The Spanish archives helped in the identification of the Atocha — the gold bars had serial numbers, and each one was listed with weight on the manifest, which had survived and made it to the archives, even though the ship and the bars had gone down. In the 1970s there was a real worry among historians that the building (which was vintage) would burn, taking the archives with it. And of course now, the risk is, jihadists would set fire to it.
I knew about Mel Fisher using the Archives to find the Atocha, but lots of folks don’t have the time and money to go to Spain for research.
I was wondering if anyone has used the internet Archive database to find a wreck yet. That would be so cool.