"A World Class Conservation Laboratory"

The Mel Fisher Treasure Museum in Sebastian, Florida, is seven miles east of Interstate 95 Exit 69 (Fellsmere Road to U.S. 1 then left and the Museum is just ahead on the right.) More and more people are discovering this unusual private museum and conservation lab whose displays include silver and gold artifacts recovered from historic sunken treasure ships found nearby and farther offshore from Florida's coast. The location of the museum has something special going for it, explained Taffi Fisher Abt, Director of Operations at the Center. "It's kind of like going home," she said about Sebastian. "It's where my Dad started out in treasure hunting."

Mrs. Abt's parents are Mel and Deo Fisher, who are well-known for their work in the salvage industry and the discovery of the Spanish treasure galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha that sank in 1622. In the 1960's, the Fishers joined the search and salvage efforts for the remains of the sunken wrecks of the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet, which went down and were scattered between Sebastian and Fort Pierce. Work has continued there offshore ever since.

Abt, who has been in charge of the Mel Fisher Treasure Museum since its opening six years ago, has witnessed and worked all sides of the search, recovery and conservation of sunken treasure including supervision of the 1985 division of the Atocha’s Motherlode which was valued at over four hundred million dollars. She brings a lot of experience to her position. "I worked down in Key West forever," she said, referring to her family's business located there and headed by her father. "I've worked in my Dad's office, I've typed letters and contracts and worked with the divers and sub contractors who are out on the sites; I've helped set up shows and I've worked with the artifacts in the conservation labs, and in the gift shop, too," she said. "Now," she laughed, " I do a lot of the same things here, and more."

The museum has a lot of local support but it also gets quite a few accidental visitors. "We get a lot of tourists who go to Disneyworld, the NASA Space Center and other area attractions, and then decide to drive over to the coast to the beaches," the director noted. She also said that though demographics did not support locating a museum in Sebastian, the site was ideal for the conservation lab which was the first part of the center to be opened. "We opened in December of 1992," she said, "but we had a conservation lab there for at least a year previous to that."

The conservation lab is central to the museum's purpose and can be seen from inside the museum. Double picture windows and an intercom system allow visitors to watch and ask questions about the conservation that is done on- site by the museum conservator and local volunteers. "Even when there is no one there working in the lab, visitors can see some of the tanks and the shelf that hold artifacts that are being worked on.”

While salvage efforts there have gone on at Sebastian through the years, the lab was set up in 1990 in what previously had been a fire station, to provide a place nearby where sub contractors who were continuing to work the site could bring artifacts for restoration and conservation. "This old fire station was perfect for the museum and the conservation lab," Ms. Abt said. "We enclosed one of the bays for the lab, and the other four made up the museum and the office. Before that," she explained, "artifacts had to be brought down once a year at the end of the season to Key West to be worked on. Now they can bring things in just as soon as they find them."

At the conservation lab, each artifact is carefully logged in, conserved and has a certificate typed up to accompany it. After that the artifacts are divided up and a donation is always made to the state of Florida, since the 1715 Fleet is located within state waters. "Some of the pieces that we work on end up in our museum," she noted. "We have one case dedicated to displaying recent recoveries." The objects in this case and some exhibits change frequently. "I'm always looking for new ideas," she said. "You have to constantly change things or people will quit coming."

The museum is filled with interesting and unusual displays. One of the first things seen upon entering the museum is a wall that contains pictures of her parents. Further inside is another wall covered with pictures of all her brothers who also have been a part of the salvage industry. Among the expected exhibits are everyday items, religious pieces, and treasure from the Atocha and the ships of the 1715 Fleet, as well as from some ships from the 1800's that wrecked off of the Florida coast. A cannon from the Atocha and a cross sectional cut-out of the ship's decks are also included. Another area displays information about the salvage industry-from the research that is done, to the detection devices used to discover the ships and their artifacts.

Abt stresses that this museum, which is totally funded by ticket sales, private funds and proceeds from the museum's gift shop, is a place where people can not only come to see sunken treasure, but also learn about underwater archaeology and research, the conservation of artifacts, and the salvage industry. "Of course we want to exhibit a lot of the beautiful pieces that people are always interested in seeing, but the museum is not just about the ships," she emphasized. "History is being made right now, and that's part of what we're trying to show in our exhibits."

One of three conservation laboratories, The Mel Fisher Center in Sebastian, is located at 1322 U.S. Hwy 1, Sebastian, Florida 32958. Telephone: (407) 589-0435. From Interstate 95, take Exit 69 (Fellsmere Road ) and go seven miles east to U.S. 1, then left and the museum is just ahead on your right.