Diver finds 17th century gold chain worth $250,000...

Deep sea treasure: 17th century gold chain worth $250,000 plucked from ocean bed near Atocha wreck

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 5:01 PM on 27th March 2011

A deep sea diver has struck gold after unearthing a 17th century chain worth $250,000 from the ocean floor.

Bill Burt, a diver for Mel Fisher's Treasures, spotted the 40-inch gold chain while looking for the wrecked Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank off the Florida Keys in a 1622 hurricane.

Shipwreck experts have tentatively valued the piece at around $250,000.

Booty: Bill Burt, a diver for Mel Fisher's Treasures, holds up the 40-inch gold chain he found while looking for the wrecked Nuestra Senora de Atocha

The chain has 55 links, an enamelled gold cross and a two-sided engraved religious medallion featuring the Virgin Mary and a chalice.

On the edges of the cross there is engraved wording thought to be in Latin.

Andy Matroci, captain of Mel Fisher's Treasures salvage vessel, JB Magruder, said the crew had been diving at the North end of the Atocha trail.

Magnificent find: The 17th century chain, estimated to be worth $250,000, is thought to have belonged to a member of the clergy travelling on the Atocha

THE ATOCHA - A HISTORY

The Nuestra Señora de Atocha - or Our Lady of Atocha - was built for the Crown in Havana in 1620.

She was 550 tons with an overall length of 112 feet, had a beam of 34 feet and a draft of 14 feet. 

Heavily armed, she was designed to protect other ships within a fleet from attack.

On her doomed voyage of 1622, the Atocha was loaded with an extraordinary cargo.

She carried 24 tons of silver bullion in 1038 ingots, 180,00 pesos of silver coins, 582 copper ingots, 125 gold bars and discs, 350 chests of indigo, 525 bales of tobacco, 20 bronze cannon and 1,200 pounds of worked silverware.

Smuggled items to avoid taxation and unregistered and personal jewellery would also have been onboard.

On September 6 the Atocha was cast onto the coral reefs near the Dry Tortugas - around 35 miles West of Key West - by a severe hurricane.

With her hull badly damaged she quickly sunk with 265 people on board.

Only five - three sailors and two slaves - survived by clinging on to the stump of her mast. 

Rescuers tried to get onto the ship but found her hatches tightly battened. 

At 55 foot the water depth was too great for them to work on opening her. 

They marked the site and moved on to rescue people and treasure from other ships also lost in the storm. 

A month later a second hurricane blew through, further destroying the wreck.

For the next 60 years Spanish salvages searched n vain for the galleon, but they never found a trace. 

On their last trip to the wreck they uncovered 22 silver coins and a cannon ball just east of the site. 

They had been hoping to find more coins in the area, Mr Matroci said, but instead found the chain. 

'In the nine years I have been running this boat this is the most unique artefact we have brought up,' Mr Matroci said.

The piece is believed to be from the Atocha's infamous treasure trove. 

The company has uncovered half a billion dollars in historic artefacts, gold, silver and emeralds since they began diving the wreck in 1969.

In 1985 - after 15 years of searching - the Fisher crew discovered Atocha's 'mother lode', worth more than $450million.

They unearthed thousands of artefacts, silver coins, gold coins - many in near mint condition, exquisite jewellery sets with precious stones, gold chains, disks, a variety of armaments and even seeds, which later sprouted.

They then faced a legal wrangle with the U.S. Government claimed title to the wreck. Florida state officials seized many of the items the Fisher crew had retrieved. 

But after eight years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Fisher's favour.

The contents of the ships sterncastle - a wooden, fort-shaped area at the back of ship, have never been recovered. 

This is where the wealthy passengers, including nobility and clergy, would have stayed.

Fisher's estimates the treasure in the sterncastle section is worth in the region of half a billion dollars. 

The latest find was likely owned by a member of the clergy indicating the company's search for the missing treasure trove could be getting nearer.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1370461/Deep-sea-treasure-17th-century-gold-chain-worth-250-000-plucked-ocean-bed-near-Atocha-wreck.html#ixzz1Hqcs9BBp