Excavators find $1 million in gold coins from Spanish shipwreck along Florida's 'Treasure Coast'

It's not the first time the site has yielded a trove of, well, treasure.

Centuries ago, a fleet of Spanish ships laden with gold, silver and jewels taken from the New World was sailing back to Spain when a hurricane wrecked the flotilla on July 31, 1715, spilling the treasures into the sea, according to the 1715 Fleet Society.

Over the years, millions of dollars in gold coins from the 1715 Fleet have been found by salvagers and treasure hunters in a coastal area stretching from Melbourne to Fort Pierce.

Dates and mint marks are still visible on some of the recently recovered coins, the salvage company said, a benefit for historians and collectors hoping to glean more from the lost treasure.

“This discovery is not only about the treasure itself, but the stories it tells,” Sal Guttuso, director of operations for the salvage company said in a statement. “Each coin is a piece of history, a tangible link to the people who lived, worked, and sailed during the Golden Age of the Spanish Empire. Finding 1,000 of them in a single recovery is both rare and extraordinary.”

Guttuso's team employs dive crews and a fleet of boats and uses underwater metal detection-devices, plus hand-fanning of sand or sand suction to comb the sea floor, according to a public notice for a federal permit application the company filed.

Last year, Florida officials announced they had recovered dozens of gold coins stolen by salvagers from the wreck. The suspect was identified as a family member of the team contracted by 1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels LLC to work the site.

Under Florida law, any “treasure trove” or other historic artifacts “abandoned” on state-owned lands or in state waters belong to the state, though excavators can be permitted to carry out “recovery services.” The law requires that roughly 20% of the recovered archaeological materials be retained by the state for research collections or public display.

Guttuso told The Associated Press his team develops a detailed inventory of all the artifacts collected each season to be reviewed by the state. Florida officials select up to 20% of the items to keep for the public, in a negotiation process that is ultimately approved by a federal court. Remaining artifacts are split equally among the salvage company's owners and its subcontractors, Guttuso said.

"We want to do it right," Guttuso said.

“And it benefits the people of Florida. They end up in the museums,” he said of the treasures.

___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.