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

[ShipwreckHunter]

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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[Old Bookaroo]

WoW!

Three hundred years later - to the week!

"Today's The Day!"


Good luck to all,

The Old Bookaroo

 

[BVI Hunter]

great find but I think he missed that tourists wedding band in the middle of his coil at the start!

he could have got about 25 bucks for returning that!

 

[huntsman53]

great find but I think he missed that tourists wedding band in the middle of his coil at the start!

he could have got about 25 bucks for returning that!

Saw that as well but I believe it was just a sea shell with the edge/rim just showing. My biggest concern is, who in their right mind finds a bunch of Spanish Gold Escudos, retrieves two of them, can surely see the 5 other visible Gold coins but swims away leaving the 5 behind??!! Maybe he couldn't wait to clean the mess out of his' underwear!


Frank

 

[tarpon192]

great find but I think he missed that tourists wedding band in the middle of his coil at the start!

he could have got about 25 bucks for returning that!

Given the location of the finds this year and the last few - the area being worked by the family has produced numerous amounts of jewerly from the wreck. I would have to say it was a ring from the shipwreck - not a tourist wedding band. That ring is worth way more than $25.00 bucks even if its of real low karat and crude looking. Besides the owner may have passed away on July 31st 1715. If any markings are on it - it could be traced with alot of time put in to find out who it belonged to. The spanish kept very good manifest.
Not trying to crash your post - i lived in the area for a long long long time. The history of that site speaks for itself - just google it and read.
Damn - its so simple today. How did we all make it happen without computers back in the good ole days? LOL.

 

[BVI Hunter]

Given the location of the finds this year and the last few - the area being worked by the family has produced numerous amounts of jewerly from the wreck. I would have to say it was a ring from the shipwreck - not a tourist wedding band. That ring is worth way more than $25.00 bucks .

Er, I was actually joking

 

[Limitool]

Saw that as well but I believe it was just a sea shell with the edge/rim just showing. My biggest concern is, who in their right mind finds a bunch of Spanish Gold Escudos, retrieves two of them, can surely see the 5 other visible Gold coins but swims away leaving the 5 behind??!! Maybe he couldn't wait to clean the mess out of his' underwear!


Frank

Yes, I too may have a mess in my undies upon that find.... (WOULD!!!!) but with that said I'd be damned if I'd leave those 5 gold coins just lying there either Frank. I thought the same thing.

If you and I had found a sack full of gold coins behind that mud mound in my cave and we said earlier "I'm cold Frank... me too Brad"... I bet at THAT instant neither one of us would have been cold no longer. In fact I bet (would have to be there and see).... I'd bet we would have stood up and high fived on the spot!!!!! But we ain't leaving nothing behind.... RIGHT?

 

[huntsman53]

Yes, I too may have a mess in my undies upon that find.... (WOULD!!!!) but with that said I'd be damned if I'd leave those 5 gold coins just lying there either Frank. I thought the same thing.

If you and I had found a sack full of gold coins behind that mud mound in my cave and we said earlier "I'm cold Frank... me too Brad"... I bet at THAT instant neither one of us would have been cold no longer. In fact I bet (would have to be there and see).... I'd bet we would have stood up and high fived on the spot!!!!! But we ain't leaving nothing behind.... RIGHT?

You got that right! Even though you know I hate caves and especially Limestone caves, we wouldn't leave until the last signal was dug. While the guy may have had the GPS coordinates of where he made the find, it was not evident nor were there any markers (such as buoy markers) that I could see in the video. Even with GPS coordinates and if low visibility, it might be hard to return to the same spot. IMHO, when it comes to Gold coins, one should adhere to the Marine motto, "never leave a man err Gold coin behind"!


Frank

 

[Honest Samuel]

A wonderful story that should be enjoy by all. I am out of my mind, but, I never leave any treasures behind, just my old girlfriends.

 

[Booty Salvage]

Do you really think I left gold coins behind? Come on guys. The excavation was directly below the boat and I made many return trips to the exact same spot. I also excavated that spot over a dozen times that season. I had a coin worth $500,000 in my hand and didn't feel like putting it in my glove. There was no ring found in that hole so I'm not sure what you are looking at. If you guys ever find something like that you can do whatever you want. That wasn't the only video of that find, just the one where I found the nicest coin.

 

[deteknix]

Knows some archaeology group in DEMA show. Wondering if any of them are in our forum.

 

[huntsman53]

Do you really think I left gold coins behind? Come on guys. The excavation was directly below the boat and I made many return trips to the exact same spot. I also excavated that spot over a dozen times that season. I had a coin worth $500,000 in my hand and didn't feel like putting it in my glove. There was no ring found in that hole so I'm not sure what you are looking at. If you guys ever find something like that you can do whatever you want. That wasn't the only video of that find, just the one where I found the nicest coin.

Sorry, I wasn't dissing on your finds, just the leaving of visible coins behind as I know how the currents, wave action and tides can move stuff quickly or cover them over! I metal detected that area in the early 1980's and talked to a lot of folks there about finds in the area as well as the currents, tides and hazards. While working in Key West with the National Weather Service, I did some research on the above and where treasures, such as coins from shipwrecks will likely end up. If I had made such a find, I would have a Silk lined Kevlar reinforced Dive Bag made to hold such valuable finds.

Good luck on all your future dives there!


Frank

 

[eddiecurrent]

I live & beach hunt in the area, been hunting the beaches off the 1715 wrecks for years, often walking in more'n a mile to avoid the closed entrances during hurricanes. The sand feels like needles during 60 mph gusts...never found a single cob or artifact. I use a cz20 with near full sensitivity in auto-tune (all metal). I like to concentrate on the corrigan wreck and disney resort areas, chucks steak house is worked out imo.
I'll tent camp at long point or sebastian inlet park. I didn't think there was anything productive south of wabasso...even the rio mar wreck in vero never seemed to give up anything from the lack of claims of other detectorists and the many hours I put in.
I'm guessing the site in ft pierce is either off pepper park by the condos or a mile north of fred douglas park, I think a saw a salvage boat anchored there one or two yrs ago.
I will hunt the beach just in case the mailboxes blow the lighter stuff into the current.
A local salvage captain offered me a job on his boat for a salvage but i'm not dive certified.
The tax the article talks about is the "kings fifth", 20% skim for the crown, personal jewelry was exempt, hence long chains...passengers would break off links to pay for stuff, like if they ordered a pizza and a 2 liter pepsi with cheesy bread.
That might be a half-link, actually.
I'd like to see a picture of that royal escoudo.

 

[Honest Samuel]

A great story, indeed.