San Miguel
In 1715 the War of Succession had drained Spain of its funds. The country was going bankrupt and in desperate need of money. So a treasure fleet departed from Havana, Cuba to fill the Spanish coffers with treasures from the New World. Twelve ships were sent loaded with silver and other treasures in July of 1715. However, the fleet was hit by a hurricane and eleven of the ships sunk on July 31st, 1715. 1,000 people died, 400 of which were slaves but some crew members were able to survive in boats and they were able to lead a salvage mission to recover some of the treasures from the deep. The Spanish were able to recover about half of the treasure and over the years more of the treasure has been salvaged and seven of the ships have been found. The ships sunk near present-day Vero Beach, Florida and from time to time artifacts from the wreckage still wash up onshore.
What interests treasure hunters today is the San Miguel, one of the 11 ships lost in the storm. It is believed that since the San Miguel was the fastest ship of the fleet it may have gone ahead of the rest of the fleet the day before the storm hit. Being the fastest of the fleet the San Miguel would have been given the most treasure since it would have been the most likely to outrun pirates and make it home to Spain. Therefore, finding the San Miguel could mean finding one of the largest shipwreck treasures in history.
One treasure hunter seeking the ship believes that the San Miguel may have headed for Amelia Island in order to escape the storm and some artifacts found near the island seem to confirm his hunch. Treasure hunters have been scouring sandy floors around Florida’s beaches and islands in order to find the ship which some estimate has a value of over $2 billion.