1715 Treasure Fleet

Spanish treasure fleet upright=.8|thumb|right|8 reales Mexican silver cob, full date 1715, recovered from the 1715 fleet upright=.8|thumb|right|Rare 8 escudos lima dated 1710, recovered from the 1715 Fleet The 1715 Treasure Fleet was a combination of two Spanish treasure fleets returning from the New World to Spain, the "Nueva España Fleet", under Captain-General Don Juan Esteban de Ubilla, and the "Tierra Firme Fleet", under Don Antonio de Echeverz y Zubiza. At two in the morning on Wednesday, July 31, 1715, seven days after departing from Havana, Cuba,Newton, Lowell W. "Juan Esteban de Ubilla and the Flota of 1715". The Americas, volume 33, issue 2, October 1976, pp. 267–281 (980786) all eleven ships of the fleet were lost in a hurricane along the east coast of Florida. A 12th ship, the French frigate Le Grifon, had sailed with the fleet. Its captain was unfamiliar with the Florida coastline and elected to stay further out to sea. Le Grifon safely returned to Europe. Because the fleet was carrying silver, it is also known as the 1715 Plate Fleet (plata being the Spanish word for silver).http://ww3.brevardcounty.us/history/documents/IRJ_Spring-Summer_2011.pdf 1715 Plate Fleet, Page 10 Brevard County Historical Commission 29 July 2013 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20130326094927/https://ww3.brevardcounty.us/history/documents/IRJ_Spring-Summer_2011.pdf 26 March 2013 According to Cuban records, around 1,500 sailors perished in the storm, while a small number survived in lifeboats. Many other ships, including pirates, took part in the initial salvage. By the end of August, relief ships from Havana arrived at the site of the sunken fleet. After the Urca de Lima cargo was salvaged, she was burned to the waterline to hide her position from pirates and privateers of other nations, who had become aware of the sunken treasure fleet as well. In December, the pirates Henry Jennings and Charles Vane captured a Spanish mail ship and learned the exact position of the main Spanish salvage camp and of the Urca de Lima from her captain, Pedro de la Vega. In early 1716 they surprised the camp with a superior force and Salmón had no choice but to surrender the rest of the salvaged treasure. The pirates made off with an estimated £87,500 of gold and silver. Exhibits and preserves upright=.8|thumb|left|Historical marker designating the site of the Survivors' and Salvagers' Camp - 1715 Fleet Corrigan’s Beach ShipWreck 27.7478 -80.3561 inline,title Florida Treasure hunter Kip Wagner found the first of the fleet's treasure in 1961, and continued searching throughout the remaining decade, eventually finding millions of dollars' worth of gold, silver, and other artifacts.Treasure Wrecks Journal: Kip Wagner https://thethunderchild.com/GhostGunsVirginia/TreasureWrecks/KipWagner.html He and his team built an exhibit held at National Geographic "Explorers Hall" in Washington, D.C. that was featured in the January 1965 issue of National Geographic. This was the beginning of a fine collection of 1715 Plate Fleet treasure that brought hundreds of visitors from around the world.February 2015 Wagner published his book Pieces of Eight (Recovering The Riches of A Lost Spanish Fleet) in 1966. It is a detailed account of the finding and exploration of many of these shipwrecks along Florida's "Treasure Coast". An exhibit was set up with a grand opening on May 1, 1967, at the First National Bank of Satellite Beach, Florida.February 2015 In 1987, another ship in the fleet, the Urca de Lima, became the first shipwreck in the Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserves.February 2015 Mel Fisher's company, Mel Fisher's Treasures, sold the rights to the 1715 Fleet shipwreck to 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, LLC. On July 31, 2015 (the 300th anniversary of the sinking), 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, LLC and their founder Brent Brisben discovered $4.5 million in gold coins off the coast of Vero Beach, Florida; the coins come from the 1715 Fleet shipwreck site known as the Corrigans wreck.https://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2015/08/21/gold-coins-found-florida-shipwreck-dnt.wptv $4.5M in gold found in shallow water - CNN Video 21 August 2015 During a previous 2015 find from the Douglass Beach wreck, 101 coins were recovered, of which 50 were stolen by the Schmitt family (subcontractors to 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, LLC). In 2024, 37 of the coins were recovered by law enforcement and turned over to the Court.Gold coins stolen from 18th century shipwreck off Florida coast recovered – CBS Miami CBS News 27 November 2024 https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/gold-coins-worth-1-million-dollars-stolen-1715-treasure-fleet-florida-recovered-suspect-charged/ In 2025, over $1 million worth of silver and gold coins (reales and escudos) as well as other gold artifacts were found by 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, LLC.https://www.fox8live.com/2025/10/01/salvage-crew-finds-1-million-treasure-300-year-old-shipwreck/ Over 1,000 silver coins were recovered by Capt. Levin Shavers and the crew of the M/V Just Right during the 2025 summer salvage season. Under Florida law, any “treasure trove” or other historic artifacts “abandoned” on state-owned lands or in state waters belong to the state, 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, LLC is permitted to carry out salvage operations. Florida officials select up to 20% of the items to keep for the public, in a negotiation process that is ultimately approved by a federal court. The remaining artifacts are split equally among the salvage company’s owners and its subcontractors.Over 1,000 Silver and Gold Coins Recovered from the 1715 Treasure Fleet Shipwrecks Valued at $1,000,000!Excavators find $1 million in gold coins from Spanish shipwreck along Florida’s ‘Treasure Coast’ AP 3 October 2025 https://apnews.com/article/florida-shipwreck-spanish-gold-coins-cfea12b415eae3c2d2d24d86d167ab3d List of identified ships thumb|The English Ship Hampton Court in a Gale, Willem van de Velde the Younger 1680s Urca de Lima (Santisima Trinidad y Nuestra Señora de la Concepción) former HMS Hampton Court (Nuestra Señora del Carmen y San Antonio) Santo Cristo de San Romanarticle at wrecksite.eu Nuestra Señora de las Nievesarticle at wrecksite.eu Nuestra Señora del Rosario y San Francisco Xavierarticle at wrecksite.eu Nuestra Señora del Carmen y San Antonioarticle at wrecksite.eu Nuestra Señora de Regla Nuestra Señora de la Popa (La Holandesa) New evidence (see Jorge Proctor, 2021) shows that the Douglass Beach Wreck, long believed to be the Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, is in fact the Santa Rita y Las Animas, bought by Ubilla in Cuba and renamed Nuestra Señora de Regla, like his flagship. In popular culture thumb|right|Cannon recovered from the fleet's wreck site on display in Tallahassee, Florida In the 2008 movie Fool's Gold, the protagonists are searching for the location of one of the sunken ships of the treasure fleet (along with its treasure).February 2015 The treasure fleet was used as the backdrop for a scene in the video game Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. The main character, Edward Kenway, is aboard one of the ships in the fleet as a prisoner, and manages to escape with the help of his future quartermaster, Adéwalé, recruiting other captive pirates as a crew. The pirates eventually manage to escape the fleet and the hurricane by stealing the twelfth ship, the brig El Dorado, which Edward keeps and renames the Jackdaw, becoming the player's ship for the rest of the game. Edward later makes reference to the event when Blackbeard inquires as to how he got the Jackdaw, and the latter then suggests visiting the site to salvage some of the lost treasure.February 2015 In the 1977 movie The Deep David Sanders (Nick Nolte) and his British girlfriend Gail Berke (Jacqueline Bisset) recover a number of artifacts (from a diving expedition off the coast of Bermuda, homeland of Captain Henry Jennings), including an ampule of amber-colored liquid and a medallion bearing the image of a woman and the letters 'S.C.O.P.N' (an abbreviation of the Latin 'Santa Clara Ora Pro Nobis' that translates to English as 'Saint Clara Pray For Us') and a date, 1714. St. David's Lighthouse keeper and treasure-hunter Romer Treece (Robert Shaw) believes the medallion had come from the wreckage of the surviving twelfth ship [of the 1715 Treasure Fleet], thought to be a French tobacco ship that was being protected by the 1715 Fleet and named Grifon (spelt "El Grifón" in Peter Benchley's novel The Deep).Benchley Peter The Deep 1976 Andre Deutsch London 0233967931 121 1 The ship was thought to be returning to Havana, Cuba for repairs but instead sank off the coast of Bermuda.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075925/synopsis?ref_=ttpl_pl_syn The Deep 17 June 1977 IMDbhttp://www.1715treasurefleet.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4 King Philip V & the Queens Jewels Suissemade www.1715treasurefleet.com 2015-09-22 https://web.archive.org/web/20150923060538/http://www.1715treasurefleet.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4 2015-09-23 deadhttps://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075925/faq The Deep 17 June 1977 IMDb The plot of the Starz show Black Sails revolves heavily around the 1715 Treasure Fleet in its first season. The largest of the ships, the Urca de Lima, is wrecked during the hurricane off the coast of Florida, carrying five million Spanish dollars' worth in gold, silver and other precious materials, pursued by Captain Flint and his crew. The treasure, colloquially referred to as "the Urca gold", is an important plot device throughout the series. See also McLarty Treasure Museum Mel Fisher's Treasure Museum Piracy in the Caribbean St. Lucie County Historical Museum Survivors' and Salvagers' Camp – 1715 Fleet Treasure hunting References External links 1715 Fleet Society – Dedicated to researching the history of the 1715 Fleet, its loss, rediscovery and recovery through images, video, and documents. 1715 Treasure Fleet – website of the official salvors of the wrecks History of the 1715 Treasure Fleet. The Practical Book of Cobs 4th Ed. Sedwick https://web.archive.org/web/20090329204415/http://www.sedwickcoins.com/shipwreck_histories/1715.htm 2009-03-29 – The Treasure of Cape Canaveral published in Indian River Journal by Brevard Historical Commission. Sunken Treasure: Six Who Found Fortunes, Robert F. Burgess, Dodd, Mead & Co. 1988 Category:Treasure from shipwrecks Category:Treasure Coast Category:Piracy in the Caribbean