Mel Fisher Treasures Enters Exclusive Agreement with Historian Dr. Eugene Lyon‏

[Tank69]

I got this in a Email today thought I'd share it .

Mel Fisher’s Treasures has recently made an agreement with Dr. Eugene Lyon for exclusive rights to all his historical research. Dr.Lyon is one of the world’s leading experts on Spanish Colonial Florida history and the Spanish maritime system. He holds a PhD from the University of Florida.

From data he gathered at the Archive of the Indies in Seville, Spain, Dr. Lyon was able to help Mel Fisher locate and definitively indentify the sunken ships the Atocha and Santa Margarita in the lower Florida Keys. His book “The Search for the Atocha” is considered the most authoritative historical account of Mel Fisher’s search for these two Spanish galleons.

Dr. Lyon’s honors include being named Official in the Order of Isabella from King Juan Carlos of Spain and the grade of Comendador in the Order of Christopher Columbus from the President of the Dominican Republic. In 2005, he received the Mel Fisher Lifetime Achievement Award.

Over the past 40 years, Dr. Lyon has accumulated and translated a vast amount of historical information about New World trade routes and Spanish ships that were lost at sea during the time period of 1550 to 1750. This includes court of inquiry records and personal testimony from the Captains and crew of many lost vessels and other eyewitness accounts of the wrecks, including approximate locations of the shipwrecks.


Mel Fisher’s VP Director of Operations Gary Randolph spoke about the significance of this recent agreement with Dr. Lyon: “This agreement paves the way for the future of Mel Fisher’s Treasures. Only a handful of people in the world are able to translate the ancient Spanish writings from the 16th century and recover the proprietary historical information about the ships that were lost at sea. With this information, we now have enough solid targets that our children’s children will have to finish the work.”

[mad4wrecks]

I'm happy for those guys. They found a formula (business plan) that seems to be keeping another generation of Fishers continuing the dream that Mel started, making a living searching for sunken treasure.

Tom

[Alexandre]

I'm happy for those guys. They found a formula (business plan) that seems to be keeping another generation of Fishers continuing the dream that Mel started, making a living searching for sunken treasure.

Tom

Too bad for their investors that they don't make a living FINDING sunken treasure...

[Salvor6]

The Fishers have found more treasure than anyone in history. Their investors are happy and keep coming back to invest more.

[SEAHUNTER]

Alexandre
How would you know? Why do the same investors keep reinvesting if they are not happy with their returns? At least their investors do it of their own free will, unlike the projects you work on where it is taken from the investors with the threat of imprisonment (taxes). You truly are a communist, and probably proud of it.
Seahunter

[Alexandre]

Alexandre
How would you know? Why do the same investors keep reinvesting if they are not happy with their returns? At least their investors do it of their own free will, unlike the projects you work on where it is taken from the investors with the threat of imprisonment (taxes). You truly are a communist, and probably proud of it.
Seahunter

How can I be a communist if I am all for profit for the investors?

Tell me: would you prefer to be a treasure seeker or a treasure finder?

[SEAHUNTER]

Alexandre

You would be a communist because you believe the government owns everything and the individual does not have any right to anything unless they work for the government and are paid through monies stolen from the individuals through the form of taxes. This has been the undoing of almost all civilizations. The others were destroyed by natural disasters.
I can not answer your second question because I am both a treasure seeker and a treasure finder.

Seahunter

[PhipsFolly]

Go Scott! Go Scott! Go Scott!!

[aquanut]

Way to go Scott!
...and by the way Alexandre, I invested with Mel Fisher by way of contracting with him and never met a more sincere treasure finder. Just being around the man made you feel rich. There will always be those who are jealous of the Fishers, but in my experience I don't know anyone who has ever been taken advantage of. I think you need to do your research before inserting your foot in your mouth.
Aquanut

[cuzcosquirrel]

If you can read and write Spanish, you can pick up the old way after awhile, after you learn the letter forms. You can piece it out then particluarly because words are often repeated.

[itmaiden]

There is one problem with the exclusive rights...the history is extremely fascinating and educational and now will not be shared with others for the purpose of enjoyment and education.

But then that is the difference between the rich and the poor...education. The Fishers learned a long time ago, that education goes along way to being successful.

I personally am not worried about the "information" in terms of finding treasure ships. There are ships that I have found just sitting there and others to be found. But one has to have the permits/leases and have the manpower and money to work those ships.

However, I would love to have and read more history on this whole era of history. I have been absolutely taken back by what all I have found and learned so far. Such a far cry from the watered down and often inaccurate garbage we were fed in the public school system. Also, our libraries are filled with books with conflicting accounts of history or "history re-written".

I love knowing the truth about things and I enjoy learning real world history. It gives us such a better understanding of our world, where it has been, and how we are where we are now.

Maybe the Fishers can share the details of that history which does not pertain to the shipwreck locations themselves.

itmaiden

[mad4wrecks]

itmaiden wrote: There is one problem with the exclusive rights...the history is extremely fascinating and educational and now will not be shared with others for the purpose of enjoyment and education.



All the information that Gene Lyons found in the archives is still there. If one wants it, it can still be found.

The Fishers have no obligation to share this information with anyone. Education and enjoyment, like everything else in life, often comes with a price tag attached.

The Fisher family however has indeed shared a great deal of information over the years, whether it be actual research on a number of shipwrecks or donation of the artifacts themselves. Take a look at http://www.melfisher.org

[Alexandre]

Its still there because it's a public historical archive, paid by Spanish taxpayer's. There may even be some communist money involved...

[itmaiden]

I have followed the Fishers information for quite some time, and it has been a great experience to have a better understanding of salvaging operations and what is required to satisfy the state and the investors.

I understand the archives are available, and others are working on them, but maybe some information has been surpressed now. Apparently some of the first information would have been had it been caught by officials earlier.

Still it is a shame for someone to have to go through all that work again, when someone has already done it.

Even if it is "sold", it would make for interesting reading.

itmaiden

itmaiden wrote: There is one problem with the exclusive rights...the history is extremely fascinating and educational and now will not be shared with others for the purpose of enjoyment and education.



All the information that Gene Lyons found in the archives is still there. If one wants it, it can still be found.

The Fishers have no obligation to share this information with anyone. Education and enjoyment, like everything else in life, often comes with a price tag attached.

The Fisher family however has indeed shared a great deal of information over the years, whether it be actual research on a number of shipwrecks or donation of the artifacts themselves. Take a look at http://www.melfisher.org

[Alexandre]

I understand the archives are available, and others are working on them, but maybe some information has been surpressed now. Apparently some of the first information would have been had it been caught by officials earlier.

Still it is a shame for someone to have to go through all that work again, when someone has already done it.

But that's what historians do: they go through the same old archival material has their predecessors and come up with new theories... you know what could be useful?

Have someone go through all the Spanish archives, find all pertinent data related to Spanish shipwrecks, have it transcribed and translated into English, published it and get done with it once an for all.

Of course, all the Nowaks out there would be jobless...

[SEAHUNTER]

Its still there because it's a public historical archive, paid by Spanish taxpayer's. There may even be some communist money involved...

Alexandre
Let me correct myself - You are a communist with a sense of humor.
Bravo
Seahunter

[aquanut]

Not speaking for the Fishers, but my guess would be that short of the information regarding the locations of wrecks, I would say that any information you would want would be made available if you would care to pay the cost of making it available. It's like anything else worthwhile, it costs money. It will cost you in time and money if you research it yourself (with mistakes) or if you get it from the research of an expert (with no mistakes). Mel Fisher wasted a lot of time exploring the Matecumbes looking for the Atocha until Dr. Lyons saw the mistake and directed him to the Marquesas Keys.
Aquanut

[itmaiden]

I guess I could patiently wait for my "leaked" copy

itmaiden

Not speaking for the Fishers, but my guess would be that short of the information regarding the locations of wrecks, I would say that any information you would want would be made available if you would care to pay the cost of making it available. It's like anything else worthwhile, it costs money. It will cost you in time and money if you research it yourself (with mistakes) or if you get it from the research of an expert (with no mistakes). Mel Fisher wasted a lot of time exploring the Matecumbes looking for the Atocha until Dr. Lyons saw the mistake and directed him to the Marquesas Keys.
Aquanut

[ivan salis]

yes the famous east / west translation error -- that simple error stalled mel fisher's search for a long time - little things often make a big differance * --like ( wreckage was found [glow=red,2,300]on the north coast of saint augustine---- vs---- wreckage was found on the coast north of saint augustine ---a eazy to make error in translation if one was not careful. (admiral salmons letter)

when speaking in spanish the item comes first then what about it * ( exsample ---LA CASA ROJO --the house red --- but in english we would sat "the red house"--) so if one just word swapped word for word --spanish words for english from the old documents --- it comes out --- wreckage was found on the coast north of saint augustine --however if properly translated into modern english with the way spanish was spoken taken into account --it becomes --wreckage was found on the north coast of st augustine.