1715 Treasure Fleet Disaster: Spanish Galleons Lost off Florida

The 1715 treasure fleet disaster occurred on 31 July 1715, when a hurricane drove a Spanish convoy carrying silver and gold from the Americas onto the reefs of Florida’s east coast. Eleven of the twelve ships were wrecked and about 1,000 people died. The lost treasure drew salvors and pirates in the 18th century and treasure hunters in the 20th, giving the region its modern name, the Treasure Coast.

Background: Spain’s treasure fleets

For two centuries Spain shipped silver from the mines of Mexico and Peru, along with gold, goods and products such as cochineal dye and tobacco, across the Atlantic in armed convoys known as the flota system. Two fleets were used: the New Spain fleet, which loaded at Veracruz in Mexico, and the Tierra Firme fleet, which collected Peruvian silver at Portobelo and Cartagena. Both met at Havana before crossing to Spain. In the Pacific, the Manila galleons linked the same system to Asia.

During the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714) sailings were irregular and treasure piled up in the colonies. The new Bourbon king, Philip V, badly needed money after the war, and the fleet of 1715 was expected to carry an unusually large cargo.

The fleet sails

By July 1715 two squadrons had gathered at Havana. Juan Esteban de Ubilla commanded the New Spain fleet (the flota) and held overall command of the convoy; Antonio de Echeverz y Zubiza commanded the Tierra Firme galleons. A French merchant ship, the Grifón, was allowed to sail with them for protection.

Assembling the fleet and its cargo had taken months, and it was already the height of the hurricane season. The convoy of twelve ships finally left Havana on 24 July 1715 and headed north through the Straits of Florida, following the Gulf Stream along the Florida coast.

The hurricane

On 29-30 July the weather worsened, with heavy swells and a falling barometer as a hurricane approached. In the night of 30-31 July the storm struck the fleet off the coast of central Florida. With strong onshore winds pushing them towards land, the ships could not get clear of the coast.

In the early hours of 31 July the ships were driven onto reefs and shallow sandbars and broken apart along roughly 50 km of shoreline, from near present-day Sebastian Inlet south to the area of Fort Pierce. Only the Grifón, which had sailed further from shore, escaped.

Contemporary Spanish reports and modern estimates suggest that around 1,000 people died, out of perhaps 2,000 to 2,500 aboard, though figures vary. Ubilla was among the dead. Survivors struggled ashore on a nearly uninhabited coast with little food or fresh water. Many were injured, and some died in the following days from exposure, thirst and hunger. The coast was then on the edge of Spanish Florida, far from the capital at St Augustine, and the Indigenous population of the area had been greatly reduced by disease and slave raids.

Survival and Spanish salvage

Survivors gathered in camps along the beach. A senior officer, Francisco Salmón, took charge of the main camp, and small boats were sent to St Augustine and Havana for help. Within weeks Spanish ships arrived with supplies and divers, many of them enslaved or Indigenous divers, who worked in the shallow water without diving equipment.

Over the following years the salvors recovered a large part of the registered treasure, which had been officially recorded at around 14 million pesos. The silver was stored at a fortified camp on shore near the wreck sites before being shipped to Havana. The work was slow and dangerous. Divers could stay down only as long as they could hold their breath, the wrecks were scattered across reefs and sandbars, and summer storms repeatedly interrupted the salvage.

Pirates and the wrecks

News of the disaster spread quickly through the Caribbean. In late 1715 and early 1716 the English captain Henry Jennings, sailing with a commission from the governor of Jamaica, raided the Spanish salvage camp. He seized a large sum of recovered silver, often given as around 87,000 pesos.

Other adventurers flocked to the wrecks to dive for coins. Many of them used Nassau in the Bahamas as a base, helping to create the pirate haven that soon sheltered figures such as Benjamin Hornigold and Edward Teach, known as Blackbeard, whose career ended at the Battle of Ocracoke in 1718.

Modern treasure hunting

For two centuries the wrecks were largely forgotten. In the 1950s Kip Wagner, a builder living near Sebastian, began finding silver coins on the beach after storms. With partners he formed the Real Eight Company and located several wreck sites. In 1964 divers recovered thousands of coins, and an article in National Geographic in January 1965 made the find famous. The salvor Mel Fisher also worked on the 1715 sites before his later fame with the Atocha.

Treasure hunting on the 1715 sites has long been controversial. Archaeologists have criticised early salvage for destroying the context of finds, while salvors argue that their work has saved objects from being scattered by storms. Today salvage is licensed by the State of Florida, which takes a share of finds for public collections and requires records of where objects are found. Recoveries continue: in 2015, on the 300th anniversary of the disaster, divers found about 350 gold coins reported to be worth around 4.5 million US dollars.

The remains of one ship, the Urca de Lima, were designated Florida’s first Underwater Archaeological Preserve in 1987. The McLarty Treasure Museum near Sebastian Inlet stands close to the site of a survivors’ and salvage camp.

Myths and facts

• Myth: all the treasure is still on the seabed. Spanish salvors recovered much of the registered cargo soon after the disaster. What remains is spread over a wide area of shifting sand.
• Popular story: the “Queen’s jewels”. It is often said that the fleet carried jewels intended for Philip V’s new wife, Elisabeth Farnese. Some fine jewellery has been found, but the exact story is uncertain.
• Fact: coins still wash up on Florida beaches after storms, and finds must be reported if they come from protected wreck sites.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 1701-1714: The War of the Spanish Succession disrupts the treasure fleets.
• 1715, early July: The New Spain and Tierra Firme squadrons gather at Havana.
• 1715, 24 July: The combined fleet of twelve ships leaves Havana.
• 1715, 30-31 July: A hurricane wrecks eleven ships on the Florida coast.
• 1715-1716: Spanish salvors recover much of the treasure.
• 1716, early: Henry Jennings raids the salvage camp.
• 1960s: Kip Wagner and the Real Eight Company recover thousands of coins.
• 1987: The Urca de Lima becomes an underwater archaeological preserve.
• 2015: About 350 gold coins are found on the 300th anniversary.

Why it matters

The loss of the 1715 fleet was a heavy blow to Spain’s finances at the end of a long war and a human tragedy for those aboard. It also fed the golden age of Caribbean piracy and, centuries later, helped create modern shipwreck salvage and underwater archaeology in Florida.