Let me put forth a hypothesis that may be the case.
It may appear far fetched but for the sake of argument
take a look.
The concept that this may in fact be the San Miguel Archangel
is based upon the frequency distribution of coins recovered to date
being primarily from 1652 to 1659. almost all of them recovered to date
are of new world variety being minted from either mints at Potosi, El Peru,Colombia and Mexico.
And, there are few pre-1651 specimens and hardly any counter-struck coin specimens.
One 78 pound ingot - well marked and two 5 pound ingots of gold.
No bell with a name on it. No specific artifact linked to an outgoing sailing manifest.
Lets take a wild stab and say possibly 15,000 to 17,000 coins have been recovered to date.
Basically a respectable number of coins but in NO way representing a full
cargo of coins and or bullion - that is for any ship returning to the
Spains. (One did not purchase a round trip ticket back in the age of discovery)
If you didn't acquire wealth - you didn't go home!
What if they turned out to be the private stash of some jamocke who quit working in 1659
and went out exploring himself until say, 1714.....
Now lets say this Jamocke decided to go back to the homeland - dug up his stash and
booked passage on a 1715 fleet boat......
One may say this is far fetched but it is true that our ship still is an unidentified vessel
that - from the date range of the coins could be the San Miguel
BUT..... it is still a big but and our vessel truly
has not been absolutely identified.
