Shipwreck's Icy Grip on a Forgotten Empire

In the early seventeenth century, Spain moved New World wealth through escorted convoys known as treasure fleets. Silver from Potosí and Mexico traveled by mule train and river to Caribbean ports. Gold, emeralds, copper, indigo, and tobacco joined the flow.

A race against season and storm

Delays stacked up in 1622 as officials weighed and stamped bars, recorded coin chests, and tallied freight. The fleet finally sailed from Havana in early September which is peak hurricane season in the Florida Straits. Within days a powerful storm scattered ships across reefs between the Marquesas Keys and the Dry Tortugas.

What the ship carried

Manifests and archaeology describe a floating treasury. There were stacks of hand struck silver coins often called pieces of eight. There were hundreds of silver bars marked with fineness, stamps, assayer initials, tax seals, and shipper marks which turned each bar into a metal document.

Immediate aftermath and early salvage

News of the disaster reached Havana and Spain quickly. Salvage crews sailed at once because the crown needed the fleet’s revenue to pay soldiers and creditors in Europe. Indigenous and African divers, many of them enslaved, performed the dangerous work.

The long search

Stories of the lost galleon passed through families along the Keys and into maritime lore. In the late twentieth century, a modern hunt began that combined archival study with methodical survey work. Researchers mapped currents, followed trails of coins and bars, and matched foundry stamps to old lists.

1620 to 1621: Construction and commissioning in HavanaEarly September 1622: Fleet departs Havana during hurricane seasonSeptember 1622: Storm sinks Atocha near the Marquesas Keys and Dry TortugasLate 1622 and 1623: Spanish salvage recovers scattered cargo yet not the main hullTwentieth century: Modern research and survey work locate clear trails of artifactsMid 1980s: Discovery of the mother lode and renewed conservation and study