Despite his astonishing find, Bartlett isn’t a full-time treasure hunter, instead diving as a hobby.
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Queens Jewels, LLC, announced it has recovered over 350 gold coins valued at $4.5 million from the shipwreck back discovered in 2013.
On the same day in 1715, a hurricane tossed 11 treasure-laden Spanish galleons on to reefs off Florida’ East Coast, sinking them in the early hours the following morning. Over 350 gold coins worth a whopping $4.5 million was found from a 300-year-old shipwreck at the same site! Brent Brisben, the company’s owner, noted that the treasure was being transported to the king of Spain when it was lost. In 2013, a family diving off Fort Pierce discovered a gold chain, coins and a ring which were valued at $300,000, as the Inquisitr previously reported. “This wonderful recovery occurred on the actual 300th Anniversary”, said 1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels LLC, a group of historic shipwreck salvagers, on its Facebook page. When we find these artifacts, we have contractual obligations to the state of Florida, which entitles them to up to 20 percent of the artifacts we recover, “Brisben told CBS”.
The standout pieces from their haul are 9 coins called “Royals”, made for the King of Spain, Phillip V.
Bartlett was part of a three-man crew aboard Brisben’ boat S/V Capitana when it found coins in shallow waters off Vero Beach, Florida.
It’s been quite a summer for treasure hunting in Florida.
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“We work extremely close to shore, which is surprising to most people”, he said. A man by the name of Kip Wagner was the first one to identify the treasure after nearly 250 years since the ill fated Spanish ships sunk. Using a metal detector, he found the coins and “realized that just beyond the breaking waves must lay one of the long forgotten treasure ships of 1715”.
