Santa Margarita Ghost Galleon Found

Divers, as part of the Santa Margarita Project, uncovered quite a haul, when they found thousands of pearls, gold chains and other fascinating objects, reports the Associated Press.

That Santa Margarita Project is the search for the ghost galleon of the Santa Margarita about 40 miles off the coast of Key West, Florida. The treasure is part of the Spanish Tierra Firme fleet that sank in 1622 during what historians believe to be a hurricane. The project has finally been rewarded for its time consuming search under the water.

The project, jointly run by Blue Water Ventures, a shipwreck Salvor and Mel Fisher's Treasures have now discovered treasure that is estimated to be worth 1 million dollars.

The prize find of the treasure haul was a small lead box. The sealed box was discouvered buried under the sand at the bottom 18 feet of water. It measures just 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches. In side the box were thousands of perfectly preserved pearls.

Blue Water Ventures and marine archaeologies, Duncan Mathewson told the Associated Press, "There are several thousand pearls starting from an eighth of an inch to three-quarters of an inch."

According to another archaeologist working on the project, James Sinclair, this is an extremely rare find as pearls that end up in the ocean outside of their oyster deteriorate quickly. Sinclair told the Associated Press, "In this instance, we had a lead box and the silt that had sifted into the box from the site of the Margarita, which preserved the pearls in a fairly pristine state."

The search for the Santa Margarita's treasure has been going on for over 20 years. Mel Fisher's Treasures made the first find of treasure from this historic ship in 1980.

Besides the impressive box of pearls other valuable treasures were recovered from the ocean floor. Divers found eight gold chains, with two these chains being an impressive four-foot long. Other gold objects included a gold bar, interesting and intricate special pieces and eleven other gold objects. Of lesser monetary value but of great historic value were hundreds of other items from the ship.

The ship and her crews arrived back in port last week to a crowd of smiling family members and journalists wanting the sight of the historic treasure from the Santa Margarita. The box containing the pearls was not opened until the treasure was brought on shore.

The treasure is currently being cleaned an conserved. Once that is done a more accurate value may be put on the treasure.

Sources
Associated Press talks about the treasure of Santa Margarita http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070617/ap_on_re_us/treasure_ship

One of the partners working on the Santa Margarita projects, Blue Water Ventures report treasure find http://www.bluewaterventureskw.com/news/pressrelease061107.asp