Book Details

Fatal Treasure: Greed and Death, Emeralds and Gold, and the Obsessive Search for the Legendary Ghost Galleon Atocha

In 1622, the Spanish galleon Atocha sank in a hurricane off the coast of Florida. On board were more than forty tons of treasure gold and silver ingots, coins, emeralds, and jewelry, worth billions today. In 1969, Mel Fisher set out to find it.

In this riveting narrative, reporter Jedwin Smith brings to life this decades-long quest. Since Mel’s death in 1998, the Fisher family has continued this epic treasure hunt, which has resulted in astounding recoveries (treasure from part of the Atocha as well as from its sister ship, the Margarita), complex legal battles, including deaths, drug addiction, and madness. Smith first encountered Mel Fisher in 1985, and has been reporting on and participating in the Atocha treasure hunt ever since. Writing with you-are-there immediacy, he captures like no other writer the romance of big-time treasure hunting as well as its sometimes horrible costs, taking us from astonishing discoveries of sunken gold and larger-than-life escapades in colorful Key West to foundering boats, dangerous dives, and personal loss.

Written with the cooperation of the Fisher family and exclusive access to divers on the recovery team, this is the authoritative account of the most celebrated treasure hunt of our time and a surefire bestseller. Jedwin Smith (Lawrenceville, GA) is a Pulitzer-nominated journalist with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has been covering the Atocha recovery efforts since 1985 and has made numerous dives with the Fisher team; he himself actually recovered some gold and emeralds from the Atocha’s wreck. His brother now works full-time for the Fisher family.

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