$400 million treasure found: Spanish fleet shipwreck discovered off the coast of Florida

The turquoise waters off Florida’s east coast have, once again, provided a glittering secret three centuries in the making. Divers working with 1715 Fleet–Queens Jewels, a private salvaging firm, have recovered over a thousand coins from a cluster of shipwrecks that once formed part of Spain’s fabled Treasure Fleet, an armada lost to a hurricane in July 1715 while sailing home from the Americas.

The discovery adds a new chapter to one of maritime history’s most enduring mysteries, as told by Smithsonian. The eleven vessels that sank that summer were carrying immense wealth – an estimated $400 million in colonial-era coins, gold bars and jewels – when the storm struck near present-day Vero Beach. More than 1,000 lives were lost as the ships went down, scattering fortunes across the seabed.

What was the 1715 Fleet–Queens Jewels latest haul?

This summer’s expedition brought up 1,051 silver reales, five gold escudos and assorted ornaments. Together this is valued at around $1 million. The divers believe the pieces once sat inside a chest that burst apart in the deep, their edges still encrusted with fragments of burlap sacks. Many bear mint marks from Mexico, Bolivia and Peru, offering something of a map of Spain’s colonial reach.

Each coin tells its own story. “We’ve seen dates from 1698 to 1714,” said Levin Shavers, captain of the M/V Just Right. “They were used in the New World… who knows what they were buying before heading home?” Check out the real images.

• The treasure hotspot near modern-day Key West, Florida

Who now owns the Florida treasure?

By law, the trove now falls under the jurisdiction of the U.S. District Court. Florida may claim up to 20 percent, with the remainder split among the salvors.

The team believes the find is only the beginning. Half the fleet remains undiscovered, and past digs have turned up pistols, glass bottles and even a cannon. “The storm took ten minutes to scatter it,” one diver said. “We’ll spend lifetimes putting it back together.”

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