A rare gold coin from the “world’s most expensive shipwreck”, the ill-fated Nuestra Senora de Atocha, has been found off the Florida Keys.
Zack Moore, an engineer at Mel Fisher’s Treasures, discovered the gold coin on July 16, marking the 121st number found from the wreck and the first since 2001.
“Its value today is at least $98,000, or more,” Mel Fisher’s Treasures wrote in a blog post.
Treasure hunter diving on the Nuestra de Atocha shipwreck site in Florida finds a gold coin worth $98K https://t.co/lFS0I3ISLX
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) July 23, 2021
The company added: “This new discovery of the gold coin comes a few days before the 36th anniversary of the discovery of the Atocha Motherload in 1985.”
When Nostra de Atocha crashed in 1622, it was carrying a huge amount of gold, silver, precious stones and other valuables destined for the new discoverer. It is estimated that the value of her shipment amounted to about 400 million dollars.
Moore is a member of the rescue ship Mel Fisher’s J.B. Magrude, which has been working at the shipwreck site for some time.
Zack’s father, Bill, was part of the crew that originally discovered Nostra de Atocha in 1985.
In 2014, Nuestra Senora de Atocha was declared the world’s most valuable shipwreck according to Guinness World Records.
It was carrying 40 tons of gold and silver, along with 70 pounds of emeralds, when it was destroyed by a hurricane in September 1622.
Only five of its 265 crew survived, including three sailors and two slaves, who managed to escape the ship before it sank.
Spanish rescue crews tried to find the wreckage, but another hurricane came and scattered the treasures over a larger area.
Source: Daily Mail