San Miguel de Archangel
There were numerous Spanish treasure ships christened San Miguel, and more than one of them sunk between the New World and Spain, but one, in particular, is enticing. San Miguel de Archangel – Saint Michael the Archangel – was part of the 1715 Spanish Treasure fleet which departed Havana just in time to encounter a hurricane off the Florida coast and be completely destroyed. The fleet was carrying gold, silver, emeralds, pearls, and other precious gems looted from the Aztecs by the Spaniards, intended to reinforce the coffers of the Spanish Empire. Instead, 300 years later, portions of the lost fortune still wash ashore on Florida’s treasure coast.
Much of the Treasure Fleet has been discovered and salvaged, near Sebastian Inlet where the hurricane sent the ships to the bottom three centuries ago. The Spanish fleet was made up of several types of vessels, including the heavy galleons, all of which were lost and have been discovered, and a lesser number of carracks. A carrack was a lighter vessel, easier to handle in varying winds and rough seas, and also faster under sail than the galleons. Carracks were favored for carrying cargo, including the treasures of the Aztecs, with the galleons deemed more suitable for the defense of the fleet (though they too carried treasure). San Miguel de Archangel was a carrack.
Because of the records kept by the Spanish at Havana the size and composition of the treasure fleet is known today. Ships came to Havana from Vera Cruz, Cartagena, and Porto Bello, loaded with the wealth pillaged from Mexico. A French merchantman, Le Griffon, joined to avail itself of the protection of the Spanish galleons against the pirates who roamed the Caribbean, hoping to steal the treasures that the Spanish had stolen from what they called New Spain. A total of eleven Spanish ships congregated in Havana’s harbor, in addition to the French vessel. The threat of pirates led the Spanish to deliberately delay their departure until the edge of the storm season, believing that they could skirt the coast of Florida and shelter near Saint Augustine.
The fleet survived about a week after leaving Havana, over one thousand sailors died in the storms. The Spanish knew where most of the ships went down and managed to salvage at least half of the treasure which went down in the ships, using native divers and slaves. In the late twentieth century, modern salvagers have recovered more of the treasure, and from time to time portions of the wealth of New Spain still wash ashore along Florida’s Treasure Coast, including gold chains, chalices, and occasionally ingots of gold and silver. All of the ships of the treasure fleet have been identified, their whereabouts known, but one.
The carrack San Miguel de Archangel is believed to have run before the storm, reaching latitudes further north than the rest of the fleet, before it too was lost to the sea. How much further north is impossible to guess, but it likely remained near shore, as the winds of the hurricane would have prevented it from reaching out to the open sea. Quite possibly the richest ship of the entire treasure fleet of 1715 is resting on the bottom off the coast of Florida, waiting to be discovered and relieved of its gold and silver plate, and the emeralds, diamonds, and pearls it carried when it departed Havana three centuries ago.