Pearls Found In the Treasure Ship

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KEY WEST, Fla. - Salvagers discovered thousands of pearls in a small, lead box while searching for the wreckage of the 17th-century Spanish galleon Santa Margarita . It apparently buried beneath the ocean floor in approximately 18 feet of water about 40 miles west of Key West.

Divers from Blue Water Ventures of Key West found the sealed box, measuring 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches, along with a gold bar, eight gold chains and hundreds of other artifacts earlier this week.

Pearls don't normally survive the ocean water once they are out of the oyster that makes them. James Sinclair, archaeologist and conservator consulting with Mel Fisher's Treasures, Blue Water's joint-venture partners, said the pearls are very rare because of their antiquity and condition.

"In this instance, we had a lead box and the silt that had sifted into the box from the site of the Margarita, which preserved the pearls in a fairly pristine state."

The pearls will be conserved, documented and photographed in an archaeological laboratory above the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West.

An initial cache of treasure and artifacts from the Santa Margarita was discovered in 1980 by pioneering shipwreck salvor Mel Fisher. The ship was bound for Spain when it sank in a hurricane in 1622.