Search for the Motherlode of the Atocha: Including Ancient and Contemporary Fold-Out Salvors....

by Eugene Lyon

1989, Florida Classis Library, Florida, Paperback, ISBN: 0912451203, Book Condition: Used, 011120 1A This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0912451203
• ISBN13: 9780912451206
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Florida Classics Library
• Length: 296 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Search for the Atocha

This is an excellent account of the legendary Mel Fisher and his epic search for the Spanish treasure ship and his triumphs over personal loss, including the drowning death of his son; his legal battles with the state and federal governments, in order to establish his claims to the fabulous gold, silver and archeological treasures are poignant reminders of the grasping efforts of "Big Brother," and serve as a warning to all of us, of the intrusion of government into private enterprise.

Free Enterprise--Government Greed

Eugene Lyon's book, THE SEARCH FOR THE MOTHERLODE OF THE ATOCHA, makes for adventurous and political reading. The search and capture of the Atocha treasure off the coast of Florida is amazing, exciting and tragic. The politics of getting the treasure and avoiding the mean-spirited politicians in Florida is even more eye-opening. In this day of lies about the Iraq War and profiteering by Blackwater and Halliburton, the earlier Atocha adventure seems a foreshadowing of how politicians go for the gold. SHOW ME THE MONEY drives these Florida minions, and Mel Fisher's search for the free-enterprise magic of unfettered exploration seems stymied often. But, with the help of Eugene Lyon and other dedicated souls, Mel Fisher's crew found the Atocha treasure, won its battles in court, and even presented the Queen of Spain with a 1622 cannon to display. For it was the Spanish Armada and Spain's own acquisitive nature that spawned the Atocha's trip to the New World, and it was Spain's greed that eventually caused its defeat on the high seas. Lyon's book illuminates this history, faithfully describes the decades long effort to secure these lost Atocha treasures, and fully delineates the human cost of silver, gold and emeralds. A book not to be missed. by Larry Rochelle, author of the Meriwether Lewis thriller, TRACETRACKS