“Put away the charts, we’ve found the main pile!” were the words that crackled across the airwaves at 1:05 pm on July 20, 1985. These were the words from Kane Fisher to his dad's office in Key West. His dad was treasure hunter, Mel Fisher. It had been sixteen years of pouring over countless old maritime maps and records of the Archives of the Indias in Seville, Spain, to locate a Spanish galleon that had sunk in 1622 on its way to Spain carrying gold, silver and gems from the Americas.

Mel Fisher was born in Indiana in 1922 and attended Lew Wallace High School in Glen Park. His fascination with underwater exploration began in childhood with the reading of such classics as Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island. He later studied engineering at Purdue University, where he led his own 21-piece dance band. And in time, he studied at the University of Alabama, from which he would eventually receive an honorary doctorate. During World War II, he served with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Following the war, Mel led a nomadic lifestyle it seems. He moved from Chicago to Denver, then to Florida. He drove from Florida to California to buy one of the first scuba (Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus) units, invented by Jacques Cousteau.

In 1950, he moved to Torrance, California with his parents to help operate a chicken ranch that his parents had purchased. His interest in diving remained with him, while he worked on the ranch and attended El Camino College, studying animal husbandry.

He opened his first dive shop on the family's ranch and using a small air compressor, provided breathing air to local diving enthusiasts. In time, his parents decided to sell the chicken ranch. The purchasers had a beautiful daughter that caught Mel's eye. They became lifetime partners. Mel taught her to dive and shortly they were diving on wreckages. In 1953, they opened what is believed to have been the world's first store devoted exclusively to diving. Mel's Aqua Shop, of Redondo Beach, was a tremendous success. Over the course of operation, 65,000 persons were taught to dive in classes provided by them. A person buying equipment from them got free diving lessons.

With his reputation growing, Mel got into underwater filming for advertisement, training and entertainment. Dolores, whom Mel called Deo, was a big asset when filming commercials for swimwear companies.

The Fisher family business produced wet suits for divers, plus a variety of spear guns and underwater cameras.

In 1963, Fisher was asked to join in a hunt for the wreckages of the Spanish Plate Fleet that was lost off the east coast of Florida in 1715. Clifford "Kip" Wagner was the leader of the poorly equipped, part time team. Fisher was offered 50% of the findings.

The ships had sunk close to shore, where the water was frequently the murkiest. Fay Field, a member of Fisher's dive team and considered a genius in electronics, saved the day with something called a proton magnetometer. This device could detect ships' hulls under the water.

In the meantime, Fisher was working on the "mailbox", a device so named because of its appearance. The mailbox would take the cleaner water from near the surface and pump it, under very high pressure, to the bottom, allowing divers to view the ocean floor through the cleaner water while it displaced murky water and sand. In the spring of 1964, while testing the mailbox, 1,033 gold coins were uncovered! Fisher's team, Treasure Salvors Incorporated, along with Wagner's team, Real Eight Company, initially recovered more than 20 million dollars from the 1715 fleet.

At some point, Fisher heard of a fleet that went down during a hurricane in 1722 somewhere west of the Florida Keys. His quest began in 1969. In 1971, some silver coins were found. Again in 1973, three silver bars were found and in 1975, five bronze cannons, marked with the name, Atocha were found. He knew then that he was on the right track. But, shortly after finding the cannons, tragedy struck. Mel and Dolores' son, Dirk, along with his wife died when their boat capsized.

Finally, a fortune in gold bars, jewelry and silver coins were found in 1980. This was a huge treasure that was lost in the wreckage of the Margarita, the sister ship of the Atocha. But, Fisher didn't slow down to enjoy this victory; his pursuit was for the Nuestra Senora de Atocha. It was to be five more years before Kane Fisher would send that message to the home office.

A magnetometer reading on July 20 sent two divers down to investigate. Andy Matroci and Greg Wareham were surprised to see what appeared to be a reef containing stones. They resurfaced to get a metal detector. Upon approaching the hill, the metal detector pegged out! They had found what appeared to be a reef made of encrusted silver bars!

Matroci was the first to surface, yelling, “It’s the mother lode! We’re sitting on silver bars!”

Kane Fisher then excitedly spoke into the radio, “Home base, this is the Dauntless, put away the charts. We've found the main pile!"

At the time of that radio transmission, Mel Fisher was out shopping for new diving fins. The office notified a local radio station and the message went out, “Mel Fisher, please call your office. You’ve found the main pile!” Key West knew what it meant.

The Atocha's cargo was found southwest of Key West, fifty-five feet below the surface. The original assessments of the cargo's worth were small compared to the eventual reality of it all. In time the Atocha and the sister ship, Margarita produced over 400 million dollars in treasure, far above the initial assessment of 100 million dollars.