Divers Strike Gold: Rare 300-Year-Old Coins Unearthed Off Florida’s Treasure Coast

Treasure Coast, Fla. — A team of divers has become overnight millionaires after uncovering a trove of rare coins believed to be nearly 300 years old, hidden beneath Florida’s Atlantic waters.

On Tuesday, 1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels LLC, the state’s largest historic shipwreck salvage operation, announced the recovery of 1,051 silver coins and five gold coins during their latest summer expedition. The find, valued at nearly $1 million, comes from the infamous 1715 Spanish treasure fleet wreck, one of the most legendary maritime disasters in history.

The ill-fated convoy of eleven Spanish galleons was caught in a hurricane off Florida’s coast on July 31, 1715, while en route to Spain with a fortune in gold, silver, and jewels. The storm claimed over 700 lives and sent millions in royal treasure to the ocean floor—where much of it remains to this day.

“Historians estimate as much as $400 million worth of treasure was lost in the storm, making it one of the greatest maritime tragedies—and recoveries—of the Americas,” the company said in a statement.

The divers who made the discovery will keep 80 percent of the haul’s value, with 20 percent going to the state of Florida under existing agreements, according to the Miami Herald.

Each recovered coin, experts say, is more than just precious metal—it’s a tangible relic of Spain’s Golden Age. “Finding 1,000 of them in a single recovery is both rare and extraordinary,” the company noted.

The find adds to the mystique of Florida’s aptly named Treasure Coast, a stretch of shoreline famed for centuries of shipwrecks and the fortunes they’ve left behind. And while many search for riches in stocks and real estate, these divers found theirs in salt water, sand, and history.