A bunch of Florida-based treasure hunters just lately recovered lots of of cash from a fleet of 300-year-old shipwrecks off the Atlantic coast this week.
One of many divers referred to as the discover late final month “virtually numbing.”
“You don’t anticipate that,” boat captain Grant Gitschlag instructed FOX 35 on Friday. “You all the time hope for it, however you by no means anticipate it.”
Fellow treasure hunter Corinne Lea agreed that it wasn’t anticipated “in any respect,” however that’s “how the best finds come about.”
Discovering the 214 cash and different artifacts they salvaged from the Spanish shipwrecks generally known as the 1715 Treasure Fleet, is uncommon, they defined, as a result of they’ve been salvaged for many years.
“To get this sort of amount in a interval of a few days, is a really thrilling begin,” Gitschlag instructed the station.
The group contracts with Sal Guttuso, who owns 1715 Fleet Queen’s Jewels LLC, the unique salvor of the shipwrecks and the US District Court docket’s custodian.
The hunters at the moment are engaged on cleansing 300 years of sea mud off of the cash to make them shine as soon as once more after which are prepared to move again out to see what else is ready for them.
The fleet set sail for Spain from Cuba in July 1715 loaded with cargo and treasure from the New World, however a lot of the fleet sank throughout a hurricane every week later, in line with the 1715 Fleet Queen’s Jewels LLC.
“It’s the discover. It’s all in regards to the discover,” Lea mentioned. “I like the historical past, being the primary particular person up in 309 years to seek out what was as soon as misplaced in a tragedy.”