A treasure-hunting crew searching a legendary 17th-century underwater shipwreck off the Florida Keys has recovered a massive 55-pound copper ingot — the latest find along a trail that its captain believes could lead to more treasure.
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captain → hunt → treasure
The ingot was found by divers with Mel Fisher's Shipwreck Expeditions at the wreck site of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha, about 35 miles west of Key West.
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ingot → find → West
The Spanish treasure galleon was on its return voyage to Spain when it sank in a hurricane off the Florida Keys in 1622 — carrying silver, gold and emeralds.
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it → sink → silver
Mel Fisher began searching for the Atocha in 1969.
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Fisher → begin → 1969
He spent years recovering artifacts from the wreck before his company prevailed in a lengthy legal battle over rights to its treasure in 1982.
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company → spend → 1982
Fisher's team discovered the Atocha's famed "Mother Lode," or main cargo deposit, in 1985 — and the site still yields new finds decades later.
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site → discover → finds
Photos show the 55-pound copper ingot — or copper bar — heavily coated in marine encrustation after spending over four centuries underwater.
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ingot → show → centuries
In an August press release, Mel Fisher's Shipwreck Expeditions said the ingot has an estimated value of about $18,000 to $25,000.
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ingot → say → 25,000
Captain Drake Nicholas was retracing an area from the salvage vessel DARE when his metal detector picked up a faint signal, he told Fox News Digital.
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he → retrace → Digital
The captain said he was following a "tight trail of coins" at the time.
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he → say → time
"Faint hits are always the most exciting because they lead to, you know, stuff very deep in the mud," said Nicholas.
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Nicholas → lead → mud
"And I got that very faint hit.
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I → get → hit
I dug down like I always do ... and it got louder, and that's, you know, when the excitement really kicks in."
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excitement → dig → ?
Nicholas said he initially mistook the ingot for a cannon due to its rounded shape, large size and bronze-copper coloring.
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he → say → shape
"I was so excited," he said.
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he → say → ?
"I thought it was a cannon, but it ended up being a copper ingot, which was also very exciting."
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which → think → ?
"I thought it was a cannon, but it ended up being a copper ingot, which was also very exciting."
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which → think → ?
Though the ingot may appear ordinary to the untrained eye, Nicholas said copper was a "very precious" resource in the 1600s — especially for making the bronze cannons that the Spanish Empire relied on.
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Empire → appear → that
"I believe that only certain people could actually own copper because it was making such strong cannons," he said.
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he → believe → cannons
"It wasn't something [that] an everyday guy could have a stockpile of — it was more for the king and queen to make cannons."
To make the ingots, metalworkers "would basically dig a hole in the sand and just pour copper into it," he said.
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he → have → it
"It would make this copper ingot or a copper bar," added Nicholas.
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Nicholas → make → ingot
"They were very crude, not many markings on them, a lot of impurities in them, but it was copper being sent over to Spain for bronze cannons.
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it → send → cannons
The recent discoveries have given Nicholas reason to believe the crew may be closing in on a larger concentration of treasure.
"
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crew → give → treasure
The size of what we've been finding lately is … leading us to what I believe is the rest of the treasure," Nicholas said.
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Nicholas → find → treasure
Part of that confidence comes from new technology that Nicholas said allows the crew to detect targets deeper beneath the dense mud covering the site.
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crew → come → site
"We've never really [gotten] to penetrate that mud with a metal detector to get down and find, you know, the rest of the silver bars, copper ingots and coins," he said.
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he → get → bars
"Right now I have 19 targets that are very interesting, very high-value targets that I'm going out after next," added Nicholas.
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Nicholas → have → that
"And it's a lot of digging through that mud and getting down to that level.
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it → dig → level
But once I'm there, I'm very, very confident and excited — we're just very excited to see where this is leading."
The latest discovery follows another recent find from the Atocha shipwreck.
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discovery → see → shipwreck
Earlier this summer, Nicholas and his team found a 22.5-pound silver bar at the site, which remained remarkably intact despite heavy marine growth.
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which → find → growth
The Aporia
