10 Unclaimed Treasures That Would Make You Filthy Rich
4. The Spanish Treasure Fleet Of 1715
Modern Value: $2 Billion The new world was a wealth of untapped resources when it gained the interest of the european powers in the sixteen and seventeen hundreds; from gold, jewels, slaves, land, resources like potatoes and tobacco, it was a massively valuable continent ripe for the plucking. And pluck they did, Spain as much as any other major european power. The treasure fleets ferrying vast amounts of treasure back to Spain from the new world were so attractive that England actually began employing pirates as Privateers to simply take the treasure from them as they sailed home. The treasure fleet of 1715 was one of the largest treasure fleets ever assembled, filled with enough valuables to literally pay off all of the debt of Spain's new King Philip V, after his expensive war of succession. The fleet consisted of 12 large ships, from various Spanish Fleets and a single French merchant vessel, meaning a total of twelve ships with around $6 Billion worth of gold, silver, pearls, assorted gemstones and other valuable commodities spread out across the cargo bays. To avoid being an undeniably tempting prize for pirates and english Privateers, the fleet waited until the last possible day to set off for spain, cutting closer to hurricane season than any fleet had ever done before. Inevitably, a hurricane hit the fleet only a week after they had set off from Cuba. Over the next four years, around half the treasure was recovered by the Spanish Navy, pirates and English Privateers, however to this day, treasure still washes up on the shore of Florida from the fleet. Only seven of the twelve ships have been located, and only a tiny percentage of the treasure has been recovered from those ships after the initial four years of Spanish recovery. This means that around $2 Billion in treasure and unclaimed salvage is waiting off the coast of Florida. The ship thought to be carrying the most treasure, the lighter Carrack San Miguel, is thought to have been separated from the fleet the day before the storm, meaning it sank with a full compliment of treasure aboard, and hasn't been touched since. If found, it would be the most valuable wreck ever recovered.
