Owner Comments:
DESCRIPTION
Date: 1613-1617
RULER: Philip III
ASSAYER: Q-Augustin de la Quadra
WEIGHT: 26.6g.
Assayer Quadra's coins have design variations in the rendition of the standard Q assayer's initial. This coin is Menzels Type IVb which has a "reverse 9" instead of a Q.
THE 1622 SHIPWRECK OF THE SPANISH GALLEON ATOCHA
Beginning in 1561, and lasting until 1748, the Spanish government sent two merchant convoys each year to the New World. They brought consumer goods and took home the wealth of the mines. One fleet to Vera Cruz in Mexico and the other to Portobello in Panama to unload European goods and fill their holds with gold, silver and gem stones. For the voyage back to Spain the two fleets reassembled in Havana before riding the Gulf Stream up the East Coast of Florida and across the Atlantic. These combined fleets were known as the Tierra Firme Fleet and were scheduled for departure from Cuba before the advent of the hurricane season in July.
Built in 1620 the Atocha was specifically designed as a guard galleon and was the "almiranta" of the fleet, assigned to cover the fleet's rear. Due to numerous delays, the 28 ships of the 1622 Tierra Firme Fleet finally left Havana harbor on September 4, more than a month behind schedule. Heading North to catch the Gulf Stream current the convoy sailed into the first hurricane of the season. By Tuesday, September 6, running before the pounding of gale force winds, five ships of the fleet were swept toward the Florida Keys. One by one they were grounded and wrecked including the Atocha. Three seaman and two black slaves, who lashed themselves to the rigging, were the only survivors of the ill fated ship and described the last hours of the galleon. With her foremast gone and sails tattered, the high sterncastle caught the wind and sped the doomed ship backwards through the towering seas. Suddenly lifted high on a wave, the Atocha smashed violently down onto a reef, ripping great holes in her hull. Unable to escape in time, 260 crew and passengers perished and tons of gold, silver and other precious cargo were lost to the sea when the ship quickly sank. All attempts to locate the shipwreck failed until the location of the primary cultural deposit was made 20 miles west of Key West near the Marquesas Keys by Treasure Salvors, Inc., on July 29th 1985.