Divers become overnight millionaires after discovering trove of rare coins off Florida’s Treasure Coast
A team of divers literally struck gold after uncovering more than a thousand 300-year-old coins on the seafloor off Florida’s Treasure Coast – a discovery valued at nearly $1 million.
On Tuesday, 1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels LLC, the largest historic shipwreck salvage operation in Florida waters, announced the discovery of 1,051 silver coins and five gold coins recovered during their summer expeditions, according to their website.
The coins are believed to be from the infamous 1715 Fleet, a Spanish convoy wrecked by a hurricane while sailing from the New World to Spain, leaving over 700 dead.
All eleven ships lost in the disaster were carrying millions in Spanish gold and jewelry – known as ‘the queen’s jewels’ – which were swallowed by the sea during the storm.
Now, the crew of divers has salvaged nearly a quarter of the lost treasure and will keep 80 percent of its value, after giving 20 percent to the state, according to Miami Herald.
‘Historians estimate that as much as $400 million worth of gold, silver, and jewels were lost in the storm, making it one of the greatest maritime tragedies – and treasures – of the Americas,’ the company said in a news release.
‘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,’ it added.
‘Finding 1,000 of them in a single recovery is both rare and extraordinary.’
On Tuesday, 1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels LLC, the largest historic shipwreck salvage operation in Florida waters, announced the discovery of 1,051 silver coins and five gold coins recovered during their summer expeditions (pictured)
The coins are believed to be from the infamous 1715 Fleet, a Spanish convoy (illustrated) wrecked by a hurricane while sailing from the New World to Spain, leaving over 700 dead
The discovery is estimated to be worth nearly $1 million, while historians believe the storm claimed at least $400 million in gold, silver (pictured) and jewels during the 1715 voyage to deliver ‘the queen’s jewels’
Five gold coins known as escudos (left) – a former Spanish and Portuguese currency – and over 1,000 silver Reales (right), an old Spanish denomination, were recovered
On July 31, 1715, a powerful hurricane struck the fleet off Florida’s coast, toppling masts, scattering ships and capsizing several under mammoth waves.
While an estimated 700 to 1,000 people perished in the wreck, around 1,500 survived – some reaching shore, building temporary shelters, finding food and attempting to save their sinking treasures.
However, many later succumbed to exposure and exhaustion, meeting the same tragic fate.
For 310 years, the ‘queen’s jewels’ lay untouched on the ocean floor.
For the past six, the salvage company has been tracking a mile-long trail tied to the 1715 Fleet’s ill-fated journey up Florida’s Atlantic Coast, according to the outlet.
In collaboration with treasure hunters, museums, and underwater archaeologists, the company holds exclusive rights to search for and recover artifacts from the sunken ships of the notorious fleet.
In Tuesday’s news release, the company announced the discovery of over 1,000 silver coins known as ‘Reales’ – a former unit of Spanish currency.
The silver coins were uncovered beneath ‘several feet of sand,’ concentrated within a 25-square-foot area, and recovered following strict archaeological guidelines.
According to officials, its location suggested they were all in the same treasure chest ‘that spilled when the ship broke apart in the hurricane’s fury.’
According to officials, the location of the silver coins suggested that they were all in the same treasure chest ‘that spilled when the ship broke apart in the hurricane’s fury’
According to Captain Mike Perna, a wreck diver and board member of Queens Jewels, gold coins (pictured) have proven far more difficult to find than silver
Plans are now underway to exhibit select pieces of the groundbreaking find (pictured) at local museums
Five gold coins known as ‘escudos’ – a former currency used in Spain and Portugal – were also recovered.
‘This discovery is not only about the treasure itself, but the stories it tells,’ Queens Jewels director of operations Sal Guttuso said in a news release.
The coins, still encrusted and awaiting conservation, bear dates and mint marks before the year 1715, making them valuable to historians and collectors alike.
According to Captain Mike Perna, a wreck diver and board member of Queens Jewels, gold coins have proven far more difficult to find than silver.
‘But this year’s gold discoveries prove yet again that there are still many treasures yet to be located lying in wait in the waters off of the Treasure Coast,’ Perna said, according to Miami Herald.
‘The two larger gold coins represent the fourteenth and fifteenth 1714 Mexico 8 escudos that have come from amongst 2500 silver coins deposited along this trail,’ he added.
‘Discovering 300-year-old gold coins underwater is always exciting. There is really no other thrill quite like it.’
Perna also noted clues indicating many more silver coins remain at the wreck site, especially given the number of ships that sank.
‘The thousand coins represent nearly 1/3 of a chest of coins from the time period,’ he added, according to the outlet.
Plans are now underway to exhibit select pieces of the groundbreaking find at local museums.
