the search for Atocha

watch?v=_8eU77XvhZ8
watch?v=NU0lwuT_oqQ
in 1622 a Spanish galleon sunk off the coast of Florida containing a fortune in treasures on board, but remained elusive until 1989, when explorer Mel Fisher finally located its whereabouts. Called the Atocha, this program charters the search for the missing ship, and shows Fisher showing off some of the incredible riches he found on board. An incredible story, THE SEARCH FOR ATOCHA shows that sometimes life really does mirror the fictional tales that we're so enamored with.

[@fecherxx1]

I lived in Key West in 1985. I had the honor of knowing one of the men "Chip" that was on the boat. he gave me a tour of the museum once everything was put in the building. the back room was filled with black bars not cleaned yet. emeralds. I was so fortunate to have seen this before being put on display.... was a treasure!!

[@CaptainCraigKWMRZ]

I worked with Chip on the Bookmaker. Good guy.

[@HDMScorp]

Loved this! I just purchased a coin from the wreck as a necklace charm wrapped in a 14k gold bezel so it definitely has more meaning. God I miss the old History channel. They had such good content. Not that reality t.v dramatic crap they have now.

[@Favs702]

My grandmother was one of Mel's first investors. I remember her showing us coins and jewels he gave to her from the De Atocha

[@LiterallyGod]

Favs702 i am mel fisher.. we never had a female investor

[@nicohodjat3118]

@@LiterallyGod Mel Fisher died in 1998-

[@LiterallyGod]

Nala Hodjat i paid for my brain to be transformed into virtual consciousness only alive on the internet

[@fred6839]

"Today is the Day" What a cool story. Mel spent most his life searching for the Atocha and he finally found it. Once he found it, the State of Florida said, "All of it belongs to us." Mel said: "I'll give you 25%." State of Florida said: "No, we want all of it." Mel said: "We'll let the courts decide." 10 years later, the courts sided with Mel and gave him all of it.

[@jehugo66]

Same as it ever was. I laugh when I hear archeologist or other Intellectuals argue that wrecks should be left "In situ" when found and afterwards-so these bookworms can be the ones who enjoy the spoils of the find and advance their careers and prosperity through publishing "Peer Reviewed Journals" that bring them fame, riches, and personal fulfillment in ways specific to their Interests-and say guys like Mel Fisher need to leave these things to "The Experts." Without having learned how to go beneath the seat banks to advances like Fisher who spent their own money when it was just a pipe dream and no one was interested. The argument of the Titanic's discoverer follows this path. Robert Ballard was after Titanic for different but essentially the same reasons-it would enhance his Life when found. To argue that this ships are a "gravesite" and so the ship and its contents-never meant to be dumped across the ocean floor, should be left "In Situ" (on site) is just selfish condescension.

[@jehugo66]

+Joshua Hugo ....and was achieved on the backs of the American Tax Payer who funded all the technology and equipment of Titanic Search with the U.S. Navy whom he Ballard was working for when he searched, and later the NOAA, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and now the University of Rhode Island. The spoils need to be displayed to the Public in Museums-even if commerce and sale is necessary to do so. I'm fascinated by Ballard, and Mel Fisher of course, but the two and their amazing finds have differences in both having the dream but only one having to put everything he had up for auction and lose his son, daughter-in-law, and crew members to achieve his vision. The fact that once successful, Big Government suddenly took interest is appalling-and very UnAmerican in its ideals. The same was done when the "Amateur" paleontologists found the famous T Rex "Sue." Suddenly everyone wanted a piece of the results of some unknowns who had toiled and spent years of their own time/money.

[@kwnortherner]

Not true he still had to give a good percentage up. Like 20% I believe.

[@hectorkeezy1499]

Fred There is SOME justice in the World, after all.

[@dorothymason8882]

If you go to KEY west be sure to visit Melanie museum, and gift shop.

[@bmmacvy5702]

Mel Fisher back in 1979 hired the treasure salvage boat R/V James Bay on which I was a crew member to blast holes with our 7 ft. dia." mailboxes " in the quicksands area. Mel stayed aboard for several days during the operation. He was such a positive anything can happen guy! He shared some great stories over the dinner table that I enjoyed so much! I'll never forget his little funny laugh!

[@kmb0172]

My father in law was Mo Molinar you probably dived alongside of him then he brought the Virgonolia to Fort Pierce and continued to search for gold

[@painelarson]

The greatest Hero of this epic adventure was Eugene Lyon…a truly brilliant man!

[@CaptainCraigKWMRZ]

Yes he and Ed the cartographer found the Atocha!

[@interstategar]

I went to the Mel Fisher Museum and bought one of the last high grade silver 8 coins, and in the documentation that you get with the coin, is the diver that brought up that coin, and it was Mel Fisher himself.

[@TyroneOne]

How much did that cost ya?

[@HDMScorp]

$5,000?

[@jeffwood3764]

He was charged for selling counterfeit coins. His reputation is worthless

[@aiajason]

I saw the treasure years ago and will never forget all the stacks of gold bars

[@jameshabovick8949]

I got to meet Mel, what a great man, he told me stories of his quest

[@cweefy]

i'm so glad that I clicked on this . loved it

[@ethanberlin587]

Isn't it amazing that 75% of the earth is ocean and all the vast treasure and historical artifacts that lay in it

[@deepwaterescue4u]

Very good story

[@joshuaholder1142]

Love this stuff ! The greatest find yet in the vast ocean of secrets

[@somebeachdetecting]

And the best part... There is a whole lot more out there!!!!!💰💰💰💰💰💰💰 Detecting on the Treasure Coast..🌀✔. Subscribed

[@SparkplugsK-bn9ou]

You gotta hand it to Mel, he never gave up.. :) and his wife didn't let him

[@The_Bass_Stunters]

Sparkplugs53 K200 dont understand Men that let there wives hold them back!? If she doesn’t support your dreams then she is not apart of the dream either.

[@tyronebarron3978]

When I read the story about Mel Fisher it just makes an average person like me believe that dreams really do come true-- " so never give up on your dreams "

[@annabatarowicz]

What a great story man and such a shame at the loss off the beautiful Young white couple

[@jehugo66]

"White?" A veiled, but not well, Racist comment. KZbin is loaded with Bigots like you.

[@bagpiper7576]

KnoxTN Yankee being a liberal is the same as having autism.

[@frankwhite9170]

@@bagpiper7576 what is that purpose of saying white couple?😂

[@pamfrank3962]

Wonderful documentary 👏❤

[@anthonyrenaud5783]

What an interesting story.

[@jmddetecting5503]

Amazing

[@irenepatrick5669]

I found a documentary on youtube am addicted to it

[@TheNextGoogification]

This was A & E - the search for the Atocha 1998 it doesn't turn up much when you Google it

[@jehugo66]

Stocks was found about a month before Robert Ballard, who said he is hunch was to look for a Debris Field that would lead a trail to where Titanic could be found. I've never heard it said by Ballard that this strategy was attributed to anyone but himself-but obviously Mel Fisher was already following the advice of his archaeologist, Mr. Duncan. It'd be interesting to see Ballard asked about the Treasure Trail of ship's artifacts leading to the main hull, Fisher found the pile of silver a month before Ballard found the Titanic's boiler, and it was quite a sensation in the news that summer of 1985 when Atocha's find was front page news-before Titanic.

[@hectorkeezy1499]

It’s devine justice,that the ship went down. The Spaniards were probably heads, of the biggest organized crime org. of the day. Not that any of the other countries, given half a chance, wouldn’t have done the same. When you think of all the riches,that went to Spain in that period, it’s amazing it all evaporated. It probably went into the classic moneywaste maschine : Wars and military.

[@TheJoeyboots]

There were empires. Empires need to be sustained. More than Spain were competing in a global struggle. Wishing the ill will of God gets no one anywhere.

[@frankparrish5657]

As an Archaeologist, I love treasure diving. It makes me sad how archaeologists and government lay claim to Salvor's money and hard work. Treasure divers have done more for underwater archaeology than "archaeology" ever has.

[@jamillie87]

❤❤❤💐💐💐

[@mcgyvernewone2014]

It's sicking that our government acted like that. In reality someone up there wanted to get their greedy little hands on some more stuff that they never worked for. I hope their a shamed of their actions.

[@justinwilliamson6355]

They're not. Our Government is just a Communist as China and North Korea.

[@CaptainCraigKWMRZ]

I worked fo r TS in the mid eighties to '91 then started my own business out of KW. To this day I wear the first coin I ever found around my neck. Alot of the people in this doc are not with us any longer..

[@irenepatrick5669]

I thought I would share it with you guys enjoy

[@TheNextGoogification]

Here's the title The search for the Atocha Author: Rhys Thomas; Stuart Nelson; Craig Haffner; Donna E Lusitana - A & E Home Video [2002] ===== Please nobody download the video, there's an FBI warning at the end that you could get five years in The Slammer - I told you so.

[@treasureexplorationandrese3712]

Mel had that unbound optimism that drove him to find a way.

[@jony77z65]

I remember that day was only 17

[@leebedford1024]

So the greatest treasure finder in the world is.......... Eugene Lyon

[@clydeoyler1760]

Damn Right!

[@warrenlouisiana2277]

I agree

[@frederickburns1739]

I wonder if anyone that watched the video has put any thought into the story. I heard mansion of purifying the silver with mercury!?!?!? Wonder how many natives died in the process and no doubt most were slaves and in the mines also. Kings and Catholicism all about GREED!!! THEN & NOW!!!

[@mattsanchez3448]

My thoughts exactly. Another great story would be the human cost of extracting the gold, silver, and precious gems found in this wreck. Its all too convenient to skip over the slave labor that suffered during this time. Not wanting to view it as a bleeding heart, but its a big part of the story too. I believe it would make a great book if someone wished to take it that far.

[@Louis-kk3to]

My brother and I met Mel at sloppy Joe's ,and he was on the phone talking to someone about ordering popcorn machines,,,around 1977

[@The_Bass_Stunters]

God bless what I wouldn’t give to get to work that site!

[@c.s.7266]

Me too!!

[@thegeneral3094]

You wouldn't

[@pauldean8638]

They still loads out there but probably sits at more depth in the sand being from where the canon's lie to start of jewellery debris field ,if the canons are the final resting place of the hull then it's heavy objects sink physics, storms wouldn't blow it miles from the trail site ,maybe suction dredge deeper with fixed casons to keep sand out of where your working like brunel did ( suck from the bottom and casons sink ,pressure the bed with liquid and lift bags to remove casons )

[@CaptainCraigKWMRZ]

It's all protected now. The Fishers' still have their claim. FKMS.

[@dangerdavefreestyle]

Think of how many millions of acres of sea exists in just that one area, it all looks the same, and the amount of work involved in searching just one acre and then to top it off the stuff is camouflaged if its visible, but usually its all under several feet of sand!

[@geraldswain3259]

He's worked for and earnt every cent !..f..k the greedy governments ,they never rushed to help finance the whole operation.

[@larrycastro7937]

The moral of the story at the end of Mel Fisher's life is not that Mel found the " Mother load ", it's " Don't smoke ".

[@edsal26]

Many divers have lung problems in late life and never smoked a cigarette. The air they are breathing from a compressed air tank is some times contaminated. And no one lives forever.

[@johneynon7121]

My father Harold Ray Eynon had the Gold Fever while serving in the Navy at Key West in the 50's. He was a master deep sea diver. Later in 1989 in Vera Cruz, Mexico he was envolved in searching the harbor of sunken ships (12 known) of the same time period. After 6 months of greasing the wrong palms & being tied to the docks without the mexican government ever giving permission to dive. The company pulled anchor. I hear that there is a canadian company now fishing around there. May he RIP, that was always his dream, searching ship wreaks.

[@robertkuchowicz9747]

Mel Fisher's search for the atosha treasure ship

[@mikeg8276]

The Narrator™️ when Gwyneth Paltrow uses her jade eggs: 3:31

[@susiewheeler8197]

I read about Hornblower

[@thegeneral3094]

I want to .its really frustrating

[@reginemalabana9139]

Im a local treasure hunter here in philippines..i always found a name curved on the stone ,a certain boy named ARIES PAZ and a year 1722... a name of a girl named" MARGARITA".. Who are these people? Anyone could help me pls

[@angelmorales2241]

Mire a mi y como te has paseado por mi pais para llevarte documentos y yo pensar xe vienen para difrutar

[@johnswartz2423]

When you think about it … the ugly bloody karma … of all of this treasure ?…. is Why never benefited the Thieves- that stole it. Wow

[@GrandDukeMushroom]

suburashii

[@p_man_stackowitz161]

41:03 real life flanders

[@ldg508]

Guaranteed some of the guys working were filling there pockets with stuff without others knowing. I know I would have, Hey guys you find any emeralds down there, No nothing just silver and gold lol

[@VideoMecanicoCom]

the Atocha was taking to Europe something that was not mean to be there

[@fred6839]

How do you find Emeralds from the Atocha if they are not mounted in any metal?

[@SparkplugsK-bn9ou]

The emeralds on the Atocha were smuggled onto the ship. You can find them in the sand in their natural form, the emeralds were mined from the muzo mine in Colombia, they came out of the mine in hexagonal crystals, varying degrees of color from a light green to a deep green

[@sanfranciscobay]

Sparkplugs53 K200. So how do they find the Emeralds? They are looking at tens or hundreds of square miles of ocean floor. Hundreds of years have passed since the sinking. There was no one location. The wreck drifted and broke apart scattering then over a large area. Do they use a precious stone detector that detects Emeralds while diving, do they sift through sand using a dredge when they locate one on the surface of the ocean floor, how do they find the Emeralds?

[@SparkplugsK-bn9ou]

One technique that is employed is that you gently waft aside sand with your hand and keep doing it until you unearth one. And yes, the company does use a dredge and on the salvage boats the divers sift through the sand that is brought up until they find an emerald. In 1622, a small sack of emeralds was worth as much as a chest full of 8 reales!

[@jehugo66]

+SanFranciscoBay Just like the box of pearls in this documentary, the emeralds were found in a lead box, which was found with metal detector and the same techniques used to clear sand. Uncertain that when originally packed, the Spanish had considered your good question: "If the ship is wrecked on the reef and we know where to five upon it for salvage, unless the emeralds are packed in a solid container, there's no way to recover individual emeralds (or pearls) if they are packed in something that would smash open." It's impressive to realize how common and effective, for the times, treasure ship salvors were in centuries past. The Spanish knew that if stored properly for the voyage the emeralds would be recovered in tact-just not by them.

[@CaptainCraigKWMRZ]

Dredge. I worked on the emerald barge one summer. Miserable.

[@ldg508]

Thats why when you fins something don't tell anyone specially the government I would have melt it all and sold it

[@TheNinjasniper12]

I want to go diving for gold how much will it cost to go

[@sniffy6999999]

Who knows, I'll get my coat.

[@jehugo66]

Possibly your life

[@johnharrop5530]

More than you will find in gold

[@dawnhewlett4327]

App. 1978 I went to Key West and talked with Mel.I signed up to repair wooden boats he had (Virgalona, etc.). He offered me one of the bronze cannon for $5,000. It was on the rear deck outside his office. A number of those guns were apparently dragged along the sandy bottom because up to a third of several guns were worn away lengthwise. That's a lot of bronze. Couldn't stay for long, though. His divers were living like pigs on those boats. Just nowhere to stay.

[@leegaffrey3823]

As I recall from reading about Mel and his family during the search for Atoche, his son was lost when the boat he and other divers flipped over by a big wave when they were sleeping.

[@CaptainCraigKWMRZ]

Me too. I lived on the Doubtless and got crabs twice! I stayed anyway and bought a condo with coins and emeralds from my devision.

[@banditeastlick2471]

Now watch and learn about the Flying Dutchman

[@dawnfkahamilton-doerfler6982]

Hurricane Andrew was not a small hurricane. It was category 5 in 1992.

[@RedTaterProductionsInc]

Dawn...the reference was to Andrew be a small "in diameter" hurricane. It was not a massive storm but a powerful Cat 5 storm. You should re-watch to catch the nuance of "small". The video is spot on accurate.

[@alphazerotactical1518]

Sad to see what the history ch. has turned into... nothing but brain dead shows instead of educational lessons like these. Smh

[@drrobsan]

H

[@elemerahel9216]

K

[@SDeww]

5:13 "nearly all of it plunderd from the new world".... it was not plunderd, it was taken by it srightful owners!, spain owned the land, thus it was their property to take/tax.

[@elremansoinn4269]

Spain only owned it after they took it by force from the Inca and other indigenous people, and then enslaved them in order to mine it. So I think 'plundered' is the correct term.

[@frankwhite9170]

@@elremansoinn4269 SJW alert 🚨

[@jimmywrangles]

Says Hurricane, shows Tornado,I'm losing respect for the film makers.

[@RedTaterProductionsInc]

It did not show a tornado...it showed a representative "water spout" that is most associated with severe storms on the sea. Relax Jimmy!

[@bagpiper7576]

jimmy wrangles I’m losing my faith in people if you’re so uneducated not to know what a water spout is.

[@willfulldisbelief]

Finley Ricard found the Atocha not Mel Fisher!

[@RedTaterProductionsInc]

No it was Mel...Mel's tenaciousness, sacrifice, optimism, his fight against over-reaching government and ability to surround himself with experts that makes him THE man who found the Atocha.

[@kwnortherner]

What’s the story with Finley Ricard?

[@mynamesnotdave695]

Just ripping off Mel Fisher.. Wouldn't you rather watch it from the guy who found it, than some rip-off claiming to be the founder of this footage? I have no respect for this "Vidal San" clown.

[@robertrusnak620]

I went to Mel’s museum in the late 90’s and bought a piece of 8 coin. I bought it for $600 back then .

[@jessedavis7555]

As I watch this with my piece of 8 that was found on my beach I think I’m ahead by a grand or more so I can stop right now. 🪙