400th anniversary of the sinking of the Atocha near Key West – Le Courrier des Amériques

The Nuestra Señora de Atocha is a 34-meter-long, 550-ton Spanish galleon built in 1620, carrying impressive “castles” fore and aft, as was done then (and in pirate movies!).

For two months, columns of mules converged on this ship moored in Cartagena de Indias (Colombia), in order to dump the riches of the Americas, which will then depart in convoy to Madrid: this is called “the fleet of the Indies” . . Stacked onboard silver from Bolivia, Peru and Mexico; gold and emeralds from Colombia, ...