More Treasure From The Sea

An even richer find from the 1715 shipwreck than the one found just recently:

Florida divers find 350 coins worth $4.5M

On July 30 and 31 off the coast of Vero Beach, Brisben, who is captain of the S/V Capitana, and his crew recovered 350 gold coins.

Nine of the coins found are known as Royals and valued at $300,000 apiece; these were specially made for King of Spain Phillip V in the early 1700s.

300 years after the ship sank, it is releasing its golden secrets.

Very cool and enriching finds indeed.

An Awesome Underwater Find Of Golden Treasure

Fox News: Florida family unearths gold coins worth over $1M from 1715 shipwreck

A Florida man has uncovered gold artifacts worth over $1 million from the wreckage of a Spanish fleet that sank in a storm off the Florida coast three centuries ago.

The find by Eric Schmitt was announced late Monday by a salvage company that owns the rights to the site where the coins and jewels were found.

"The treasure was actually found a month ago,” Brent Brisben of 1715 Fleet — Queens Jewels LLC told Florida Today. Keeping word of the haul from getting out was "particularly hard for the family that found it," Brisben added. "They’ve been beside themselves."

Among the artifacts are 51 gold coins, 40 feet of gold chain, and an extremely rare coin called a "Tricentennial Royal", minted for King Philip V of Spain. Schmitt told the Orlando Sentinel that the "Tricentennial Royal" alone is worth approximately $500,000 due to its rarity and near-perfect condition.

An awesome find and video of the discovery is at the link in it you can hear Eric Schmitt's happy yell when he discovers the treasure.

Congrats and Bravo to Eric Schmitt on his find. Well done indeed.

20% of the find will go to the State of Florida, and the remainder will be split between Schmitt and the 1715 Fleet — Queens Jewels LLC, the company that is running the salvage operation.

Hmm perhaps I should investigate becoming a sub-contractor, after all I've got the diving skills and this could certainly pay off in a big way . . . . You up for a trip ML?

Legends Of Confederate Gold - In Lake Michigan

Rumors of gold lost in past conflicts fuels many a search for treasure, sometimes in quite unexpected places.

Two Michigan divers are diligently searching for a rumored lost railroad car full of stolen Confederate gold that allegedly sank in Lake Michigan.

The Detroit Free Press: Shipwreck discovery may lead to Great Lakes treasure

The pair began scanning Lake Michigan off the coast of Frankfort as soon as the ice melted, looking for a boxcar they claim holds more than $2 million in gold bullion.

"Forty years of waiting," said Monroe, referring to how long it's been since he first heard about the possibility of gold treasure in the lake. "I'm sure this season we'll find it."

Dykstra and Monroe believe the lost Confederate gold is somewhere at the bottom of Lake Michigan, thanks to a two-part story that has transcended generations and was last relayed to Monroe in 1972.

"I was sitting down and talking to a friend of mine, and all of the sudden he says, 'Fred, you're just the person I want to see with your diving experience,'" said Monroe. "'My grandfather told me a story that he heard from a lighthouse keeper, who originally heard it during a deathbed confession, that there's two million dollars of gold bullion inside a boxcar that fell off a ferry into Lake Michigan.'"

Two million dollars is worth searching for, but I'd say so far there is only very thin evidence as to the legendary boxcar's existence.

I wish them luck as the search goes on.

Legal Battle Over Treasure Find Ends In Shipment Of Coins To Spain

For the Shipwreck and Treasure hunters of Odyssey Marine Exploration, the courts sadly ruled against their claim that they had priority and ownership of the sunken treasure trove they found.

Instead the US Courts found the treasure belonged to Spain, and led to the transportation of over 594,000 silver coins by air to Europe.

Interestingly enough, Peru had also raised a claim that the treasure, possibly from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, off Portugal's Atlantic coast near the Straits of Gibraltar belonged to it as the treasure had originated there.

The treasure was estimated to be numismatically worth over $500 million dollars.

The US government was publicly favoring the Spanish claim over the US company's rights of discovery and salvage.

The article in the Detroit News has more details.

As reported in the article, Spain has rejected selling the coins to the public to reduce its debt.