A gripping modern story of treasure, tragedy, and tenacity, in the tradition of Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea In 1622, the Spanish galleon Atocha sank in a hurricane off the coast of Florida. On board were more than forty tons of treasure gold and silver ingots, coins, emeralds, and jewelry, worth billions today. In 1969, Mel Fisher set out to find it. In this riveting narrative, reporter Jedwin Smith brings to life this decades-long quest. Since Mel's death in 1998, the Fisher family has continued this epic treasure hunt, which has resulted in astounding recoveries (treasure from part of the Atocha as well as from its sister ship, the Margarita), complex legal battles, including deaths, drug addiction, and madness. participating in the Atocha treasure hunt ever since. Writing with you-are-there immediacy, he captures like no other writer the romance of big-time treasure hunting as well as its sometimes horrible costs, taking us from astonishing discoveries of sunken gold and larger-than-life escapades in colorful Key West to foundering boats, dangerous dives, and personal loss. Written with the cooperation of the Fisher family and exclusive access to divers on the recovery team, this is the authoritative account of the most celebrated treasure hunt of our time and a surefire bestseller. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has been covering the Atocha recovery efforts since 1985 and has made numerous dives with the Fisher team; he himself actually recovered some gold and emeralds from the Atocha's wreck. His brother now works full-time for the Fisher family.

"In real life–especially off the Florida coast–things can have fatal consequences. Fatal Treasure is a truly compelling read."
–Aphrodite Jones, New York Times bestselling author of Cruel Sacrifice and All She Wanted

In 1622, hundreds of people lost their lives to the curse of the Spanish galleon Atocha–and they would not be the last. Fatal Treasure combines the rousing adventure of Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea with the compelling characters and local color of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It tells the powerful true story of the relentless quest to find the Atocha and reclaim her priceless treasures from the sea. You’ll follow Mel Fisher, his family, and their intrepid team of treasure hunters as they dive beneath the treacherous waters of the Florida Straits and scour the ocean floor in search of gold, silver, and emeralds. And you’ll discover that nearly four centuries after the shipwreck, the curse of the Atocha is still a deadly force.

"On this day, the sea once again relinquished its hold on the riches and glory of seventeenth-century Spain. And by the grace of God, I would share the moment of glory . . . . I was reaching for my eighth emerald, another big one, when the invisible hands squeezed my trachea. In desperation, I clutched at my throat to pry away the enemy’s fingers. But no one had hold of me."
–From the Prologue