12 Days of Christmas; 2023 1622 Atocha Fantasy 8 Reales Cob

There was a 'Favorite Piece of Silver?' initiative made by @silverd510 back on July 2023 to Show & Tell. My choice was my 2015 pair of 1622 Atocha Fantasy 8 Reale rounds designed by Daniel Carr, minted by the Moonlight mint. If you’re new to my blog I suggest you make a quick peruse of that post. This Christmas I received a new one.

“Black birds tend to like shiny things.” ~ The Bloody Raven.

Treasure hunter Mel Fisher’s discovery of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha and her treasures in 1985 touched off an enormous public interest in the world of treasure hunting. According to surviving records it is estimated that she carried an equivalent of $450 million in gold, silver and emeralds when she was lost. Most have yet to be recovered. Those that are, now command collector's prices. Coins that were too damaged to be recognizable were used in some of the Moonlight Mint's silver products like this one.

In an alternative Universe where Spain is now the world Superpower, PLVS VLTRA Part 2.

The Santa Maria's general Claxton continued to echo throughout the massive ship. The corridors were bathed in a pulsating red glow as the great research ship started to shutter when it began entering into the extremities of the thin Martian atmosphere.

Mission Specialist Eligius Emmanuel Mauricio is his Spanish citizen name as required by law but his family was originally of Dutch blood naturalized in South Africa. His astute and brilliant mind forged his family's business into a multi trillion peso technology empire that the Spanish Royalists, aristocracy and the Congressional council could no longer ignore. X-Kalabur is his primary holding company that has assets in automotive, aerospace and social media technologies. Back home his closest friends and family addressed him as Eli Manuel and so did his social media fans.

Ninety four hours ago he and the crew were awakened from their extended sleep shivering, his breath visible alighting upon the ship's status station control systems and the completion of this leg of the historical journey.

More than enough time to reinitialize back on line the ship's main life support systems and for the flight crew to make a few preemptive minor course adjustments in preparation for the Braking sequence.

"All hands to stations!" The Captain's voice reverberated throughout the ship."Secure all quarters!"
The bridge crew checked their seat harnesses. His panel lit up all green with each station verbally confirming their secure status.
"Stand by, starboard numero ocho, nueve, y diez lateral thrusters ...", Captain Suarez looks up from his telemetry screen, "Fuego!"
"Laterals firing!" Replied Helm Officer Paco.
The thrusters fired for exactly six seconds. Navigational officer Alonso confirms, "Santa Maria is responding, positive!"
The magnificent Martian horizon slowly shifted into the starboard view. The shuddering gradually becomes more violent as the Santa Maria begins the process of using the Martian atmosphere as a brake for the ship.
The crew began to feel gravity pulling everyone towards the bow. pens, cups, clipboards, magazines anything that was not secured ended up in the front of the bridge, the temperature continued to rise.

"Stand by Pitch thrusters, dos, seis, y diez..." Suarez rechecked his telemetry data and after a few seconds gave the order, "Fuego!"
Paco echos, "Pitch thrusters firing!"
Alonso confirms, "Santa Maria is responding, positive at tres, does, uno !'
The ship spun slowly along its Z axis, a brief counter thrust stopping the rotating momentum. The ship's ventral plane oriented to the red planet and ready to deploy her Landers.

Meanwhile the heat shield was now taking the brunt of frictional atmospheric pressure, the shuttering continued now with the very audible rumbling. Various support structures audibly straining but held fast. The braking g-forces and heat began to be intolerable before the air conditioning system automatically roared to life.

Eli almost lost his grip on his social media device as he wanted to send his fans a quick clip of the Santa Maria's historic arrival to Mars.
Keying in one of the ship's directional antennas he searches the Martian sky for any of the old X-Kalabur Mk10 EE5,6 or 7 satellite platform.
Overlaying the ship's trajectory on his monitor he spots an EE7 that may just have some latent power left in it's silver oxide batteries that could built up some residual power well after the system had been retired.
Eli pulls the program file from his device and loads it into computer's editor. He changes a few parameters and enters the master codes to reactivate the spent platform before loading it into the antenna's program grid.
He presses 'TRANSMIT' and waits.

Captain Suarez focused his attention on the forward screen. "Time!"
Comm officer Alvarez replied, "tres minutos y 45 segundos Capitan!”
Eli glances back to his console's primary monitor.
“Solar panel integrity 0.25%”
"Power test: 11.23 %"
"Est. run time: 41 hours 8 minutes "
"X-Kalabur Mk10.6.2 EE7#0023 Startup sequence initiated..."
"]Command:_"

Eli pumped his fist, "Si, another successful hack even on my own product!"
He remotely turns the old satellite's camera into the oncoming Santa Maria appearing like a fireball in the distance. The video feed perfectly aligning away from the sun just below the martian horizon and the Milky Way as a breathtaking backdrop. Eli patches a USB connection to his Social Media device and taps on RECORD just as the Santa Maria makes her fiery pass by the satellite. Fire and smoke billowing off the heat shield but the crest of old sailing ship in front of a cross with the motto still clearly visible through the fire was a dramatic sight to behold. PLVS VLTRA!

With a broad smile Eli stops the recording then transmits his trophy video into the Communications queue system.
“Mission specialist Emmanuel!” Bellowed the Capitan, “What did I say about personal devices on my bridge?”

Should I get my hands on another Dan Carr piece I could continue this story.

Finally, I wish to thank Nyssacat for this lovely gift among others he cleverly hid in my annual order package. I did make it known that I adore Dan Carr bullion products in my previous 1622 Atocha post. So I know that he reads my posts and comments.💋

This gift 2023 1622 Atocha Fantasy cob will be my Day 11 of the 12 Days of Christmas Wish list fulfilled! Coming up, Day 12 the Finale.

Have a Happy and Prosperous New Year my friends 🎉

The #piratesunday tag is the scurvy scheme of Captain @stokjockey for #silvergoldstackers pirates to proudly showcase their shiny booty and plunder for all to see. Landlubbers arrrh… welcomed to participate and be a Pirate at heart so open yer treasure chests an’ show us what booty yea got!

12 Days of Christmas Wish list posts;

Day 1; 2013 $50 Canada HMS Shannon & The USS Chesapeake
Day 2; 2017 2 oz.Davy Jones Locker silver round, Privateer Series.
Day 3; 2013 $1 Tuvalu The Dementer, Famous Ships that never sailed series.
Day 4; 2015 Finding Silverbug Island Community Round.
Day 5, St. Bee’s Silver Throwing Star.
Day 6, 2022 $5 Niue Grand Shipwrecks of the World; San Jose.

12 Days of Christmas Wish List Fulfilled posts;

Day 7, A Gift from my Mentor; Gold Spartan’s Silver Pirate ship V2.
Day 8, A gift from my Secret Santa Predatum in Mundo.
Day 9, A gift from @enginewitty; 2022 Samoa 2 Tala Princess of the seas.
Day 10, A gift from my late Roommate; 16xx Colonial Mexico Philip IV 8 Reales Cob.
Day 11, A gift from Nyssacat; 1622 Type 2 Atocha Fantasy 8 Reales
Day 12 Finale, TBA

References

Mel Fisher’s Treasures.
Wiki; 1622 Atocha shipwreck.
The Moonlight Mint.
The product List.
My own pictures shot with an ancient 2018 Samsung SM-A530W
P. Image under Pixabay
W. Wiki Commons
☠️🎃 Page Dividers by thekittygirl. ❄️🌞
Cameo Raven Brooch from The Black Wardrobe.
3.5 Troy oz. 3D Pirate ship by the Gold Spartan.
Silversaver’s 2023 Hive Silver Round, to order this 2023 Hive round.
The GOLDEN AGE of PIRATES map poster from Bella Terra Publishing LLC, bellaterramaps.com