| Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Permits Extension of Exploration Boundary |
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Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Permits Extension of Exploration Boundary
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July 09, 2010
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Key West, Florida Keys – With a simmering energy of expectant anticipation, the underwater exploration team of W. Keith Webb’s Blue Water Ventures Key West headed back to sea yesterday, to continue their pursuit of the rich 1622 shipwreck Santa Margarita. Last year, a promising trail of scattered artifacts led the team directly to an invisible barrier they could not cross—a protective boundry line for the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The team could explore the trail no further without Sanctuary permission.
“Since 2006, we have been defining a path of shipwreck scattered material from the Santa Margarita on a north-northeast heading. Two notable finds along this line are the solid gold chalice we found in 2008 and the anchor ring and shank we discovered last summer,” explained BWV Operations Manager Captain Dan Porter.
“We have been piecing a puzzle together, and some of the clues are many years old,” added BWV CEO Webb. The anchor ring and shank discovered last year by Captain Mike Perna match a partial anchor found by Mel Fisher’s Treasures, our joint-venture partner, more than 10 years ago. Perna’s find extended the trail of the Margarita by more than 1500 feet—the first such leap in over twelve years. Significantly, these discoveries all fall in line with a “ghost trail” of artifacts that we have identified and followed into a previously unexplored area.”
The Sanctuary itself encompasses a total of 2,800 square nautical miles that include the entire archipelago of the Florida Keys to beyond the Dry Tortugas. Captain Gary Randolph, V.P. of Operations for Mel Fisher’s Treasures, has worked in cooperation with the FKNMS for nearly two decades to ensure that 1622 fleet search and recovery operations are conducted in accordance with the Sanctuary’s criterion for the area’s unique and fragile marine environment.
Following the required series of electronic and visual surveys of the area, processing of data and filing of reports, on June 16, 2010—a year after the discovery of the anchor ring and shank—the FKNMS issued a permit authorizing an additional mile of exploratory area.
Described in a 1623 publication as “the ship of pearle,” the Santa Margarita—whose name means pearl—is documented to have carried 166,574 registered silver “pieces of eight” treasure coins, more than 550 ingots of silver weighing some 10,000 pounds, over 9,000 ounces of gold in the form of bars, discs and bits, as well as a fortune in contraband treasures and personal wealth.
Thirty years ago this summer, a team led by late treasure hunter Mel Fisher discovered a 23 foot long section of the Margarita’s hull containing treasures valued at more than $40 million. Discoveries by Webb’s team since 2006 are valued at more than 16 million and include breathtaking gold artifacts, chains and jewelry, gold bars, rare silver coins, weaponry, pre-Columbian treasures, and a lead box containing 16,184 extremely rare natural pearls.
How much treasure remains to be found? According to Webb, “over 800 ounces of registered gold, 145 silver bars, more than 80,000 silver coins, and multi-millions in contraband and personal jewelry and wealth.” He adds, “With the extension of the Santa Margarita exploration area, it is just a matter of time before we close in on the area of the ship’s first impact. In the meantime, we savor the adventure.”
Contact: Carol Tedesco
305-393-6450
bluewaterkw@aol.com
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BWV data-recorder Katie Porter logs in artifacts. Every recovered artifact is documented with exact location data. Methodical documentation allows the team to survey the exact spatial relationship of artifacts and plot the sequence of a ship’s destruction.
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Blue Water Ventures CEO W. Keith Webb and Captain Dan Porter in the wheelhouse of the Blue Water Rose. The team uses state-of-the-art computer software to interface plotting and data recording methodology.
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