This Shipwreck Is ‘Treasure Fleet’ From 1715 With $1 Million In Gold And Silver Coins Recovered

This Shipwreck Is ‘Treasure Fleet’ From 1715 With $1 Million In Gold And Silver Coins Recovered

A historic shipwreck salvage business has pulled up over 1,000 silver and gold coins from a Spanish treasure fleet that sank off the coast of Florida in 1715.

The haul could fetch $1 million at market value, with five of the coins found being gold escudos, which along with having a high value as a historic artifact, happen to see the light of day with the price of gold making new all-time record highs.

A hurricane it was that sent the 11 ships bound for Spain to the crushing oblivion of Davy Jones’ Locker. Known as the Plate Fleet, they were bringing an estimated $400 million in gold, silver, and jewels from the New World back to Spain, but lost every penny along with all hands when the gale sent them to the bottom.

The fleet’s complete whereabouts are unknown, but the US District Court for Florida, which owns the wrecks per US law, have been contracting Queen’s Jewels LLC as the exclusive salvage operator in locating and recovering what can be found.

Over the summer, salvage divers visited a site where at least one wreck was known to rest, and pulled up coin after coin after coin, until Capt. Levin Shavers and the crew of the M/V Just Right were looking at a bonafide pirate treasure.

The silver coins, known as Reales, or pieces of eight, were minted in the Imperial colonies of Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico, and the LLC’s Director of Operations Saul Guttuso says each one, whether by the visible minting date, design, or mill marks, has a story to tell.

“This discovery is not only about the treasure itself, but the stories it tells,” said Guttuso.  “Each coin is a piece of history, a tangible link to the people who lived, worked, and sailed during the Golden Age of the Spanish Empire. Finding 1,000 of them in a single recovery is both rare and extraordinary.”

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The discovery site lies within a stretch of ocean often referred to as Florida’s “Treasure Coast,” where modern salvage operations—working under strict state oversight and archaeological guidelines—continue to uncover relics from the ill-fated fleet.

In addition to the 5 gold escudos, other gold artifacts were recovered, as well as evidence that the coins were held in a burlap sack, which at the time period might mean that up to 2,000 more coins are waiting on the seafloor where the divers have already looked—still waiting to be found.

“I’ll never finish in my lifetime. We have barely scratched the surface,” Mike Perna, one of the salvagers and the operator of the Mighty Mo, told McClatchy News, last year. “The storm took 10 minutes to deposit what is taking us years to find.”