Item B6
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Meeting Date: July 15, 2003
Division:
District 1
Bulk Item: Yes
No
Department: Mayor Dixie M. Spehar
AGENDA ITEM WORDING:
Proclamation to declare July 20th from this day forth a Mel Fisher Day.
ITEM BACKGROUND:
In the 1980's, Mel Fisher bought a huge former Key West Naval Station building to permanently
house the non-profit Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society Museum, and millions of people and
students, scholars and interested persons, come from all over the world to see the educational, cultural
and historical treasures that have been raised from the sea by Mel Fisher and his Golden Crew.
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES:
ST AFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
TOT AL COST:
BUDGETED: Yes
No
COST TO COUNTY:
SOURCE OF FUNDS:
REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes
No
AMOUNT PER MONTH
Year
APPROVED BY: County Atty
OMB/Purchasing _ Risk Management _
DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL:
#u 7J; ~.uJ
Mayor ixie M. Spehar
DOCUMENTATION:
Included
To Follow
Not Required_
DISPOSITION:
AGENDA ITEM #~
Revised 1/03
"
. .fflapor' g
f'roclamation
WHEREAS, Melvin A. Fisher was born August 21, 1922 in Hobart, Indiana, to Earl and Grace Sprencel
Fisher; and
WHEREAS, Dreams of finding treasure began in childhood with Mel reading Robert Louis Stevenson's
Treasure Island; and
WHEREAS, Mel Fisher attended Purdue University, where he studied engineering and led his own 21-piece band.
With the outbreak ofWWII, Mel went into the U.S. Army and served with the Army Corps of Engineers; and
WHEREAS, In 1950, Mel moved with his parents to Torrance, California, where they operated a chicken
ranch. Mel opened his first dive shop in a feed shed on the ranch; and
WHEREAS, A gorgeous, red-haired girl named Dolores Horton entered Mel's life after her parents bought
the chicken ranch. Soon after, Deo became Mel's wife and partner in all his endeavors; and
WHEREAS, Mel and Deo Fisher opened Mel's Aqua Shop in Redondo Beach, California, which was the first
dive shop in the world. Mel and Deo Fisher were hugely successful in this pioneering business, training more that 65,000
novices in the science of scuba diving; and
WHEREAS, In 1963 Mel and Deo Fisher, with their family, moved to Florida and began working the 1715 Fleet
shipwrecks off Florida's East Coast. Because diving conditions were so murky, Mel developed a device called a "mailbox,"
which sent a column of clear water near the surface downward to the bottom so divers could see; and
WHEREAS, In the spring of 1964, testing of the mailbox did more than clear the bottom. The mailbox parted the sands
and revealed 1,033 gold coins! More than $20 Million in treasure was recovered from the 1715 Fleet wrecks during the 1960's
and much more has been recovered over the decades; and
WHEREAS, In 1622 a fleet of Spanish galleons sunk near the Marquesas in the Florida Keys. Sister ships Nuestra
Senora de Atocha and Santa Margarita, carrying motherlodes of treasure and artifacts were included in this fleet. Mel began his
dream of finding the Atocha.
WHEREAS, While searching for the Atocha, Mel discovered an English Slave ship, the Henrietta Marie, which is now
an international tour exhibit. Times were lean for the Treasure Salvors. Mel kept his crew going by each morning telling them,
"Today's the Day!"; and
WHEREAS, In 1980, Mel topped his previous glories as a treasure hunter to discover missions of dollars worth of gold
and other riches of the Santa Margarita and on July 20, 1985, after sixteen years of searching, Mel, along with,his family, dive
crew and office staff uncovered the mqtherlode of the Atocha; and
WHEREAS, In the 1980's, Mel Fisher bought a huge former Key West Naval Station building to permanently house t
non-profit Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society Museum, with research center and conservation laboratories. The Mel Fisher
Center, Inc. was opened in Sebastian, Florida, for conservation and exhibition of many of the new discoveries from the 1715
Fleet wreck; and
WHEREAS, Millions of people and students, scholars and interested persons, come from all over the world to see the
educational, cultural and historical treasures that have been raised from the sea by Mel Fisher and his Golden Crew.
NOW, THEREFORE, by the power vested in me as Mayor of Monroe County, Florida: I do hereby proclaim from this
day forth, July 20'h as
MEL FISHER DAY
WITNESS my hand and seal of the County of Monroe, Florida, this 15TH day of July, 2003.
,.
A- ____ _
...
- -