Atocha Supreme Court Treasure Victory

In 1622, the Spanish treasure galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha sank in a hurricane about 40 nautical miles west of what is now Key West, Florida, while carrying New World treasures to King Philip IV of Spain. After years of archival research and seabed searching, Mel Fisher’s company Treasure Salvors, Inc. located the wreck site near the Quicksands in 1971, began recovering its cargo, and Florida claimed ownership, forcing the salvors into a contract that gave the state 25 percent of the treasure. Treasure Salvors fought the claim in federal court, and after roughly a decade of litigation, the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1982, the court ruled that Florida had no valid title to the artifacts and awarded all recovered Atocha treasures to Treasure Salvors, Inc., giving the finders full legal rights to their discovery.

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