Diver is shocked to find treasure worth £100,000 while exploring ancient shipwreck

A diver exploring the wreck of a fleet that sank over 300 years ago was shocked to discover treasure worth £100,000.

Grant Gitschlag and his crew dived to the wrecks of the treasure fleet of 1715. These were actually two Spanish treasure fleets consisting of eleven ships, all of which were sunk by a hurricane after leaving Cuba.

The treasure fleets were transporting silver to Spain when they were hit by a hurricane and sank off the east coast of Florida, probably killing about 1,500 sailors.

Gitschlag’s team consisted of business partner Mike Penninger as well as Nick Amelio and Corinne Lea.

They were able to recover more than 200 silver coins. These are irregularly shaped coins that date from the time before machine minting.

Depending on the quality of the coins recovered, the hoard could be worth between $12,000 (£9,200) and $130,000 (£100,000).

That’s not a bad catch of sunken treasure.

Grant said that for him, the discovery of the sunken silver was like the fulfillment of a childhood dream of discovering buried treasure.

He said: “I’ve been trying to find things since I was a little boy. What little boy doesn’t dream of buried treasure, you know?

These are silver coins, and some of the coins still have details visible. (Grant Gitschlag/Pen News)

“It wasn’t until I was in my late teens that I realized there were actually people doing this and I wanted to get involved.

“So I signed with a captain down here in 2014 and that got the ball rolling. We always expect to find something – nine times out of ten, we do.”

The diver explained that when exploring a shipwreck one usually finds things like pottery shards and metal points, and that even the discovery of a single coin is a cause for celebration.

He said he “knew immediately” he had found coins when he saw them.

“After hundreds of years in the water, a thick crust of corrosion can form on silver coins, but when a silver coin surfaces, it is unmistakable,” he said, explaining that sunken coins were quite heavy and details could sometimes be seen on the pierced money.

On closer inspection, this find could be worth up to £100,000, but most of it is not being sold. (Grant Gitschlag/Pen News)

The coins were found in the wreckage of one of the two flagships that made up the treasure fleet of 1715. It should be remembered that these were actually two fleets sailing together, although Gitschlag is not sure at this point which ship is which.

The diver said that the coins were probably minted in Mexico City and that the sinking of the treasure fleet would have been a great loss for Spain.

The diver and his crew were working as subcontractors for 1715 Fleet Queens Jewels LLC, which had exclusive salvage rights to the wrecks and stated that most of the coins had a higher face value.

However, the diver said they had not yet been properly valued and not many of them were sold as they would end up in museums instead.