows us to see more detail on these artifacts and understand more about how they were used such as on one recently recovered arquebus barrel.  View Entire Story and Photos Here.

Andy Matroci and the crew of the Magruder recently brought in a very interesting artifact from the Atocha wreck site that has been dubbed the 400-year-old mystery. It came into the lab as an encrusted object and just this week John was able to finish removing the encrustation from the “Breech Chamber” and it is now in electrolysis.

The chamber is wrought iron and the handle is forged on which means that it is not all one piece. It would go into a wrought iron verso and was pre- loaded with gunpowder to be ready to use at a moments notice. Scrap metal or gunners dice would also be loaded in to make the weapon even more deadly. A wedge would then be driven in behind the breech chamber to secure it and prevent gases from leaking out which would have caused it to be less powerful. This was used more for close range targets as in anti-personnel shots for example because despite their attempts to prevent gas leaks, it still occurred and therefore the weapon wasn’t effective at longer ranges.  View Entire Story and Photos Here.

The Silver Religious Medallion that was recovered last summer has made its way through conservation and its quite an astonishing piece. As you can see from the before and after picture the images are much more defined and now the piece will be stable and preserved for years to come. We are in the process of researching what exactly the engravings mean and will complete an update once we have accurate archaeological data. View Photos Here.

View Original Story Here.

Just in case finding gold once this month wasn't fun enough for everyone, the crew of the Blue Water Rose has done it again just to make sure. They found half of a gold bar with a 22 karat marking on it in roman numerals, a gold bar piece with a 21 karat marking, a gold bar bit, and 2 round gold pieces with 2 prongs just like the ones they brought in last week! They also have MANY artifacts including a sword handle and a significant portion of an olive jar. Check back to the boat happenings page tomorrow morning for a complete count of the hundreds of items they have brought in. We can't wait to see what they find next trip, Today's the Day!  View Photos Here.

Today was the day.....for Keith Webb, President and CEO of Blue Water Ventures of Key West, a group of dedicated treasure finders sub-contracting on the Margarita site for Mel Fisher’s. I just got a very exciting call from Captain Greg Bounds of the Blue Water Rose. He said, “WE FOUND GOLD!” They hit a spot that produced some amazing treasures. View Entire Story with Photos & Video Replay of the Pearl Box Opening Here.

The week of September 18 our investors had the unique opportunity to go out to the "Emerald City" site and work alongside the J.B. Magruder crew sifting for coveted Atocha emeralds. As one diver operated the airlift, investors and other crewmembers on deck sifted through all of the sediment and water that was pulled to the surface via airlift. View Entire Story & Photos Here.

In addition to finding 10 more silver coins, 21 musket balls and a skeleton key, the JB Magruder’s last trip to the “Bank of Spain” resulted in a very interesting new find; what appears to be a gold wash religious artifact. Although it is difficult to know the exact history of this amazing artifact, it is certainly a unique new find that is attracting a lot of attention here in the lab. View Photos Here.

There is much to learn about this artifact in the upcoming weeks of conservation and we will share what we find out here on the recent finds page. Check back often.

The Crew of the Blue Water Rose recovered their first gold from the Margarita site. Showing they are quick learners with a keen eye for treasure hunting, the guys brought up a small gold flake followed shortly thereafter by a gold floweret with raised filigree design, both recovered by Diver Chris Rackley. The ornate gold floweret was likely a part of a rosary.

Congratulations to Blue Water Ventures and the crew of Blue Water Rose! View Photos Here.

The JB Magruder has really been doing a great job this summer and the guys are finding a wonderful varitey of artifacts. They came in with 17 silver coins from their most recent trip. The crew also also recovered 2 cannonballs and an iron projectile from the same general area they receovered the 52 musket balls last trip. We have only recovered 3 of these iron projectiles, or bar shot, this century: August 2000, June 2001, August 2002. These are amazing pieces of weaponry, mainly used to break the mast of an encroaching pirate ship. These bars are on average 2 feet long with pointed ends upon which the artillery men would jam a wooden cannonball of sorts, when it was fired out of the cannon the wood would catch on fire and the bar would pivot through the air.

Looks like the guys are honing in on a portion of the weapons storage area of the ship. Perhaps next trip we'll have a bronze cannon to ogle over, or some gold bars that were being smuggled back to Spain. View Photos Here.

The activity on the Margarita site is really heating up. The "Blue Water Rose" came in last week with about eight large buckets filled with artifacts from the site. Along with the many pottery shards and iron spikes they also brought in a round padlock and some very unique pottery (See Bizocho Style Pottery) below. They are currently searching an area north of the main site where they had started a magnetometer survey last year. As they are working through the list of mag hits, they are finding quite a few Margarita artifacts in this area. The density of the artifacts in this area leads us to believe that a large section of the ship went through this spot.

Within the next week or two, the "Blue Water Ventures" guys plan on taking their new survey vessel out to continue the mag survey from last year. They've purchased a brand new Geometrics 882 magnetometer and we're going to be giving them a bit of training with this new unit to get them started in the right direction. View Photos Here.

The ceramic item recently recovered from the Margarita site is a fragment of a vessel crafted form Bizocho style pottery.

Bizcocho is identified by its creamy or off white color. This type of ceramic exhibits a smooth surface and traditionally has detailed design either molded or carved into the clay.

Several examples of Bizcocho have been recovered from the 1622 Fleet, the most striking, on display at the Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society demonstrates a Spanish conquistador-and this is only a small portion of a larger vessel.

This particular piece, recovered by the salvage vessel Blue Water Rose, has a finely crafted fuana motif. The artifact is thin walled, as typical of this form. The fragment recovered indicates a rounded vessel reminiscent of an olive jar design, perhaps a small vase or jug. Further information will be gained if other sections of the vessel are recovered along the trail.

I just spoke with Captain Andy from the Magruder. He told me that they found a Gold button and eight coins on their last trip out. They are also consistently finding random artifacts. Diver Bill Burt found the small gold button/dress mount on June 30, 2006. They were working not far from the bishop's cross recovered in 1985 up the trail in the quicksands. Spirits are up and it is only a matter of time before they find the "Stern Castle".

Investors diving from the J.B. Magruder found 11 emeralds during division week, 8 - 12 May, 2006. This is surely an experience they will not soon forget. Joining the ranks of "Treasure Finders" are investors Scott Hays, CJ Rhoades, Deborah Phillips, Margaret Freeburg, Ken Cherry, Brenda Ayers, Bill Peterson, and Debbie Matejewski. Congratulations!!

I just got off the phone with Captain Andy on the salvage vessel J.B. Magruder and he told me they just found two gold bars today!!! They’ve been working an area in the Quicksands just West of the Emerald Cross area and had found about 15 silver coins so far, then today our newest diver Kent and “Wild Bill” went down to check a hole and soon after arriving on the bottom Kent saw a 7” long gold bar laying exposed on the bedrock. It was a very solid bar nicely marked with six or seven tax stamps. He took it over to show Bill and he motioned for Kent to take it up right away to let Andy and Jeff know what they had found. Kent took it to the surface and after celebrating for a few minutes they decided to go back down and take some underwater pictures of it. Before getting in the water with his camera Jeff said, “I sure hope Bill finds one too.” Well, wouldn’t you know it, after Jeff and Kent had taken a few pictures Bill comes swimming over to them with another gold bar very similar to the one Kent had just found. Soon after these great finds the winds start kicking up and forced the Magruder to take shelter in the Marquesas. The forecast doesn’t look good so the guys will be coming in tomorrow. What’s very interesting about this find is that most; if not all of the gold bars found in this area in the past have been contraband bars with no tax stamps. It’s quite possible that the guys are on to a new “stash” or chest of gold that was on board the Atocha. We’re hoping they find a lot more of them in this area next trip. We’ll get some photos up on the web site after the guys get back to the office. Congratulations to Captain Andy, Jeff, Bill and Kent. Check out these photos and videos:

Although somewhat overshadowed by the recovery of two beautiful gold bars unaffected by the harsh undersea environment, 14 silver coins from the Atocha were also recovered by the crew of the J.B. Magruder on the 9th of April. Unlike the gold bars however, hundreds of years on the ocean floor drastically changed the appearance of the silver coins (see photo on the left). As one of the newest members of the Mel Fisher’s Treasures Team, I found myself asking many questions about the conservation process and how these black, completely encrusted little disks are cleaned up and returned to identifiable Atocha silver coins. Over the next few days, the coins will be conserved and cleaned by Mel Fisher’s Conservationists, Morgan Perkins and John Corcoran. I will tag along with a camera to learn more about this process and share what I learn for all of you. Just select Coin Cleaning Process to see for yourself.