A salvage team has discovered a trove of Spanish gold coins worth $4.5 million off the coast of Florida, exactly 300 years after a fleet of galleons sank in a hurricane. The 350 coins, found on July 30, include nine rare 'royal eight escudos' intended for the King of Spain, according to Brent Brisben, owner of 1715 Fleet - Queens Jewels, which holds the rights to the wreckage.
Only 20 such royal coins were known to exist before this recovery, Brisben said. Diver William Bartlett, 51, who spotted the haul, remarked: 'The gold looks like it fell into the water yesterday.' Bartlett was part of a three-man crew aboard the S/V Capitana when the coins were found in shallow waters near Vero Beach, Florida.
The search site was chosen for its proximity to a previous discovery. On the same day in 1715, a hurricane drove 11 treasure-laden Spanish galleons onto reefs off Florida's east coast, sinking them the following morning. The wreckage is now scattered over a wide area.
Bartlett said the crew used the boat's propeller to blast a hole in the sandy ocean floor, reaching bedrock eight feet down. The salvage operation lasted five days. Bartlett, a kitchen and bathroom remodeler from Pompano Beach, dives as a hobby and declined to say how much he would receive under contract with the company.
Hunters like Bartlett typically work under contract with 1715 Fleet - Queens Jewels, receiving a percentage of their find after the state of Florida takes its 20% share. The company acquired custodianship of the sunken fleet from the heirs of renowned treasure hunter Mel Fisher.
