Among the many documents, letters, and assorted ephemera that are part of the Fleet Society Archives, there are many magazines. While going through some old publications I came across an interesting item from 1950 … Florida Speaks. Florida Speaks Magazine was published four times a year, specifically in March, June, October, and December.
The magazine focused on Florida travel (hotels, beaches, etc.) and related stories. The Fall Edition from 1950 contained this treasure map (below) and an article on shipwrecks along the Florida coast. Among the shipwrecks discussed was one of Long Cay. (Researching Long Cay has led to the conclusion that this must be Long Key, located in the Florida Keys.) The article states that Art McKee of Homestead. Florida discovered the remains of a Spanish Galleon here. He found heavy ingots of silver, each weighing about 70 pounds. The ingots were found to be almost pure silver. Also, McKee reported that the ship had at least six guns that he could see. According to the article McKee had “evidently happened onto one of the 14 galleons wrecked in the storm of 1715, near Long Cay”.
Whatever galleon McKee located was not part of the 1715 Fleet. Also, there weren’t “14 galleons”. For many years researchers believed that the wreck sites of the ill-fated 1715 Fleet were indeed located in the Florida Keys area. We now know that this was incorrect. The remains of the Fleet are located almost 250 miles north of Long Key. It is interesting, however, to read articles about the 1715 Fleet that were at one time believed to be factual but turned out to be completely false. This was 1950 though. The truth would not be known until an unassuming contractor from Ohio became curious about the silver coins that he found on the beach across from his small cabin. That man was Kip WagnerKip Wagner (1906 – 1972) was instrumental in the formation of the team that later became the Real Eight Company and one of the greatest salvage groups that ever explored the 1715 Fleet wrecks. He .... And that would be almost a decade later.
