Millions In Gold Lost In Florida Shipwreck

Spain was the first nation to benefit from the discovery of the New World. The Spanish conquered Mexico, Central America and South America, and their investment is these newly acquired countries began to pay off with interest.

Silver and gold were discovered, and shipments of these precious metals were soon on their way back to Spain. In a few short years, Spain became the richest country in the world.

Each year, large fleets of Spanish galleons were seen voyaging back and forth between Spain and America. These treasure ships carried millions of dollars in gold, silver, platinum and precious stones.

Often, hurricanes cut the voyages short and left the galleons on the ocean bottom. In many cases, everything was lost including men, galleons, and treasure. Although the men and galleons have long since disappeared, the treasure may still remain.

Two fleets sailed every year from Mexico and South America, and were accompanied by two warships. The two war galleons were called the Capitana and Almiranta, and each carried about $2,000,000 in treasure.

The fleet that sailed from Mexico was called the New Spain Armada, and the other one that sailed from South America was known as the Tierra Firme Armada. Each Armada would first sail to Havana, and then on to Spain. Sometimes, both armadas would combine at Havana before leaving for Spain.

After leaving Havana, the treasure fleets would sail along the coast of Florida before turning eastward. At this point in the journey, many of the galleons were sunk by hurricanes. T

oday, the remains of these galleons are being found regularly, and their treasures are gradually coming up to the surface. Although many of these galleons have already been discovered, there are dozens that have not.

Below are listed both discovered and undiscovered shipwrecks* off the Florida coast.

Gold emerald cross found by Teddy Tucker off Bermuda.

• In 1563, the 250 ton galleon, “La Madalena,” commanded by Capt. Cristobel Rodriquez, was returning to Spain from Veracruz, Mexico and Havana. She was cast up on a shoal during a bad storm and of the 300 odd souls aboard her, only 16 survived in the small-boat.

At the time she carried over 50 tons of silver in bullion and specie (coins), 170 boxes of worked silver (like candle sticks, plates, etc.), 1,110 pounds of gold in small ingots and jewelry, plus other valuables belonging to passengers.

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, all of her cannon were bronze. This makes finding her more difficult as a magnetometer can only detect ferrous metals.

Hopefully she went down with some of her iron anchors still aboard. The good side is that bronze cannon from this period, depending on the amount of ornamentation and markings on them, can bring as much as $30,000 each and she carried 28 of them.

Six months after being lost a salvage vessel was sent up from Havana but failed to find any traces of her or her cargo. A shrimp boat snagged into a bronze cannon in the general area she was lost and the gun just happens to date from this period.

The gun was sold to a private collector for $15,000 but could have netted twice this amount if sold to a museum or in an auction. Another bronze cannon was also accidentally brought up in a shrimper’s net within two miles of the other, but it dated from the mid-1770’s and was from another wreck.

Within five miles from where both guns were found, a chest of some 3,000 Spanish four and eight real coins, dating between 1748 and 1751 were also accidentally brought up in a shrimper’s net.

• In 1571, two galleons, the “San Ignacio,” 300 tons, Capt. Juan de Canovas, with 22 iron cannon; and the “Santa Maria de la Limpia Concepcion,” 340 tons, captain’s name unknown, were wrecked during a storm with almost a total loss of lives on both ships.

Between them they carried over 2,500,000 pesos in treasure but the documents didn’t specify how much gold and silver made up this total. A “peso” was not a coin in those days but a unit of monetary value, equaled to 1 1/8 ounce troy of silver.

The gold to silver ratio was 16:1. Both were very rich ships when lost. All salvors found were wooden fragments of one or both wrecks up on the shore when they reached the area several months after the disaster. The survivors reached St. Augustine in two longboats.

galleon3 Millions In Gold Lost In Florida Shipwreck

• In 1591, the Spanish fleet of seventy-seven ships left Havana, after spending the winter there, but they left all of the treasure in Havana, at the King’s orders.

All of the treasure reached Spain safely, by-passing an English blockade, aboard small, but fast, zabras. After the convoy, consisting of ships from both Mexico and South America, left Havana on the 27th of July, they suffered many storms and no less than twenty-nine were lost, many off the coast of Florida.

All of this information was obtained from English sources, and as the Spanish sources for this year are very vague on the matter, it cannot be disputed. Only one Spanish document, dated 26 March 1592, briefly states: “That due to the fact that so many ships were lost returning from the Indies during the past year, there are very few ships available to be sent to the Indies for this year.”

Since the ships that were lost were not carrying treasure, at least not registered treasure or any belonging to the King, this is probably the reason there is so little mention in the Spanish documents on this matter.

• In 1600, an unnamed 200 ton ship commanded by a Captain Diego Rodriquez Garrucho, coming from Mexico and Havana, was wrecked due to faulty navigation and only seven men and a boy made it ashore on pieces of wreckage.

She was carrying over 700,000 pesos in treasure, including 245 chests of valuable goods from the Orient. These goods would have been brought over on the Manila Galleons and consisted of Chinese porcelain, beautiful worked pieces of gold and jewelry, precious stones, etc.

Salvors located the site in 1602, and raised three bronze cannons off her, but nothing more as her cargo had already been buried. Another attempt was made in 1603, but no trace of her was found.

• In 1611, on the 2nd of June the Santa Ana Maria del Juncal, owned by Bernardo de Torres sank off Cabo de Apalachi. It was carrying several million pesos in silver bullion and specie. The ship was one in the convoy of the New Spain Flota commanded by Captain General the Marguis de Cadereyta. Some salvage was undertaken, but very little was salvaged as the ship broke up quickly.

Gold Chalice

• In 1622, the Tierra Firme flota of twenty-eight ships left Havana bound for Spain.

With it was carried the wealth of an empire; Silver from Peru and Mexico, gold and emeralds from Colombia, pearls from Venezuela.

Each ship carried its crew, soldiers, passengers, and all the necessary materials and provisions for a successful voyage. The following day, the fleet found itself being overtaken by a hurricane as it entered the Florida straits.

By the morning of September 6th, eight of these vessels lay broken on the ocean floor, scattered from the Marquesas Keys to the Dry Tortugas. On October 5th, a second hurricane came through, and further destroyed the wreck of the “Atocha.“ For the next 60 years, Spanish salvagers searched for the galleon, but they never found a trace. T

he “Atocha“ was loaded with a cargo of 24 tons of silver bullion in 1038 ingots, 180,00 pesos of silver coins, 582 copper ingots, 125 gold bars and discs, 350 chests of indigo, 525 bales of tobacco, 20 bronze cannon and 1,200 pounds of worked silverware. T

o this can be added items being smuggled to avoid taxation, and unregistered jewelry and personal goods. The “Santa Margarita,” sank off the Dry Tortugas with $1,000,000 aboard. The “Rosario,” sank off the Dry Tortugas.

The wrecks are located west of the Florida Keys, and some have been found and salvaged by Mel Fisher (See video upper right).

Spanish Galleon

• In 1683, the 700 ton galleon, “Santissima Concepcion,” alias “El Grande,” commanded by Admiral Manual Ortiz Arosemena, heading for Spain after taking on treasures at Porto Bello, Panama; Cartagena, Colombia; Veracruz, Mexico; and making a stop at Havana, was totally destroyed after striking a shallow during a hurricane somewhere below the “Cape.”

Of the 500 or more souls aboard her only four reached the coast on debris and made it to St. Augustine with great hardships. She was carrying over 1,800,000 pesos in treasure, the majority of which was silver bullion and specie.

Her total gold consisting of bullion, specie and worked gold only weighed at around 1,500 pounds. However, gold was the most common object being smuggled and she probably carried ten times this amount as contraband.

She also carried 77 chests of pearls, 49 chests of emeralds, 217 chests of “goods from the Orient,” and other valuables belonging to private persons (passengers). Repeated attempts to locate her were made almost yearly up until 1701.

The only treasure ever found was a chest of clothes that washed ashore right after the disaster in which “some 1,500 pesos in unregistered gold jewelry” was discovered by soldiers sent down from St. Augustine. All her cannon were bronze.

Spanish Galleons

• In 1715, another treasure fleet was struck by a hurricane near Cape Canaveral.

Over $20,000,000 went down with the 14 vessels of the combined armadas. In the mid-1960’s, Real Eight Company found some of the shallow water wrecks between Sebastian Inlet and Ft. Pierce. In later years, Mel Fisher also salvaged these wrecks, and they are still bringing up artifacts.

Over the years, treasure hunters have been finding pieces-of-eight and gold doubloons along the beaches after storms. It is believed that some of the galleons sank in deep water and could not be salvaged by the Spanish. A large quantity of gold and silver may still lie in deep water off our rocket pads at Cape Kennedy.

1732 Pillar Dollar

• In 1733, a terrible disaster struck the Spanish Armada. In July of that year, the New Spanish Armada was hit by a hurricane of such force that 20 galleons were sunk in the Florida Keys. T

he Spaniards wasted no time in getting up salvage operations, and they succeeded in raising $12,000,000 in treasure. After three years of work, only $4,000,000 in gold and silver remained in the wrecks. Many of these galleons have recently been found by Scuba divers, but only a small portion of the treasure has come to light.

The following are wrecked galleons of the 1733 Armada:

1. “El Aviso,” a dispatch boat and is located on the south end of Pacific Reef.

2. “El Infante,” was a 60-gun galleon and the position is on Little Conch Reef.

3. “San Jose,” is thought to be the Capitana and is on Crocker Reef.

4. Seven merchantmen were sunk between Upper Matecumbe and Long Key.

5. “Almiranta,” a 58-gun galleon and is off Long Key Point.

6. “San Fernando,” another merchantmen, and is somewhere off Grassy Key in 40 feet of water.

These are most of the 1733 shipwrecks, and all are in comparatively shallow water (10 to 40 feet). Any one of them could hold a large amount of treasure.

Notre Dame de la Deliverance

• In 1755, a period when no Spanish ships were available to carry treasure to Spain, as Spain and England were at war, a French ship named “Notre Dame de la Deliverance” disappeared without a trace somewhere between Havana and Cadiz.

Her cargo consisted of 1,170 pounds of gold bullion carried in seventeen chests, 15,399 gold doubloons, 153 gold snuff boxes weighing 6 ounces each, a gold-hilted sword, a gold watch, 1,072,000 pieces of eight, 764 ounces of virgin silver, 31 pounds of silver ore, a large number of items made of silver, six pairs of diamond earrings, a diamond ring, several chests of precious stones, plus general cargo consisting of Chinese fans, cocoa, drugs, and indigo. (This ship may have been found off Key West in 2002.)

galleon Millions In Gold Lost In Florida Shipwreck

• Many years ago a fisherman was cruising over the outer reef off Boca Raton Inlet and saw what appeared to be an ancient ship partly covered with sand. After telling the story to his friends, a company was formed and a diver engaged.

There, lying on the bottom of the sea in about 60 feet of water, they located the wreck of an old ship, undoubtedly uncovered by the hurricane of the previous fall. The diver went down and chopped a hole in the hull of the ship and brought up what appeared to be a bar of iron, reporting that the wreck was filled with those bars.

A more careful examination proved that the bar was pure silver. Additional equipment was secured and plans made to remove the entire treasure, but severe weather prevented immediate return and they were forced to wait for a calm sea.

When the old ship was finally located once more, it had sunk deeper in the sand. Dynamite was used in an attempt to break up the wreck, but this blast only caused it to sink deeper and it was finally swallowed up and no more silver was obtained.

All traces of the wreck have long since disappeared, and unless it may be uncovered by another storm, somewhere off Boca Raton, buried in the depths of the ocean, is a fortune that may never be recovered.