S5 May Written Test,Reading

In the 17th century, there were many Spanish sailing ships called galleons that carried gold and jewels from the Americas to Europe. On September 4 1622, two galleons called the Nuestra Señora de Atocha and the Santa Margarita left Cuba for Spain. Just a day later, both ships sank during a terrible storm. Although the lost ships were very well known to contain huge amounts of treasure, nobody managed to find them for the next 350 years. Despite numerous efforts made by hundreds of people, no one was able to find them and they became known as the ‘Ghost Galleons’. In 1969 a treasure hunter named Mel Fisher set up a company ‘Treasure Salvors’, to search for the ‘Ghost Galleons’. Fisher used to be a farmer, but since 1962 he had worked at sea searching for lost ships. He was so successful at this that he could afford to set up his own company. His boat, Holly’s Folly, began the search in 1969 in an area called the Middle Keys, near Florida. Fisher had studied diaries and reports from the 17th century and according to them the Atocha had sunk there. But Fisher found nothing and he decided to get the help of Eugene Lyon, an expert in 17th century Spanish history. Lyon soon realized what had gone wrong. Some of the islands in the area had been renamed and Holly’s Folly was looking in the wrong place. Lyon redirected the search of both ships to the tiny Marquesas Keys. It was two more years, however, before the team found a few silver coins and gold bars from the Atocha. Then, in 1973, they found 4000 silver coins and three silver bars stamped with numbers that proved they came from the Atocha. The treasure was extremely valuable but the ship itself was nowhere to be found. It was expensive to continue the search but Fisher didn’t want to give up. He concentrated instead on finding the Margarita and started looking for it in an area called the Quicksands. To start with, just a few pieces of treasure were discovered by the team and then, at last, they found some half-buried pieces of wood. It was the Margarita. The divers continued taking objects from the Margarita for another two years. Stories about the find appeared in newspapers around the world and the treasure was sold for £25 million. Fisher was rich and famous but he was still determined to find the Atocha and in 1985 he continued his search. This time he concentrated on an area called the Hawk Channel. Finally, on July 20, Fisher found hundreds of silver bars and chests of silver coins lying on the seabed really close to the Atocha. It had taken 16 years, but at last he had found both ships.

The Margarita and the Atocha sank soon after leaving Spain.

• A.

  True

• B.

  False

Fisher read historical documents to find out where to begin his search.

• A.

  True

• B.

  False

 Lyon told Fisher that the two ships had sunk in the Marquesas Keys area. 

• A.

  True

• B.

  False

After finding part of the lost treasure in 1973, Fisher continued looking for the Atocha in the Quicksands areas. 

• A.

  True

• B.

  False

After finding and selling the treasure from the Margarita, Fisher decided to stop his search for the Atocha

• A.

  True

• B.

  False