Treasure: Byte-Size Booty

As any pirate knows, dividing the booty can be tougher than finding it. So Professional Treasure Hunter Mel Fisher has wisely relied on a high-tech mediator. Last year Fisher discovered the sunken loot of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, a Spanish galleon that sank off the Florida coast in 1622. He retrieved 118,343 items, including emeralds, gold bars and silver coins, with a potential worth estimated by Fisher at $170 million. Last week, after a 22- member committee assigned a value to each item, Fisher fed the data into an IBM computer, which apportioned the goods among 1,650 of the expedition’s investors and employees based on their contribution — either in dollars or hours worked — to the project. Fisher’s take, which ran to 125 computer pages, consisted of silver coins. He received no gold or jewelry, but since the currency may be worth as much as $7 million, Long Mel Silver has no reason to complain.