TREASURE SHIP ATOCHA

    On July 25, 1985 two divers named Andy Matroci and Greg Wareham discovered many valuables from the sunken treasure ship Atocha. The leader of their expedition was Mel Fisher, who had been searching for the Atocha since 1970. They discovered thousands of  silver and gold coins. They also found a mound of nearly solid silver aboard the Atocha. It was the biggest cache of sunken treasure ever found. Before the year ended, about 1,000 silver bars each weighing 70 pounds were found. Over the years about 140,000 silver coins were found, about 315 emeralds, and gold in shapes of bars and disks. There were also many pieces of jewelry.
    Did you know that the sea ruins everything except gold even if its been underwater 3 and a half centuries(350 years)? Now all of the gold, silver, and jewels together are worth about $150,000,000.

ABOUT THE ATOCHA

    Before the Atocha became a shipwreck full of treasure at the bottom of the sea it was:

  • 110 feet long,                                                                   
  • 33 feet wide.
  •  It drew 14 feet of water(how deep it goes in the water)
    It was a Spanish Galleon, sunk by a storm in 1622 between Florida and Havanna, Cuba. It was headed for Cadiz, Spain with treasure from the New World.
    A galleon carried many towering masts that made each galleon top-heavy. It carried ballast - which is what made the ship balanced, its usually includes many heavy stones that are about the size of basketballs and  placed in the lower regions of the ship. The ship carried 5 large anchors and 1 small anchor.
    It's main holds carried bales of cloth, books, ironwork, barrels of wine, and large jars of olive oil. It also, carried three hundred bales of indigo, a plant used in manfacturing blue dye. More gold and silver bars and coins went aboard, too.
    When it was ready to sail there were 265 people on board, plus live chickens and sea turtles for food. When all the treasure was recorded it included 255,000 silver coins, 901 silver bars, and 161 pieces of gold


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