Nuestra Señora de Atocha Spanish for Our Lady of Atocha was a Spanish treasure galleon and the most widely known vessel of a fleet of ships that sank in a hurricane off the Florida Keys in 1622. At the time of her sinking, Nuestra Señora de Atocha was heavily laden with copper, silver, gold, tobacco, gems, and indigo from Spanish ports at Cartagena and Porto Bello in New Granada present-day Colombia and Panama, respectively and Havana, bound for Spain.
Much of the wreck of Nuestra Señora de Atocha was famously recovered by an American Mel Fisher’s commercial treasure hunting expedition in 1985. Following a lengthy court battle against the State of Florida, the finders were ultimately awarded sole ownership of the rights to the treasure.
