News updates from directors of the 1715 Fleet Society, including stories, images, documents, and more. This is the main news feed for the society.
Regular updates from the 1715 Fleet Society
Past and current featured treasures
Special days of significance to the 1715 Fleet
Mel Fisher finds the “carpet of gold” – 1,033 pieces of gold discovered at the Douglass Beach wreck site.
The first Division between the State of Florida and Real 8 & its associates occurred on July 21, 1964. Among the 3376 gold coins divided were 15 Mexican galanos, which had already begun to be...
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Last month the Fleet Society was honored to publish an article authored by Jorge A. Proctor entitled “The Resting Places of the Capitana and Almiranta of the Tierra Firme Squadron, from the 1715 Fleet, Identified”. Now...
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Articles of Incorporation filed by the Real Eight Company. (The company lasted until 1984 when it was dissolved on November 21 of that year)
Ubilla’s New Spain Fleet clears Vera Cruz harbor for a month long sail to Havana.
The Real Eight Company opens its first museum, “The Gallery of Spanish Treasure”, in Satellite Beach, Florida. (An invitation only private opening was held the night before).
Our passion for EOs (encrusted objects) continues with our Treasure of the Month for May. In the past we have featured numerous EOs, including silver wedges, individual coins, coin clumps (or aggregates), and non-coin-related items...
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The previous Cover Coin was an 8-reales which brought a boatload of documentation to its buyer, Ben Costello. The Cover Coin(s) this time have the same provenience but are of a different denomination. Dave Crooks, an attorney and...
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Since the discovery of several shipwrecks from the 1715 Fleet disaster in the Coast of Florida in the mid-1950’s and into the 1960’s, attempts have been made to match the names of ships, with the...
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Recently (March 21 to be exact) we posted a story about our then latest member Jeremy Watherston who was our first Fleet Society member from Australia. A few weeks later I had the chance to...
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Fleet Society Director Ben Costello asked me to post an update related to web analytics for the first quarter of 2022. Altogether the results were fantastic and we saw the 1715 Fleet Society Web Analytics...
Read moreThe Treaty of Utrecht formally concludes hostilities between Spain and Great Britain during the War of Spanish Succession. As a result, Spain’s treasure fleets were able to sail again.
I will bet that there are a fair number of Fleet Society members out there who do not know about our time capsule. “What time capsule?”, you might ask. Well, for those of you who...
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As we mentioned on March 29, the Society will be revealing for the first time important new original research conducted by Advisory Board member Jorge Proctor. The final draft of that research is being reviewed...
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Our featured treasure for April is this double dated 1710 eight escudos from the Spanish colonial mint in Lima, Peru. As can be seen in the image a double dated coin contains two dates, one...
Read moreAs expressed on our website, the mission of the 1715 Fleet Society is to research the history of the 1715 Fleet, its loss, rediscovery and recovery. In keeping with this mission, Fleet Society member Jorge...
Read moreOne of our goals here at the Fleet Society is to expand our membership far and wide. Until recently we had 144 members from 24 US states and, in addition, Canada (Nova Scotia), Puerto Rico...
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Bob Evans is best known for his involvement in the recovery of the S.S. Central America, more popularly referred to as the “Ship of Gold”. Since the autumn of 1983 Bob has been on the...
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Climate change is a hot topic in the news these days. Whatever you think about this subject, we who live in Western Pennsylvania have experienced wild weather changes for decades. To illustrate the point, the...
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Although our focus here at the Society is about all things 1715 Fleet related, I couldn’t help posting this story about a non-Fleet related shipwreck found off the coast of Florida in 2010. Divers with...
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