Four divers found 48 gold coins offshore Florida in just six feet of water a mere 100 feet from shore on Saturday. The 300-year-old gold coins were still well enough preserved to have readable dates, and they have been identified as probably coming from 11 Spanish ships that were torn apart in a July 1715 hurricane.
In the horrific hurricane that took place on July 30, 1715, 11 of 12 Spanish galleons filled with treasure were sunk near the coast of Florida, killing over 1,000 people in the disaster. Although Spain did send other sailors to recover some of the lost loot, the salvage company’s historian has estimated that $550 million worth of treasure remains lost beneath the waves.
Even with the falling price of gold , the 300-year-old coins found Saturday add up to around $250,000. Wowsers. That’s a nice summer day picking up gold coins in Florida!
You can see the coins and hear a bit more of the story on the video.
If you’re anything like me, you’re halfway out the door and ready to gas up the car now that you’ve heard that much. Heck, even you and I can dive in six feet of water.
Not so fast.
The divers work for a company called 1715 Fleet Queens Jewels LLC which already owns the salvage rights to anything they find in their offshore Sebastian, Florida search area. They note that they want to educate the public about the 1715 hurricane that destroyed multiple Spanish vessels loaded with gold from the New World — including what they describe as “more than 2 million silver coins and an untold amount of gold yet to be recovered.”
However, they retain the rights to the salvage of the 1715 fleet.
But most days they just find beer cans and fishing weights, according to Captain Greg Bounds. But as he told WPTV , “I love the sound of gold. This makes it all worth it.”
I don’t doubt it. Fortunately, it sounds like they’re doing a pretty good job finding the gold coins in Florida.
[gold coins still photo by Swiss Banker via Wikimedia]
