Florida divers find over 300 coins worth $4.5M

On July 24, 1715, eleven ships traveled from Havana to Spain to deliver "the queen's jewels" — at least $400 million worth of jewelry and gold. All was lost at sea, however, when a hurricane hit July 31, 1715.

More than 1,000 people died in the maritime tragedy.

Brisben is owner of 1715 Fleet — Queens Jewels LLC, which has exclusive salvage rights to the 1715 Fleet shipwreck. The Schmitt family are subcontractors for Brisben. On June 17 — Hillary Schmitt's 22nd birthday — the family found $1 million in treasure in shallow waters off Fort Pierce.

This year's treasure-hunting season, May through September, has produced quite the booty.

"For a treasure diver such as myself, a find like this is the equivalent of winning anOlympic gold medal," William Bartlett said in an email. Bartlett is the diver who recovered the coins from the bottom of the ocean. "This is what we (treasure hunters of the 1715 Fleet) all come here to do. For four months out of the year we eat, sleep and live treasure. When we're not actually treasure hunting, we're usually talking about treasure hunting. We hang out with other treasure hunters."

"It's been magical," Brisben said. "What's amazing about this is we found it on the actual anniversary. We found 230 gold coins on the 30th, and the hurricane started on the evening of the 30th (in 1715)."

The crew picked up 75 more gold coins the next day. "It's crazy, honestly," he said.

It is illegal for anyone to enter the waters without a permit from his organization, Brisben said. The 1715 Fleet wrecks typically produce the most artifacts on an annual basis.

The gold belongs to the U.S. District Court of Florida. In the case of the Schmitt family's find, the state will keep 20% of it, and the rest will be split among Brisben and the Schmitts.

The same process applies to the latest find. The state will assess the treasure, and then Brisben and his crew will divvy up the remaining 80%.

The S/V Capitana crew includes Jonah Martinez, co-captain, who picked the dive site where the artifacts were found; Bartlett; and Dan Beckingham.

"Things happen in strange occurrences. There are energies involved in the shipwreck. If you were going to ask me five, six years ago when I first got into this, I would have never believed," said Brisben. "It's been a magical anniversary year. It's a tragedy that continues to tell its story every year."