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SEBASTIAN – A local treasure hunter working on the shipwreck of the Spanish galleon Nuestra de Atocha in the Florida Keys has found an extremely rare Atocha gold coin.
Originally from Vero Beach, engineer and diver Zach Moore found the gold coin on July 16 in about 9 meters of water. The last Atocha gold coin was recovered from the site in 2001.
The coin is valued at approximately $ 98,000 and is the 121st Atocha gold coin found at the site of the shipwreck.
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Moore is a member of the crew of Mel Fisher’s Treasures salvage ship JB Magruder, which is captained by Tim Meade. The crew of JB Magruder worked on the shipwreck site in the Florida Keys.
At the time of its sinking in 1622, the ship was heavily laden with gold, silver, precious stones and other valuables sent to Spain from the New World. The value of the cargo was estimated at $ 400 million.
Zach Moore is a second generation treasure hunter who also spent time working the 1715 fleet location just off the coast of Vero Beach. He could not be reached on Thursday for comment.
Together with his father Bill Moore, Zach discovered a rare silver pendant and a rosary with an intact statue of Jesus Christ at the site of the shipwreck in 1715.
Bill Moore was part of the crew that discovered and recovered the original find from the Nuestra de Atocha in 1985.
During one of his dives, Bill Moore and other divers discovered 165 gold finger bars, chains and discs. Bill Moore was also the senior curator of the 1715 Navy Operations at the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum in Sebastian for years.
The new gold coin find comes just days before the 36th anniversary of the 1985 discovery of Atocha by Mel Fisher and his crew.
It was named the Most Precious Shipwreck in the World by the Guinness Book of Records in 2014.
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