The 1715 Treasure Fleet: how a hurricane south of Sebastian Inlet gave the Treasure Coast its name

Drive south over the Sebastian Inlet bridge on A1A and you pass right by one of the most famous shipwreck sites in America. Most of us never think about it. But the name on our road signs, our businesses and our TV weather maps, the Treasure Coast, comes from what happened on that sand more than 300 years ago.

A fleet that left too late

NOAA's hurricane research lab tells the story this way. The Spanish silver fleet, 12 ships in all, left Havana harbor on July 27, 1715, after many delays. A French ship sailing with it broke away ahead, so 11 Spanish ships faced what came next.

The holds were full of silver coins and bars, royal and private treasure headed for Cadiz, Spain. The fleet was led by Captain General Don Juan Esteban de Ubilla.

Early on July 31, a hurricane struck as the ships left the Bahama Channel. They were trapped between the Florida shore and the Bahama Bank. Three ships sank in deep water. Eight were driven onto rocks and reefs along our coast, between present-day Fort Pierce and Wabasso.

NOAA says about 2,500 sailors and passengers were aboard and roughly 1,000 died, including Ubilla. The survivors were stranded on an empty coast. They sent two boats for help, one to St. Augustine and one to Havana, and most were eventually rescued.

The camp in the dunes south of the inlet

While they waited, survivors and Spanish salvage crews camped in the dunes near Sebastian Inlet. NOAA notes that the camps were raided by an English privateer, Henry Jennings, and later occupied by other English treasure seekers.

Then the camp was forgotten for more than two centuries. According to the 1715 Fleet Society, local historian Charles D. Higgs looked into the site in late 1941 or early 1942 and thought it was an early Spanish settlement. In 1946, assistant state archaeologist Hale G. Smith suggested it was tied to the 1715 wreck.

NOAA says a 1955 hurricane wore away dunes near the camps and exposed artifacts and silver coins. That got the attention of Kip Wagner, a local builder who had been finding coins washing up on the beaches south of Sebastian Inlet.

Kip Wagner, the Real Eight and a new name for the coast

The 1715 Fleet Society says Wagner organized the Real Eight Company in 1959 to search for the wrecks and the survivors' camp, and it was incorporated in 1961 with eight members. He got a salvage lease from the State of Florida covering about 50 miles of coast south of the inlet, agreeing to give the state 25 percent of what he found.

By 1964 his company had teamed up with Mel Fisher's Treasure Salvors. NOAA says Wagner's group recovered thousands of coins, pieces of jewelry and cannon. Those finds led to a state park, a museum and the name Treasure Coast. WQCS notes the name now covers Indian River, St. Lucie and Martin counties.

In March 1966, Robert McLarty offered about 300 feet of oceanfront land, believed to be part of the survivors' camp, to the state for a museum and research. The state built the McLarty Treasure Museum there. It is now part of Sebastian Inlet State Park.

The treasure is still out there

This is not just old history. In 2025, Boston.com reported that divers working for the salvage company 1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels LLC recovered more than 1,000 silver and gold coins off this stretch of coast, valued by the finder at about $1 million.

The same report explains the rules. Under Florida law, treasure and artifacts abandoned on state-owned land or in state waters belong to the state. The state issues permits for recovery, and about 20 percent of recovered material goes to the state for research or public display. Digging without a permit on publicly owned sites is illegal in Florida and can bring felony charges.

What to do: see it for yourself

• Visit the McLarty Treasure Museum. Florida State Parks lists its hours as Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Mondays and Tuesdays. It sits on A1A just south of Sebastian Inlet.
• Know the park fee. Sebastian Inlet State Park charges $8 per vehicle with two to eight people, $4 for a single-occupant vehicle, and $2 for pedestrians and bicyclists.
• Pair it with the Sebastian Fishing Museum in the same park, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily except major holidays.
• Leave the digging to permit holders. If you find something that looks old on a public beach, the safe move is to leave it and ask a park ranger.
• Remember the lesson. The fleet sailed late in July and ran into a hurricane. Our season still runs through Nov. 30, so keep an eye on the tropics until then.