Fatal Treasure

Jedwin Smith

Description

"In real life-especially off the Florida coast-things can have fatal consequences. Fatal Treasure is a truly compelling read."
-Aphrodite Jones, New York Times bestselling author of Cruel Sacrifice and All She Wanted

In 1622, hundreds of people lost their lives to the curse of the Spanish galleon Atocha-and they would not be the last. Fatal Treasure combines the rousing adventure of Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea with the compelling characters and local color of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It tells the powerful true story of the relentless quest to find the Atocha and reclaim her priceless treasures from the sea. You'll follow Mel Fisher, his family, and their intrepid team of treasure hunters as they dive beneath the treacherous waters of the Florida Straits and scour the ocean floor in search of gold, silver, and emeralds. And you'll discover that nearly four centuries after the shipwreck, the curse of the Atocha is still a deadly force.

"On this day, the sea once again relinquished its hold on the riches and glory of seventeenth-century Spain. And by the grace of God, I would share the moment of glory . . . . I was reaching for my eighth emerald, another big one, when the invisible hands squeezed my trachea. In desperation, I clutched at my throat to pry away the enemy's fingers. But no one had hold of me."
-From the Prologue
Foreword.

Acknowledgments.

Prologue.

1. Invitation to the Party.

2. Dreaming of the Hurricane.

3. A Mother’s Story.

4. No Warning.

5. The Curse of the Atocha.

6. I Will Return.

7. A Little Chunk of Gold.

8. Nightmare Time.

9. A Powerful Ocean.

10. Aboard the Rock.

11. Death in the Water.

12. Margarita and Myths.

13. Raising Kane.

14. Mother Lode.

15. A Tale of Two Kings.

16. Catching Green Fever.

17. The Trouble with Treasure.

18. Death of a Dreamer.

19. Spirits at Sea.

20. Keeping the Dream Alive.

21. Bitch Galleon of the Sea.

22. Life in Paradise.

23. The Search Goes On.

24. Today’s the Day.

Index.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Estación de Atocha
• Deep Blue Sea
• Straits of Florida
• Madrid Atocha railway station
• Mel Fisher
• History of the United States
• History
• Peur bleue (film, 1999)
• Gare de Madrid-Atocha

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 02 mai 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780470341087
• Langue: English

Extrait

Fatal Treasure
Fatal Treasure

Greed and Death, Emeralds and Gold, and the Obsessive Search for the Legendary Ghost Galleon Atocha
Jedwin Smith
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright 2003 by Jedwin Smith. All rights reserved
Published by John Wiley Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Published simultaneously in Canada
Illustrations used by permission. Illustration credits: pages 7, 41, 178, 192, 216, and 226 courtesy of Mary Martin Photography; pages 10, 23, 53, 121, 139, 161, 164, 187, 197, and 232 copyright and courtesy of Pat Clyne; pages 33 and 126 courtesy of Don Kincaid; pages 64, 91, and 233 courtesy of Jedwin Smith; pages 97, 136, and 140 courtesy of Syd Jones; page 115 courtesy of Damien Lin/Paradigm Productions; page 236 courtesy of Andy Matroci.
The author gratefully acknowledges the following for permission to quote from:
A Pirate Looks at Forty, words and music by Jimmy Buffett. Copyright 1974 by Universal-Duchess Music Corporation (BMI). International copyright secured. All rights reserved.
The Ballad of the Atocha , The Conch Republic Song, and Tourist Town Bar by Michael McCloud.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com . Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], email: [e-mail].
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and the author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor the author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Smith, Jedwin.
Fatal treasure : greed and death, emeralds and gold, and the obsessive search for the legendary Ghost Galleon Atocha / Jedwin Smith.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-471-15894-1 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Nuestra Se ora de Atocha (Ship) 2. Treasure-trove-Florida. 3. Shipwrecks-Florida. I. Title.
G530.N83 S65 2003 909 .096348-dc21
2002153118
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Mel Fisher was a dreamer, a visionary. The men and women who dived into the sea to pursue his dreams are supreme realists. This book is for them .
Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Prologue
1 Invitation to the Party
2 Dreaming of the Hurricane
3 A Mother s Story
4 No Warning
5 The Curse of the Atocha
6 I Will Return
7 A Little Chunk of Gold
8 Nightmare Time
9 A Powerful Ocean
10 Aboard the Rock
11 Death in the Water
12 Margarita and Myths
13 Raising Kane
14 Mother Lode
15 A Tale of Two Kings
16 Catching Green Fever
17 The Trouble with Treasure
18 Death of a Dreamer
19 Spirits at Sea
20 Keeping the Dream Alive
21 Bitch Galleon of the Sea
22 Life in Paradise
23 The Search Goes On
24 Today s the Day

Index
Foreword
I think at some point in his or her life everyone dreams of finding buried treasure. In Fatal Treasure , Jedwin Smith has done a wonderful job of telling the story of Mel Fisher, who made that dream a reality. While I believe it would take an encyclopedia to tell the whole story, Jedwin s book has captured its essence. It made me laugh and it made me cry. It made me cheer for victory and it made me angry.
Finding a Spanish galleon that sank in a hurricane over 350 years ago is no easy task.
Most of all, Fatal Treasure made me remember a lesson my father taught me: Believe in your dreams, never give up, and you can make your dreams come true.
I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.
As Mel always said, today s the day!
Kim Fisher
Acknowledgments
My goal in writing Fatal Treasure is simple: to tell the story of the men, and of the few daring women, who shucked most of the trappings of modern life for the chance to reach back in time and touch history. In doing so, they have given substance and validity to the dreams of Mel Fisher and to his ongoing enterprise, the Atocha/Margarita Expedition.
I will forever be indebted to Don Kincaid, Donnie Jonas, Pat Clyne, K. T. Budde-Jones, Syd Jones, Andy Matroci, Kenny Lingle, Tom Ford, and the late Bleth McHaley, who not only passed along their hard-earned knowledge but also shared with me their secrets, desires, frustrations, and sometimes their tears, along a nautical course that was often as skewed as it was perilous.
Also, this journey could not have been possible without assistance from the entire Fisher family, especially Mel, who always found time for me, mainly because he considered me good luck. Kim Fisher extended me the same courtesy. I thank Kane Fisher for allowing me to get close; I thank Deo Fisher for sharing her love and compassion. However, at no point have I considered the family or the company-to the extent that one can ignore the bigger-than-life presence of Mel Fisher, even from beyond the grave-to be the main focus of this book. Accordingly, it was undertaken with no agreement, explicit or implied, with either the family or the company, and neither tried to influence any part of my work. The manuscript was read by many of the participants, however, and their comments about factual elements were duly noted.
I am eternally grateful for the hospitality extended to me by all-including today s Atocha divers, especially my brother Jim and his wife, Mary Martin-for the things they have taught me about the sea and its bottom and the mysteries that lie there, and for their diligence in trying to ensure that I got my facts straight. But most of all, I am grateful for their friendship.
I also am indebted to several landlubbers, most of all my wife, June, who continues to allow the little boy within me to roam, to dive, and to seek life s treasures. I could search the world over and never find another jewel like her.
I also would like to thank my agent, Marilyn Allen, and the good folks at Wiley, especially my editor, Tom Miller, whose diligence made me a better writer. As always, I thank Lanny Franklin for keeping me in touch with history. I also want to extend my gratitude to my colleague and good friend J. Stanford Fisher. This adventure was compiled at his urging, and he dutifully scrutinized its telling chapter by chapter. I also wish to thank Elizabeth Mangum for putting me in touch with the poetry of the sea.
Prologue
I was scuba diving with Donnie Jonas in search of the lost treasure, and as I slipped through the blue-green waves, I felt as if I were being smothered. Panic was immediate. Treasure took a distant second to my discomfort as pressure built up on my eardrums. I must have swallowed my fear because suddenly the pressure was gone. Then I began to struggle with my regulator, which tasted like burned rubber, as I fought to breathe.
The sand bottom came up quickly, materializing out of nowhere. As if caught up in a nightmare, I plummeted, reaching out with both hands to stop my journey. My flippered feet hit bottom, jarring my backbone. My knees buckled from the weight of the compressed-air tank on my back and the weighted belt on my waist. Suddenly I was sitting on a cushion of sand. Instinctively I looked up for help. There, 53 feet up, was the safety of the Magruder , its hull nothing more than a faint shimmering shadow. But the reassuring sight of Jonas, who now flashed a thumbs-up sign of recognition, quelled my claustrophobic terror. No longer afraid, I breathed evenly and slowly. I motioned to Jonas that all was okay. And then, side by side, gliding with the current, we slowly moved toward the tomb of the Nuestra Se ora de Atocha .
On this day, the sea once again relinquished its hold on the riches and glory of 17th-century Spain. And by the grace of God, I would share the moment of glory.
Jonas and I moved toward the Atocha s worm-eaten timbers, which lay at odd angles, poking like prehistoric fingers from beneath the sand. Some jutted upward, others were in a cross-hatch pattern. Here was the final resting place of a great ship and its 260 passengers and crew. Pausing briefly at the side of the tomb, we then swam upward and hovered directly above the timbers. Barracudas and snappers kept us company.
At that moment I could not help but reflect on the tragedy of what transpired 364 years ago. I remember trembling, then dived to the timbers and reverently ran my hands over the worn beams. My fear of the depths of the sea was immediately forgotten as I touched history and was overwhelmed by it.
I have no idea how long I spent p