More than $1M in gold discovered off Fort Pierce from 1715 treasure fleet... video an

ShipwreckHunter

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More than $1M in gold discovered off Fort Pierce from 1715 treasure fleet... video and story ...
Treasure salvagers off the coast have recovered 60 gold artifacts from the 1715 Treasure Fleet shipwrecks valued more than $1 million. Queens Jewels, a historic shipwreck salvage operation, which owns the exclusive salvage rights to the fleet, announced the find Monday. They were found in about 15 feet of water.
The Fleet sank along Florida’s Treasure Coast on July 31, 1715, 300 years ago this week. The salvage operation recovered 51 gold coins and 40 feet of ornate gold chain. More than $1M in gold discovered off Fort Pierce from 1715 treasure fleet - TC Palm

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teklord

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How does the diver not hyperventilate with that staring him in the face ? Does the state of Florida get the Royal ?
 

digging440yrs

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BigWaveDave

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Damn thing is I can hold my breath and dive 15 feet down...but noooooooooo .. I gotta dig mercs and wheats to have a good day.:BangHead:
 

ivan salis

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hum only 15 feet deep ? -- those might be off the HOLANDISA (a small vessel owned by Echeverz )... it was a smallish shallow draft vessel that hit bottom , stuck fast and who's upper decks sheared away from the hull , breaking off and sliding ashore like a giant surfboard... it upper deck works / cabins was used as a shelter by the crews recovering the shipwrecked vessels goods from the sea..
 

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Darren in NC

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Great find. It's killing me that the diver is rubbing the coin when it hasn't been cleaned yet!
 

Red_desert

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Sunken treasure has a way of moving up toward the beach, I'm sure there can be much more gold to be found, along the Florida E coast.
 

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ropesfish

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The State of Florida gets their 20% as first pick. I would be very surprised if they do not claim the Royal in their share.
Then again, this find was made before the State had actually produced this years permits. It could prove to be interesting, although the citizens of Florida seldom get much information from the Bureau of Bureaucratic Bureaucrats, so we may never know.
 

sharpscuba

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A great day to be out in the water for them too be sure. I agree Ivan with your theory.
 

occy

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I assume they found these after using blowers to move all the sand. Anyone know that to be true in this instance?

Also, are there cannons still lying around at many of these wreck sites or have they all mostly been pulled up?
 

frankie

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Family in Sanford with permit finds gold chains, coins etc. of this 17-- ship. I guess the whole family does this for fun and found some treasure. Missed some of the news. But they found a fair amount. This might be the same people. That center coin with looks like the one found. Best of luck to them and their finds.
 

frankie

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Your right about stuff finding honey holes and working itself to shore. I have dug for 1-1/2 hour's on either side of the beach tide and never stopped digging coins. I think these coins get into the sand after moving across the hard bottom. Then get thrown up onto the beach or move into that gully just off the beach. Then that sand moves and coins move again. Small sand grains move down tide to another spot. Coins are heavy and seem to move with the undertow toward the beach. Their a big part of a tanker that's in this new beach channel. It moved 5 miles inshore. Then three wrecks side by side with a big strip of hard bottom behind these wrecks. Stuff does move inshore.
 

Salvor6

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Claudio if it wasn't for treasure hunters, you would be unemployed.
 

Jolly Mon

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I love the way Mr. Schmidt is called a "looter" and then a few sentences later it is admitted he is working the site legally.

This is the same Spanish ministry of culture that was so outraged when the "priceless cultural artifacts" from the Mercedes were found to be not quite as economically valuable as Spain anticipated...meanwhile, around 5 percent of that treasure has gone on display...
 

Igyjastabay

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I know or knew the guy who is responsible for finding this. I saw his face on Fox News yesterday and thought to myself "oh boy" what did he do. Well he found Spanish treasure is what he did. He is from Ohio of all places.
 

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