ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 1, 1995 TAG: 9512010083
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: NATL/INTL EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: KEY WEST, FLA.
SOURCE: The Miami Herald
More than 10 years after finding the mother lode of the treasure ship Nuestra Senora de Atocha, treasure hunter Mel Fisher said Thursday his crews have hit it rich again.
Fisher was talking to his son, Kane, about emeralds Kane was finding when another crew member came on the radio.
``He said he'd just made a withdrawal from the stern of the Atocha, he thinks,'' Fisher said. ``More than 2,000 coins. How about that?''
Fisher said Thursday's find may be just the beginning.
``It appears we're coming into the big high value area of the ship, the stern, where there were 28 wealthy passengers,'' he said. ``They'd all had their life savings with them - they were going back to retire in Spain. They had all kinds of goodies.''
The Atocha was part of a fleet of 28 ships that had left Havana, bound for Spain, when it sank in a hurricane in 1622.
It was laden with treasure from the New World. ``They hadn't had any ships go for five years, because they'd been at war,'' Fisher said.
Also found Thursday: a silver chess piece shaped like a bishop.
One of the Atocha's richest passengers was the Bishop of Peru. ``He was taking church gold back to the pope, some of it for the Vatican museum,'' Fisher said.
LENGTH: Short : 35 linesby CNB