$100,000 treasure uncovered as diver makes rare deep sea discovery

Divers in Florida have discovered a $100,000 treasure lost on the ocean floor for more than 400 years.

The team over at Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions have been searching for lost treasures for decades, sitting among the world's leading teams in historic shipwreck recovery.

And their latest find this month has seen them locate a missing silver bar with a six figure valuation, linked back to the famous Atocha shipwreck.

The Spanish treasure ship sank in 1622 off the Florida Keys during a hurricane. When it went under, it had been full of precious materials from gold and silver to tobacco, gems, and copper.

Mel Fisher famously discovered most of the wreckage back in 1985 - but not everything.

Now, they've found another expensive jewel from the bottom of the ocean.

Lead diver Blake Baker told Local10 that the discover was found on their last dive of the day at almost 7pm in the evening local time.

Captain of the treasure hunting vessel DARE, Drake Nicholas, said: "We were in an area with a lot of metal detector hits. This one was deeper.

During the dive on 13 June, Nicholas hit the suspected silver bar with a knife to examine its surface before finding all the telltale signs it was in fact the precious metal they confirmed later.

And in finding the bar, history was made, with it the first silver bar found in 27 years - the last one coming up to the surface in 1999.

"It's been a long, long time," Baker said in a TikTok video, explaining how both him and Nicholas were both aged two when the last bar was found.

"We've spent almost our entire life since the last silver bar was found out here. This is a big deal.

"It feels like the start of something awesome."

The silver bar is now going through a process called electrolysis at the Mel Fisher conversation laboratory in Key West, Florida. This scientific process is to carefully remove the layers of sediment that have formed on the silver over the four centuries since it sank in to the open seas.

"This discovery is a powerful reminder that the Atocha still holds secrets after decades of salvage,” Randolph said.

“Captain Drake, Lead Diver Blake and the crew of the DARE continue the legacy of Mel Fisher’s ‘Today’s the Day’ spirit.

"Every discovery like this advances our understanding of maritime history while fueling the sense of adventure and exploration that has defined this work in the Florida Keys for generations."

The original treasure ship - officially called the Nuestra Señora de Atocha - sank in 1922 with precious goods from Colombia’s Muzo mines.

Heading back to its native Spain, stormy seas due to a hurricane meant it never made it. The ship had 265 crew with all but five dying in the incident.

The five survivors clung to broken masts floating on the ocean top and were rescued the following day.

Hundreds of silver bars and thousands of coins remain on the ocean floor, meaning plenty more could come to the surface in the coming weeks, months, and years.