1715 Treasure Fleet

The 1715 Plate Fleet was a combined Spanish convoy of eleven ships that left Havana on July 24, 1715 and was destroyed by a hurricane on July 31 along the Florida shore between Sebastian and Fort Pierce, with roughly 1,500 dead and about 14 million pesos registered. It is the market's engine and its only actively productive legal source: Kip Wagner and the Real Eight Company relocated the wrecks from 1961, the 1964 “Carpet of Gold” followed, $4.5 million in royals surfaced in 2015, and more than 1,000 coins worth about $1 million were recovered in summer 2025. Fleet silver is thinly traded and priced accordingly — a $495 median across 17 eBay sales in August 2026.

What was the 1715 Fleet carrying?

Two fleets' worth of backlog. Registered treasure was around 14 million pesos, and the cargo combined Mexican and Peruvian gold and silver with Chinese porcelain and silk that had crossed the Pacific on the Manila galleons and been mule-trained overland to Veracruz. Spanish under-registration was systemic, so the manifest is the floor of what sailed, never the ceiling.

How did it sink?

General Don Juan Esteban de Ubilla sailed on July 24, 1715 — dangerously late — under pressure from merchants. Seven days out, a hurricane drove the fleet onto the lee shore of the Florida coast. Ships broke up along roughly fifty miles of beach; about 1,500 people died.

Spain salvaged a large share of the treasure by 1718 from camps on the beach, until the pirate Henry Jennings raided the salvage camp — the theft that helped seed the Bahamian pirate republic.

This is why the Florida shore is called the Treasure Coast: three of history's greatest treasure disasters — 1622, 1715 and 1733 — happened on one 250-mile stretch of the homebound convoy lane.

What has been recovered?

Uniquely among the great wrecks, this one is still legally worked and still producing. Gold cobs, royals and dated silver reales enter the market with state-documented provenance each season.

What are 1715 Fleet coins worth?

Fleet material trades higher and thinner than Atocha or El Cazador silver. In August 2026 only 17 fleet-attributed coins sold on eBay, at a $495 median — and the tape moved sharply, from roughly $275 to $500 month over month, because so few examples change hands. Dated gold from the fleet is auction material: a dated 2 escudos realised $9,450 in the August 2026 Heritage sales.

How do you verify a 1715 Fleet coin?

Frequently asked questions

Sources

A fleet of 11 ships destroyed by a hurricane, scattering treasure along the Florida coast. The most productive salvage site in history.

History

The 1715 Treasure Fleet was a combined Spanish flotilla of eleven ships carrying the wealth accumulated in the Americas over several years. The fleet's treasure included not only gold and silver from the mines of Mexico and Peru but also Chinese porcelain and silk that had crossed the Pacific on the Manila galleons—a truly global treasure. The fleet departed Havana on July 24, 1715, dangerously late in the sailing season. Commander General Don Juan Esteban de Ubilla knew the risk but bowed to pressure from merchants eager to get their goods to market. Six days later, a powerful hurricane caught the fleet off the Florida coast, driving all eleven ships onto the reefs and beaches between present-day Sebastian and Fort Pierce. Contemporary and modern sources give death-toll estimates ranging roughly from 700 to 1,500 people, with no single universally accepted figure; despite immediate salvage efforts by Spanish survivors and Cuban rescue teams, a substantial share of the treasure remained scattered along forty miles of coastline. This catastrophe gave Florida's "Treasure Coast" its name.

Recovery

The 1715 Fleet wrecks were largely forgotten until the 1960s, when a group of Florida treasure hunters formed the Real Eight Company and began systematic searches along the Treasure Coast. Their discoveries sparked a modern treasure hunting boom that continues today. In the late 1950s, a Florida building contractor named Kip Wagner began finding Spanish silver coins washed up on the beach near Sebastian. His persistence — and the Real Eight Company he co-founded — led to the discovery of multiple wreck sites in 1961, including the "Cabin Wreck" that yielded stunning gold jewelry likely belonging to Spanish nobility. Each hurricane that passes through the area continues to uncover new treasures. The 1715 Fleet sites have produced millions of dollars in treasure and remain among the most accessible shipwreck sites in the world, with coins and artifacts still washing up on beaches after major storms.

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