The two biggest, treasure fleet wrecks happened in 1715 and 1733, just 18 years apart. Both were the result of fierce Caribbean hurricanes attacking Spanish bound fleets, loaded to the rafters with silver, gold, jewels, and other colonial treasure. Such treasure fleets were routine in the waters around Florida and Cuba. Nearly every year, from the 16th to 18th centuries, Spain sent armadas of ships to its Spanish colonies, reaping its ill-gotten treasures. Some of these ships have been discovered and salvaged. Others still remain buried under the Caribbean Sea. How did these fleets meet their terrible ends?
The 1715 Treasure Fleet
Two fleets regularly traveled between Spain and the Americas; La Flota de Tierra Firme and La Flota de Nueva España. The return voyages were always more dangerous as the galleons were heavy and far less maneuverable. They were loaded with their precious cargoes of gold, silver, jewelry, tobacco, spices, and dyes. The crews were often sick as well with tropical diseases caught in the colony. The greatest danger, however, came from the unpredictable Mother Nature. Like today, the warm waters of the South Atlantic created fast, unpredictable, and violent huracanes.
In 1715, Spain had just emerged from the War of Spanish Succession with Britain and France. King Philipe V of France had become Spain’s first Bourbon King. Spain’s treasury was in dire need of finances after the long, expensive war. They desperately needed a shipment of New World treasure to help pay its huge debts.
In the summer of 1715, eleven ships were assembled in Havana harbor. The treasure fleet was made up of the Flota de Tierra Firme, loaded at Cartagena, and of the Flota de Nueva España, loaded a Veracruz. The Flota de Tierra Firme was commanded by Capitán Don Antonio de Echeverz y Zubiza. It consisted of six vessels laden with a chests of silver coins, gold bars, and jewels. His flagship was the Nuestra Señora de la Concepción. The five ships of the Flota de Nueva Espana were under the command of General Don Juan Esteban de Ubilla who commanded the combined fleet as well.
On 24 July 24, 1715, the combined fleet of 12 ships left Havana, headed for Spain via Florida’s east coast. The French warship Griffon, commanded by Captain Antoine d’Aire, sailed with the fleet as the Spaniards were allied with the French. Ubilla was on the capitana (fleet flagship) Nuestra Señora de la Regala. As well as the treasure, the cargo of the combined fleet included tobacco, indigo, dyes and drugs. In today’s money, the shipment would be worth about $200 million.
The fleet had suffered delays, and had been sitting idle for nearly two years waiting for the Succession War to end. Under pressure from the new king, General Ubilla made the decision to leave, even though the hurricane season had begun. His decision would prove deadly, for unknown to the Spaniards, a powerful hurricane was already brewing southeast of Cuba and headed there way.
The treasure fleet left Havana on a beautiful and calm day. The ships followed the east coast of Florida, taking advantage of the Gulf Stream. For the first five days, the voyage was uneventful and gave no indication that a Category 4 hurricane was rapidly approaching them.
But on July 29th, long swells started to appear in the ocean from the southeast. The swells started to make the ships gently dip and roll. Experienced navigators and old hands started to worry. They knew this was the early signs of a tropical storm. The 1715 Fleet was directly in the path an ominous hurricane pursuing it up the Florida Straits
On July 30th, winds began to pick up.
They increased to twenty knots and the sea delivered 10-foot swells. By late afternoon, winds were over thirty knots and the waves now twenty feet. To make matters worse, the approaching storm was relentlessly driving the fleet towards the Florida shore. Captain-General Ubilla gave the order for all ships to head into the wind to stay clear of the reefs and shoals. They would try to outrun the storm. The bulky, heavy galleons were not fast enough though. The winds kept increasing, and by midnight, the ships were barely navigable.
In the very early morning of July 31, the richest Spanish treasure fleet ever assembled was now in grave peril. The fleet was just south of Cabo Canaveral (Cape Canaveral) and in danger of being pushed onto the jagged coastal reefs. The Category 4 hurricane had caught the Spanish Fleet. The storm rapidly grew, reached an alarming strength. Over 100-mph winds, torrential rains, and high waves broke over the fleet of ships. The terrified passengers huddled below decks and could only pray.
Around 4 am on July 31st, in the black of night, the hurricane eye struck the doomed ships. One ship after another was either thrust upon the jagged Florida reefs or capsized by wind or waves. Ubilla’s capitana was crushed on a jagged reef like a balsa wood model. Almost all aboard were killed, including Ubilla himself. The death toll would be staggering.
By dawn the next morning, the beaches were strewn with dead bodies and wreckage. The powerful hurricane had capsized, grounded or destroyed every ship of the Spanish fleet – all the treasure galleons. When daylight came, the full extent of the disaster was visible to the survivors. The wreckage of ships was spread some 20 miles along the Florida coast. 750 were dead, including women and children passengers.
Soaked and shivering survivors were left with little food or fresh water.
For those who had miraculously survived, they were now stranded in on an empty coast infested with disease-carrying mosquitoes and hostile Native Americans. Survivor Admiral Don Francisco Salmon assumed command and immediately surveyed the extent of the damage. He slowly realized that all ships had been wrecked. On August 6th, he sent the Ubilla’s pilot and 18 men in a small surviving launch toward Cuba. It took eleven days for the small boat to reach Havana.
The only ship to survive the storm was ironically the French warship Griffon, Captain Antoine d’Aire had chosen to head towards deeper waters early into the storm. He arrived at Brittany on August 31st, completely unaware that all the Spanish ships in his fleet had perished.
When Spanish colonial authorities in Havana heard of the terrible disaster, they immediately sent ships north in an effort to salvage the galleons’ treasure and rescue the survivors. Within a few days, several ships were leaving Havana harbor, loaded with salvage equipment, emergency supplies, and a hundred soldiers to guard the precious treasure.
By the time they arrived in Florida, many of the injured had since died. The Spaniards immediately went to work recovering large portions of the treasure. Some salvage success came early as sloops dragged the ocean floor for wreckage and quickly brought up chests of coins, jewelry and gold. By the time the weather turned in the fall, over 5,000,000 Pieces of Eight (silver coins) had been recovered.
News of the disaster swept the Americas and privateers and pirates flocked toward Florida like vultures. The British governor of Jamaica declared open season on the sunken treasure. Spanish salvagers soon faced the additional peril of armed raids. By the end of the next summer, however, everyone was long gone. Winter had obliterated the wreck sites and the Spanish were content with what they had recovered.
But, in fact, a great fortune was still scattered along the ocean floor off the Florida coast.
Over the centuries since, the wreckage site faded from historical memory and the 1715 Fleet would lay undisturbed for 250 years. In the 1960’s, thanks to advances in Scuba, the modern age of treasure hunting began. Some investigated why Spanish coins frequently washed ashore on the Florida coast after strong storms. Spanish archival maps and documents seem to suggest that all 1715 shipwrecks were from Cape Canaveral south to Palmar de Ays (present day Sebastian).
Since the 1960’s, seven of the eleven vessels have been discovered. They’ve been salvaged primarily by a group of 8 lucky treasure hunters calling themselves The Real Eight. Not a single 1715 Fleet shipwreck has been definitively identified though. Names have been attributed by the treasure hunters, based on the amount of gold, silver, jewelry, and artifacts collected.
Four fleet vessels still remain undiscovered.
The 1733 Treasure Fleet
Twice a year in the 17th & 18th centuries, the marshy Mexican fishing village of Vera Cruz would come to life with activity. Flotas of treasure ships would arrive from Spain with supplies for the colony, but more importantly, leave laden with fortunes in silver ingots, gold coins, pearls, chocolate, and other treasures.
The dangers of Caribbean weather were well known to Lieutenant General Don Rodrigo de Torres y Morales, commander of the 1733 treasure ship armada. His fleet set sail for Spain on 25 May 1733, at the beginning of hurricane season. The first leg of the journey, Vera Cruz to Havana, was uneventful. The fleet didn’t set sail for Spain until July 13th. It was made up of 17 King’s ships, merchant ships, and 2 ships bound for St. Augustine, sailing with the fleet for protection against pirates – 22 ships in all. The combined fortune aboard the fleet amounted to 13 million pesos.
Two days after leaving Havana for Spain, with a year’s collection of New World treasure stuffed below decks, the fleet would encounter a hurricane at the Upper Florida Keys. One day into the voyage, on July 14th, the ships sighted Key West. Sailors noticed that the sky had a “bad appearance” that day. In the evening, the seas and sky slowly became rougher. By the night of the 14th, the armada was nearing the jaws of an unexpected storm.
By dusk on the 15th, it was clear they were facing a hurricane.
Don Rodrigo, the fleet captain aboard the capitano (flagship) El Rubi Segundo had put up colors instructing the other ships to turn and make for Havana. But it was already too late. Large, heavy Spanish galleons didn’t have any means to make headway against the wind. When winds reached hurricane strength, crews couldn’t put any sail up. By 10:30pm that night, all but one of the ships had lost their masts and rigging to the storm.
The helpless sailors could now see the waves crashing on the nearby reefs they were being driven toward. It would be their turn next. A passenger aboard Nuestra Senora de Las Angustius wrote in a poem, “The ship saw the silver reef … there was only time to sigh, to ask for grace from God. Clouds and waves were like approaching mountains….” The first ship grounded at 8:30 p.m., and pounded upon Little Conch Reef all night. She settled submerged to her decks. Terrified passengers and crew clung to the fallen rigging.
The rest of the fleet would suffer a similar fate. By 11:00pm the next night, the hurricane had passed and the moon came out. A thousand people had barely survived on their wrecked hulks and on the nearby Florida Key islets. At daybreak on the July 16th, the skies were clear and survivors could see Cayo Largo and Cayo Plantacion.
Survivors could also see all the other grounded ships.
Galleon crews had cut away masts and pushed cannons overboard to prevent them from grounding, but to no avail. The San Joseph sank in 30′ of water. Her people crowded onto the raised afterdeck. No one aboard El Rubi Segundo, the capitana [flagship] expected to survive. But her only casualties were two sailors flung into the sea and a one crushed when the ship struck bottom. She was submerged to her decks.
Nuestra Senora de Belen grounded 3 miles offshore, broken apart on a reef, her cargo lost. San Felipe grounded a mile offshore of a key, submerged to her deck. All her people survived the storm, clinging to wreckage. Six large galleons with keels broken would never sail again.
San Ignacio broke into four pieces when she struck the reef. Only 14 people aboard her survived. The frigate Florida had but one survivor, a woman who floated ashore on a mast. El Gallo Indiana, the almiranta [rear of the fleet] grounded on beach with four dead, including a child.
Only the La Balandra Pequeno, was still afloat but dismasted, anchored between two sheltering keys. Her cargo of 256 barrels of flour helped keep the shipwreck survivors alive in the days to come. Having somehow lived through the hurricane, survivors now faced survival on the wrecks. Rafts were made from the wreckage of ships. People were towed ashore by surviving ship’s boats. The next day, more rafts were made for more people to go ashore.
Immediately after the storm, a ship was sent from Havana to check on the treasure fleet. That city had also suffered from the hurricane. Before it returned, another Spanish ship came into port on the 21st with shocking news. They had seen 12 large galleons aground off the upper Keys. The governor ordered all ten ships docked in Havana’s harbor sent to the Keys.
Rescue ships arrived just in time.
A day of two more and they might have perished from exposure. Two survivors’ camps were organized, and two makeshift forts of four cannon each were hastily built to protect the recovered treasure. The Spanish rescue ships then began to salvage the huge amount of treasure trapped in the wrecked hulls. It would continue for months.
They managed to refloat the three least-damaged ships with the tides. Over the next year, the Spanish recovered about $12 million of the original $20 million of treasure. After the salvagers recovered as much as they could, the Spanish burnt the exposed ships. One by one, they disappeared from sight beneath the waves.
In 1938, Islamorada fisherman Reggie Roberts asked diver Art McKee to look at an old “cannon wreck” he found. McKee wrote to Spain after he discovered some Spanish coins on the wreck. He received back a salvors’ map of the locations of ships of an entire fleet that had wrecked in the upper Keys in 1733. One of North America’s greatest maritime disasters had been lost to history until that letter from Spain arrived.
They had found the capitana [El Rubi Segundo] near Upper Matecumbe Key. The lucky divers were able to recover most of the treasure aboard. Salvage divers recovered items from the sunken ship over the next 10 years. Additional gold was recovered as recent as 2015. In all they managed to find the Infante, Herrera, Chaves, San Pedro, and San Joseph.
While most of the ships were found in 1733, an elusive few are still missing to this day. Off Florida’s Upper Keys, scuba divers occasional find gold coins or silver ingots, along with cannons and swords. Sometimes a strong tropical storm will wash ashore a silver goblet or piece of gold jewelry for the lucky beach walker. Lurking somewhere beneath the reefs of the Florida Keys still remains a vast fortune in Spanish treasure for the lucky diver.
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