Over 350 gold coins including 9 Royals coins were recovered, 300 years after a Spanish fleet sank off the Florida coast. The jackpot finding of rare coins worth about US$4.5 million were recovered on July 30 & 31.
According to the 1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels LLC Facebook page, the royal coins are dated 1715 and were minted during the reign of King Phillip V of Spain (1683-1746).
"People love treasure stories. It resonates with everybody — every demographic, young and old, rich and poor," Brent Brisben, the founder of 1715 Fleet, told media. "People freak out that we're literally 10-15 feet (3-4.5 meters) off the beach in 2-3 feet (0.6-0.9 meters) of water."
One of the divers, William Bartlett, who recovered the treasure from the historic fleet, said: “A find like this is the equivalent of winning an Olympic gold medal."
“This is what we all come here to do. For four months out of the year we eat, sleep and live treasure. When we're not actually treasure hunting, we're usually talking about treasure hunting. We hang out with other treasure hunters," said Bartlett.
According Brisben, Spanish convoy manifests estimated that the vessels were carrying the equivalent of about $400 million in today's money, of which about $180 million has been recovered so far.
"It's been magical," Brisben said. "What's amazing about this is we found it on the actual anniversary. We found 230 gold coins on the 30th, and the hurricane started on the evening of the 30th."
Later on July 31, the divers found 75 more gold coins, he added.
Earlier in July, 1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels LLC announced that the Schmitt family from Florida found $1 million worth of gold artifacts, including a royal coin from the Spanish king recovered from the famous fleet.
1715 Fleet owns the rights for the sunken vessels, while the Schmitt family are sub-contractors.
The State of Florida will take up to 20 percent of the treasure and display them in local museums. 1715 Fleet and the Schmitt family will split the rest of the bounty.
Source: rt.com
