"The Atocha Motherlode" was worth an estimated $450 million and included 40 tons of silver and gold. The find included over 100,000 Spanish "pieces of eight" silver coins, gold coins, Colombian emeralds, artifacts, and 1000 silver ingots. His company Salvors Inc. also found remains of several ship wrecks in Florida which include the slave ship Henrietta Marie and the Atocha's sister galleon the Santa Margarita. Mel attended Purdue University and opened the first diving shop in California. He hired Duncan Mathewson as his chief archaeologist for the Atocha find. His ownership of recovered treasure was confirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States provided that 20% of the artifacts were donated to the state. Mel married Dolores Horton who has his business partner and the couple had five children. Dolores set a women's record staying underwater for 50 hours. Mel Fisher passed away on December 19, 1998 at the age of 76.
