Current Exhibitions
 

The 1622 Fleet:

For three hundred years the Spanish dominated world trade, carrying the wealth of the Americas and the Orient back to Europe. Their gold was tallied by kings and pirates, their coinage was exchanged by colonists and smugglers. What forces drove this system of fleets? Find out in this hand-son exhibition and discover for yourself the historical artifacts and treasure from the galleons Nuestra Señora de Atocha and Santa Margarita. (Permanent exhibition with changing modules)

The Florida Keys are a narrow archipelago formed by ancient coral reefs and limestone.  The surrounding ocean defines them and the people who live in the Keys must tie their livelihood to the water in order to survive.

The Keys lie in the shipping lanes between the Americas and Europe.  Because of this, early explorers and merchants all sailed through the Straits of Florida, just south of present-day Key West, and many met their doom on the perilous reefs. 

The Henrietta Marie, an English merchant slave ship

In the summer of 1700, the English merchant-slaver Henrietta Marie sank in unknown circumstances thirty-five miles west of Key West, Florida. Shortly before this mishap, she had sold a shipment of 190 captive Africans in Jamaica.

The shipwreck was first found by Mel Fisher’s divers in 1972 but only partially excavated. Their brief work revealed that it was later than the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha, which they were searching for, as well as being English. Known as the "English Wreck" for the next ten years, it was not until July of 1983 that divers returned to the site.