1715 treasure fleet shipwreck: $1 million in gold and silver coins recovered

Sunlight glinted on the deck of the M/V Just Right as divers brought up coins that had slept on the ocean floor for more than three centuries. What began as a targeted salvage dive along Florida’s famed Treasure Coast quickly turned into a high-profile recovery: more than 1,000 Spanish-era coins surfaced from a wreck linked to the ill-fated 1715 treasure fleet.

Archaeological teams and commercial salvors are now cataloging the haul, which includes rare gold escudos and hundreds of silver reales, artifacts that carry both historic weight and modern market value. The find highlights how wreck sites from the early 18th century continue to reshape our understanding of maritime trade, colonial history, and the ongoing hunt for sunken treasure off Florida’s east coast.

Where the find happened and who’s in charge of recovery

The coins were recovered from a known wreck zone along the coastline often called the Treasure Coast, an area long associated with the 1715 Plate Fleet disaster. Under U.S. law the federal court in Florida oversees ownership of the wrecks, and it has granted exclusive salvage rights to a private contractor to locate and retrieve artifacts.

• Operator: Queen’s Jewels LLC is the exclusive salvage operator contracted by the U.S. District Court for Florida.
• Vessels involved: The M/V Just Right led the recent dive; other vessels tied to the operation include the Mighty Mo.
• Key personnel: Capt. Levin Shavers commanded the recovery dive, while Saul Guttuso serves as the salvage team’s director of operations.

What the salvage team recovered: coins, containers and clues

Divers pulled more than a thousand coins to the surface during this season’s fieldwork. The most attention-grabbing pieces were five gold escudos — high-value coins from the Spanish empire — but the majority were silver reales, the famous “pieces of eight.” Many coins still bear mint marks and dates that tell where in the Americas they were struck.

Breakdown of notable finds

• Gold escudos: Five recovered so far; particularly valuable both historically and monetarily.
• Silver reales: Hundreds of coins minted in colonial centers across Peru, Bolivia and Mexico.
• Evidence of storage: Remnants indicating coins had been carried in a burlap sack, suggesting clusters of coinage may remain nearby.

Market-watchers estimate the newly raised coins could fetch around $1 million collectively, a figure influenced by both rarity and the contemporary climb in gold prices. Beyond dollar value, salvors stress the research value: each coin acts as a micro-history, revealing trade routes, mints, and circulation patterns from the early 1700s.

Historical context: the 1715 Plate Fleet and the hurricane

In 1715 a Spanish treasure convoy carrying vast quantities of gold, silver and jewels from the New World to Europe was overwhelmed by a hurricane off Florida’s coast. The series of wrecks—often referred to as the Plate Fleet—was transporting what contemporaries estimated at the time to be an enormous fortune back to Spain. Eleven ships are thought to have been lost in that storm.

• The fleet’s cargo included bullion and prized colonial coinage intended for European markets.
• The sudden storm scattered wreckage and artifacts along a broad stretch of coastline and seafloor.
• Centuries later, the wrecks still yield items of archaeological and commercial interest.

Salvage methods, archaeology and legal oversight

Modern recoveries in the area mix commercial salvage practices with archaeological controls. Licensed teams dive with metal detectors, hand tools and careful recording protocols to preserve context. The court-appointed contract holder must balance artifact recovery with reporting and conservation responsibilities to ensure scientific value is not lost to headline-grabbing trophy hunting.

Typical steps in a controlled salvage operation

1. Survey and mapping of the site to identify debris fields and concentrations of artifacts.
2. Documenting finds in situ with photography and notes to preserve contextual information.
3. Careful removal, conservation and cataloging of artifacts on deck and in laboratory facilities.
4. Coordination with federal authorities and sharing information for historical records.

What the recoveries reveal and what remains to be found

Recovered coins bear clear traces of their colonial origins: mint marks, designs, and wear patterns that tell stories about where and when they were made. The burlap-sack evidence suggests coins were stowed together, and salvors estimate the potential exists for thousands more coins still lying nearby—some estimates point to as many as 2,000 additional pieces in pockets of sediment around the wreck.

Veteran salvors acknowledge the scale of the task. Mike Perna, who operates one of the recovery vessels, has likened the storm’s swift destruction to the years of painstaking work required to recover its scattered cargo: the wreck event took minutes, but rebuilding the historical record is a multi-generational effort.

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Michael Thompson

Michael Thompson is an experienced journalist covering U.S. and global news. With ten years on the front lines, he breaks down political and economic stories that matter. His precise writing and keen attention to detail help you grasp the real‑world impact of every event.