This Day in Fleet History – October 13, 1966
“Pieces of Eight”, the legendary book written about the Real Eight Company by its founder Kip Wagner, goes into publication.
“Pieces of Eight”, the legendary book written about the Real Eight Company by its founder Kip Wagner, goes into publication.
The first public auction of gold coins recovered from the 1715 Fleet shipwrecks off the coast of Florida by the Real Eight Company. Some of the best condition specimens were offered for sale. The coins are sold through the auction house of Henry Christianson, Hoboken, New Jersey.
Hello Fleet Society readers. This is Craig, web admin for the society. You may have noticed a few changes we recently implemented with the goal of making the site more user-friendly and accessible. Here’s what we’ve been up to: Menu and Header To start, we added a scrolling menu. On desktops and tablets, the
Our Treasure of the Month for October is a departure from our usual treasure offerings. Unlike most of our featured treasures it is not something that can be held in one’s hand and studied up close. It is not made of gold or silver, is not a valuable gem or rare artifact. And, unlike most
The crew of the salvage vessel Virgalona recovers 216 gold coins at the Douglass Beach Wreck site near Fort Pierce, Florida. It is the largest amount of gold found in one day in over two decades.
Philip V marries Elizabeth Farnese of Parma by proxy. He saw her for the first time 3 months later. She exerted great influence over Spain’s foreign policy and was the de facto ruler of Spain from 1714 until 1746. She died on July 11, 1766.
The New York Times reported that Stack’s had been appointed by the Real Eight Company as exclusive agent to handle the sale of gold and silver coins recovered by that company. The sale was to take place on Friday, September 19, 1969 at the Park Sheraton Hotel in New York.
Newspaper article from the Miami Herald reports that archaeologists have pinpointed the site of a Spanish camp of 1715 shipwreck survivors. The owner of the land, Robert McClarty, has given the site to the state in return for an agreement to build a museum there. The site is now occupied by the McClarty Treasure Museum.
The governor of the Bahama Islands issues a royal proclamation pardoning all pirates who surrender before September 5, 1718. Henry Jennings who, together with 300 men seized 1715 Fleet treasure that had been salvaged by the Spanish, wisely turned himself in. He lived the rest of his life a respected gentleman of means.
Greetings. One of our undertakings here at the Fleet Society is to carry out original research into anything Fleet related. In that regard, I would like to present a recent article written by Fleet Society Director and Academic Coordinator for the Society, Phil Flemming. Phil is a recognized expert in gold coinage of the Fleet
Our Treasure of the Month for September features two silver eight reales from the Mexico City mint. Upon close observation, they do not appear to be particularly noteworthy, other than the fact that they are dated 1712 and 1715. There have been many auctions over the years that have offered similar coins for sale. So,
Recently, I was contacted by Josh Steele, a local resident who sent me this video which was obtained from a website called FloridaMemory.com. “3 Fathoms to a Fortune” was prepared in the early 1970s, probably 1973. The footage was from the mid-to-late 1960s. What follows is a description of the film as found on the
The Battle of Blenheim was fought during the War of Spanish Succession, resulting in a victory for English-led forces over French and Bavarian soldiers.
Next Saturday, August 15th, will mark the tenth anniversary of the recovery of one of the most spectacular artifacts ever found on any of the 1715 Fleet wreck sites, the “Pelican in Piety”. It was on Sunday August 15, 2010 that diver Bonnie Schubert was granted the honor of retrieving this important relic from Neptune’s
The 1715 Fleet Society is excited to announce that we’ve added video conferencing capabilities to our digital platform. Using the Zoom platform, the Society will be able to hold online meetings with up to 100 Society members at a time. We’ll also record the meetings and post the recorded video for all to watch on
Our Treasure of the Month for August has its origins in a prior treasure that we featured a few years ago in December, 2015. Here is the story. On Sunday, August 15, 2010 diver Bonnie Schubert found an impressive artifact at the Douglass Beach Wreck site south of Fort Pierce, Florida. The artifact, a gold
305th anniversary of the loss of the 1715 Fleet.
The Tricentennial Hoard, consisting of over 352 gold coins of all denominations, is found by Queens Jewels, LLC. The recovery was at the Corrigan’s Beach Wreck site, north of Vero Beach, Florida
The Real Eight Company finds a rare, almost intact treasure chest containing silver coins. It was the first such chest to be discovered. A second chest was found two years later. Both chests were found at the Cabin Wreck site, near Sebastian, Florida.
Recently I received a copy of the latest publication produced by Rob Westrick of New Iberia, Louisiana. Rob is a marine archaeologist with 30 years of experience working the 1715 Fleet wreck sites. Rob has published a number of books and articles on the 1715 Fleet as well as other historic shipwrecks. Rob’s latest effort