VERO BEACH — The Treasure Coast is living up to its name, with a record-breaking discovery of over 1,000 silver and gold coins from the 1715 Treasure Fleet. The salvage operation, led by Captain Levin Shavers and the crew of the M/V Just Right, marked one of the largest finds in recent memory, and has reignited interest in the area’s rich maritime history.
“It was his first season with his own boat, but not his first season working the wrecks. He’s had successes before, but never like this,” said Sal Gattuso, Director of Operations for Queens Jewels, LLC, which holds the exclusive salvage rights to the 1715 Fleet.
The coins recovered include over 1,000 silver Reales (pieces of eight), along with five rare gold Escudos and other gold artifacts. These discoveries date back to the late 1600s through 1715, the year the fleet sank off the coast of Florida in a deadly hurricane. The fleet was carrying a vast fortune—an estimated $400 million worth of gold, silver, and jewels—when disaster struck.
“In some days, they literally found hundreds of these coins,” Gattuso said. “The last time this volume of discovery was made on these shipwrecks was 1990. An average season might yield a few hundred coins, but nothing like this.”…