Gold Treasure Found Under Shallow Waves

Peter Rexford
Wed, 05 Aug 2015 21:00:00 -0700
Lifestyle

In late July of 1715, exactly 300 years ago last month, 12 Spanish ships left their colony of Cuba heading back to their home mainland. Not realizing a major squall was about to hit they headed east. When the weather turned ugly, they sailed northward hoping to avoid it. The ships made it about 100 miles up the eastern coast of Florida before 11 of the dozen galleons ventured into shallow waters and the storm overtook them. The 11 ships were swamped and dashed apart.

Inside the ships was treasure beyond belief. They held tons of gold being carried to Spain to help fund its war with France. Because the waters were so shallow, and land was only 1,000 feet away, Spain was able to recover a large amount of the gold in the following years. Naturally, much of the scattered treasure could not be retrieved.

Over the centuries, the wrecks of the "1715 Fleet" as they became known disintegrated and any remaining coins and treasure forgotten — almost. You see, many, many wrecks laden with gold from Cuba, South America and Mexico bound for Spain and Portugal were lost along the Florida coast.
Updated: Fri Aug 07, 2015

In late July of 1715, exactly 300 years ago last month, 12 Spanish ships left their colony of Cuba heading back to their home mainland. Not realizing a major squall was about to hit they headed east. When the weather turned ugly, they sailed northward hoping to avoid it. The ships made it about 100 miles up the eastern coast of Florida before 11 of the dozen galleons ventured into shallow waters and the storm overtook them. The 11 ships were swamped and dashed apart.

Inside the ships was treasure beyond belief. They held tons of gold being carried to Spain to help fund its war with France. Because the waters were so shallow, and land was only 1,000 feet away, Spain was able to recover a large amount of the gold in the following years. Naturally, much of the scattered treasure could not be retrieved.

Over the centuries, the wrecks of the "1715 Fleet" as they became known disintegrated and any remaining coins and treasure forgotten — almost. You see, many, many wrecks laden with gold from Cuba, South America and Mexico bound for Spain and Portugal were lost along the Florida coast.

Even today, after major storms, some Floridians know to scour beaches for treasure that might wash up. It happens more often than you might think. Others searchers are more calculating. They pore through reference books and maps trying to determine the location of the watery graves of the many treasure ships.

Brent Brisben and Eric Schmitt are two of those more calculating searchers. After some serious research, a few years back the rights to find and salvage five of the 11 ships were acquired. Last month, the work paid off. They targeted waters a mere 15-feet deep, just about 300 yards from the shore of Fort Pierce, Florida, halfway between Orlando and Miami. After clearing away sand in those shallow waters, Schmitt diving from their ship "Aarrr Booty" began to spot gleaming pieces of gold coins and gold chains. On that dive he brought up 51 gold coins and 40 feet of gold chain.

That may not sound like a lot compared to other treasure finds but they know there are many more coins down there — upwards of $440 million they estimate. That's good and it gets better. In that first batch, there was one gold piece they hauled up that has already made it all worthwhile.

The key coin was a "Tricentennial Royal" — a silver dollar sized gold coin specially made for Spain's King Phillip V. Calling it scarce is a misnomer. Records suggest only about half a dozen were created 300 years ago. Its value today is conservatively estimated at $500,000. The coin's pedigree from this treasure hunt could easily add many tens of thousands of dollars to that. The same is true for the other more "common" coins and gold chains.

The videos showing the discovery make it seem too easy. Find the right spot and pick up the coins. Not so fast. Large blowers are needed to blow away feet of sand to reveal what's underneath. Then, there are the permits and splitting what is found with the state. In this case, Florida gets 20 percent of what the salvers bring up.

Finally, there is a slim chance Spain may claim ownership rights to the property from its boats after 300 years. Probably not. But, in the past, countries have demanded full or partial restitution. What else can be expected when lawyers and politicians get involved?

The bottom line is that much more waits to be found — not just from these ships but many others. So many ships carrying riches were caught in storms and sank off the east Florida coast the area has garnered the moniker "The Treasure Coast." Riches rest in the waters off the shoreline and, given enough time and storms, make their way onto the beaches. The "beach bums" that wander those beaches equipped with metal detectors know that all too well.

Editor's Note: A JPEG visual of a Spanish Tricentennial Royal gold coin has been sent with this column.