Original version

BBC World Service Australasia

Migrated podcast image for: Outlook

Outlook

Factual: Life Stories

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

No Master Brand

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

The BBC's international radio station (B2B)

BBC World Service US Public Radio

Outlook: Our Hunt for Sunken Spanish Gold

Magazines & Reviews

Mel and Kim Fisher

03/02/2016 GMT

Our Hunt for Sunken Spanish Gold

BBC World Service - Outlook, Our Hunt for Sunken Spanish Gold

One family's 17-year search for a lost treasure-laden ship

When the Fisher family heard about a 17th Century Spanish treasure ship which sank off the coast of Florida they embarked on a 17-year search to find it.

Mel and Dolores Fisher were pioneers of scuba diving in America in the 1950s. They gave up chicken farming to open one of the first dive shops in the USA. Then Mel became obsessed with hunting for treasure on the sea bed. He knew that there were many Spanish galleons which had sunk in the 17th Century with treasure-laden cargoes. During the 1980s, one particular ship called the Atocha became the focus of his attention - and he roped in the rest of his family to help. Mel and Dolores are now dead, but their 60-year-old son Kim told Outlook the dramatic story of the search for the Atocha, and his own diving career which began as a young child.   

Back in 2010 Outlook heard from Giacomo Maestri, one of Italy's bamboccioni or 'big babies'. This was the controversial name given by an Italian Minister to young people in their 20s and 30s who were still living with their parents and failing to set up home for themselves. Well the good news for Giacomo's long-suffering mother Maddalena Suriani is that her baby bird has at long last flown the nest. At the age of 30 Giacomo has finally moved to his own apartment, down the road from his mother's home in Bologna. Outlook's Danny Mitzman went to meet Giacomo and his mother Maddalena.

Sekou Kanneh from Liberia considers himself one of the lucky ones. Even though his wife and many members of their family died from the Ebola virus in the autumn of 2014, he managed to recover from the illness. He wants to know why he survived. Sekou told Outlook how he now devotes his time to trying to persuade other Ebola survivors to take part in a five-year study to learn more about the virus.

The Iranian born artist Soheila Sokhanvarimakes work which layers political history with the bizarre and humorous such as a taxidermy horse sitting on top of a bright blue deflating balloon. Soheila is now based in Britain. She arrived in the country as a ten year old with her thirteen year old brother in 1978. Their parents had sent them to safety as turmoil began in Iran. She told Outlook what it was like to leave her homeland at such a young age.

(Photo: Mel and Kim Fisher. Credit: Mel Fisher’s Treasures)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Outlook

Our Hunt for Sunken Spanish Gold

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service Australasia

About BBC World Service