Salvagers recover 1715 Fleet gold coin but say treasure hunting has been tough this summer

Janet Begley
Special to TCPalm
Close-up of the Escudo discovered off the coast of Wabasso on July 10 by diver Grant Gitschlag and the crew of the Capitana.

INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The seas have not been kind this summer to treasure hunters looking for gold off the coast of Wabasso.

So far, the crew of the Capitana has recovered only one gold coin, an Escudo minted in Mexico about 1714. Diver Grant Gitschlag and diving partner Cole Smith made the discovery July 10 as part of the salvage operations underway for the 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels LLC. Other items uncovered last month include silver coins, pottery and musket balls.

“It has been one of the worst summers weather-wise that we’ve ever experienced,” said Capitana Capt. Jonah Martinez, of Port St. Lucie.“But we’re getting through it day by day, and we’re working in an area where we found items before so we’re optimistic.”

MORE:Salvagers recover silver coins, other treasure off coast of Wabasso Beach

On July 10, Gitschlag had a hit on the metal detector, dug some holes on the ocean floor and the gold coin just popped out, Martinez said. He thinks many more items will be found in the debris field known as Corrigan’s wreck, located between Wabasso and Indian River Shores. 

The coins are part of the lost treasure from the 1715 Fleet shipwrecks. Twelve galleons laden with treasures from the New World were bound for Spain but 11 were lost during a hurricane off the coast of Florida on July 31, 1715. Most of the treasure still lies beneath the ocean.

ABOUT THE VIDEO: The crew of the Capitana brought up several million dollars in shipwreck gold doubloons on the 300th anniversary of the sinking of the Spanish 1715 treasure fleet off the east coast of Florida. 

MORE:Salvation Army auctioning donated 1715 Fleet gold coin

According to the 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels' Facebook page, the weather is similar to what the original salvage crews met in 1715 when trying to retrieve the treasure chests from the ocean floor. In a letter to Cuba’s Governor Don Laureando de Torres dated Sept. 10, 1715, salvage master Don Joseph Clemente said the salvage would have been completed more quickly if the chests weren’t buried under the sand and the water was clearer.

“Many appear as if they were cemented into the sand and if the water wasn’t so rough and dirty. Sometimes it appears like ink,” Clemente wrote. 

Despite the rough weather, Martinez said his crew is working hard, trying to get Mother Nature to give up the ocean’s treasures.

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“Our permits are good through the end of the year and then they’ll be renewed,” said Martinez.“People are fascinated by the story because it’s real and right along our coast. Just being able to hunt for it is the real treasure.”

The 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels LLC, a historic shipwreck salvage operation, owns the rights to the remains of the 1715 Treasure Fleet.

Former owner Brent Brisben acquired the salvage rights from legendary treasure hunter Mel Fisher and has since sold the controlling interest in the salvage company. But he remains in touch with Martinez, checking in regularly to see how the treasure hunt is going.

“It was a business venture that he and his family got into,” Martinez said. “Brent has stepped away from the day to day operations but he still misses a lot of the fun stuff.”

MORE:See how Treasure Coast lives up to its name at area museums