The Sea Reaper recently returned from another trip to the Santa Margarita site. The crew continued excavations in a main area of focus to the west of the known shipwreck scatter where they’ve concentrated recent efforts and made important recoveries this season. ​ Historic research tells us that a second hurricane may have pushed wreckage material to the west shortly after the Santa Margarita sank. Also, archival documents state that early Spanish salvors had made efforts to

The Sea Reaper crew has stayed busy at Three D Boat Yard every day that wind and weather conditions have kept them from working on the Margarita site. The progress that has been made on the new excavation vessel is remarkable, especially considering the extreme summer heat the dedicated crew has endured to push the project forward. This week, the Seatrepid’s engines were installed by Eric Gladding and the interior buildout has begun, which includes a custom designed helm con

For the last month, the weather has been too windy to conduct excavation on the Margarita site and the MRR crew has been working on the new recovery vessel, Seatrepid, at Three D Boat Yard in the heat of Key West summer. On Tuesday, the crew finally got a chance to get back to the site of the Santa Margarita for four days of ideal summertime dive weather, with calm seas and clear, warm water. The majority of work on this expedition was focused on determining the scatter of ma

The summer season has begun and the weather and sea conditions are reflecting it here in Key West. The Sea Reaper, under the direction of Josh Fisher Abt, headed to the site of the Margarita ten days ago to take full advantage of the opportunity while captain Dan Porter was conducting a successful remote sensing survey in North Florida on another potential shipwreck project. Josh has been first mate on the Sea Reaper for over a year and was given the chance to take the helm

As much as we enjoy our friends who run Three-D Boat Yard, on Tuesday, it was finally time to get back in the water and find some treasure. For the last 6 weeks, the weather has been too windy to conduct excavations on the Margarita site, so the MRR team has been in the boat yard, hard at work on MRR’s new recovery vessel. It has been hot, sticky and full of fiberglass, and things are moving along well on the new vessel. We are looking forward to getting her in the water this

The month of March is usually one of the worst months of the year for sea conditions in the Florida Keys. However, with a few days of calm winds in the forecast, Captain Dan Porter seized the opportunity to get the vessel Sea Reaper out to the Margarita site. The MRR team is grateful for the opportunity to work on the Margarita and proud to be a contracted part of the famed team of professionals at Motivation, Inc., the permit holders and operators of the Santa Margarita site

After a quick turnaround trip to Key West last week, the Sea Reaper crew returned to the site of the Santa Margarita to continue working. The first day on site was full of artifact recoveries, including the usual ships fittings such as spikes and lead sheathing, as well as olive jar sherds. Later in the afternoon, we repositioned the Sea Reaper to the far northern end of the known wreck scatter, just north of three broken Margarita anchors. These anchors are large, and sinc

MRR has just completed the second trip of the 2017 season. Prior to the trip, the weather forecast predicted four to five days of calm seas. As good as modern weather forecasting technology is, the conditions on the Margarita site don’t always cooperate and the Sea Reaper crew was only able to get three full days of excavation on the site of the Margarita. With limited time due to the change in the weather, Captain Dan Porter decided to work three areas of the known wreck sc

Following the New Year celebrations, MRR took advantage of a good weather window and the Sea Reaper headed for the site of the Santa Margarita. This time of year, there are occasional short breaks in the weather between cold fronts. This happened last week and within four hours of notice, the team was on the way to the site. Dan Porter and the dedicated crew of the Sea Reaper began executing the 2017 Santa Margarita Operational Plan to search for the missing section of the Ma

The Sea Reaper has just returned from the Santa Margarita site with another load of artifacts. With a short break in the weather, the MRR crew took advantage of the opportunity for more on-site excavation, working in a primarily new area while following trails of scatter. It is very exciting when the artifacts continue coming to the surface, and we never know what will be recovered next. On this trip we found one silver coin fragment, which does not sound like much, but the