​                                Early 1715 FINDS IN MODERN TIMES

                                                               by Steven Danforth Singer

 

     It’s well known that soon after many of the 1715 Spanish treasure fleet wrecked along what is now Florida’s “Treasure Coast,” salvage camps were set up by the Spanish which recovered much of the treasure. The McLarty Museum was built on the site of one of those camps. Pirates also retrieved some of this treasure after attacking these salvage camps, and salvage by others along with the local indigenous tribes probably went on for a few more years until these wrecks were forgotten about or entirely buried under the shifting sands. For the next 300 plus years, storms surely uncovered some of these treasures and likely any people living there like the Seminoles, early settlers, and the many wreckers who scoured these shores after storms, recovered even more treasures being exposed along these beaches.

     Bernard Romans, in his 1775 book A Concise History of East & West Florida, mentions that coins  (pistareens & double pistareens-silver 2 & 4 reals) were being found along the beaches while he was surveying the coast along the Indian River and his famous 1774 map shows the location of some of the fleet, but I don't consider this more modern times, though an 1850 article about Southern Florida & Ancient Inhabitants in the 1850 The Ancient City (St. Augustine paper), quotes some of Romans observations but goes onto say that "This account by the historian (Romans) is no phantom, there are citizens of St. Augustine who have seen the pistareens picked up along these shores." I'll consider this a more modern time.

     My first recorded finds of 1715 wreckage & cannons found in the 20th century was in the St. Lucie Tribune in 1906. It went on to say that Capt. O.N. Bie, a local dredge boat operator, was to investigate cannons and wreckage that were discovered a year and a half before by local fishermen just south of the old Fort Pierce inlet, and which was described as such:  “The keel of the boat could be discerned buried in sand and a row of mounted cannon and what appeared to be a pile of cannon balls was visible.” Later referred to as the “Wedge Wreck” after Kip Wagner recovered silver wedges on the site, it later became Florida’s first underwater archaeological preserve which the State identified as the Urca de Lima, though others believe it may be another ship of the fleet.

     A July 1928 article from the Sarasota Herald mentions that the Ft. Pierce city commission hired W.J. Beach, “to dive to the bottom of the ocean to search for between ten and nineteen cannon believed to still be aboard the ill-fated Spanish vessel that foundered off the shore just south of old Fort Pierce inlet about 200 years ago. Beach is using a catamaran in the work.” (the same wreck described in the 1906 article).  A few weeks later, other Florida papers including the Miami Herald reported that Beach, “an artist for pirate subjects,” was in Miami aboard his vessel, the Pieces of Eight, along with his unique locating equipment to help search for more wrecks off Florida. He mentioned that he had located the cannons along with some anchors and a ballast pile not seen for the last five years off Ft. Pierce, and they were currently being salvaged for display in Ft. Pierce parks. He also mentioned that he had researched a Spanish Plate Fleet while in Spain in 1910 that he said wrecked between Stuart and Sebastian, and the Admiral was lost right where he re-located the cannons. An October report from Ft. Pierce in the Stuart News says that “Two big cannon, taken from among 16 others that were recently salvaged from an old shipwreck two miles north of the city in the ocean, have been mounted on the front lawns of the building (Ft. Pierce City Hall). Four big anchors were recovered with the guns, which City Manager Banes proposes to use in local parks as historical monuments.”

     In 1930, the Indian River Press Journal reported that Joe Jenkins discovered a nine-foot encrusted cannon weighing about 3,000 pounds about one mile south of the Sebastian Inlet which he retrieved at low tide. “The cannon is of a fuse type and shoots a six inch ball.” “It was given up to be one of the largest that has been discovered,” indicating not the first one in this area. This would have been one of the cannons from the 1715 “Cabin” site. We discovered two previously unknown nine-foot iron cannons buried under sand just offshore near the McLarty Museum after magging the area back in the early 90’s which remain there today. Right next to these we recovered an old kedge anchor with a twisted shaft and bent fluke, which by how it lay, indicated the vessel it was from had wrecked upon the shore nearby and possibly was one of the very early salvagers.

     In 1932, the Orlando Evening Star in 1932 reported “The finding of an old anchor and chain weighing approximately 30 tons about three miles from Sebastian Inlet.” Goes on to say this was found “due to four fishing craft at different periods being beached at this spot with destructive results. Lately there, has been found several cannons and cannon balls in the same locality.” Now I’m thinking that 30 tons was a typo and likely meant 3 tons, as a typical cruise ship anchor weighs between 10 to 20 tons, and chain found with the anchor indicates it was from a later period, though the cannons mentioned were likely from the 1715 fleet.

     In 1939, the Orlando Sentinel printed a report by a local resident who had been spear fishing off Sebastian and mentioned that treasure hunters found “$30 in gold coins dated 1790” which had washed up in a box in that area. He also reported that “some time before two brass cannons were found by beach combers.”

     In March 1940, the Lake Worth Herald and other Florida papers mentions another 1715 wreck; This from the Herald “Days when fabulously rich Spanish galleons and fearless buccaneers ranged the coast of Florida were vividly recalled to residents of Melbourne by the discovery of wreckage resembling that of an old-time Spanish vessel, washed ashore south of Sebastian inlet. Gold and copper chains and bronze cannon were found near the wreckage.” Now as people finding treasure would likely keep that information to themselves as long as possible, it’s likely the initial discoveries were found a year or two before the 1940 article, but being a small town area at the time, word eventually got out and as you read further, many locals were now finding treasure.  

     In 1942, the Miami Herald printed an article by Marjorie Ray (from Vero Beach) about a find a couple years previously (likely about the story printed in 1940). It told about Capt. Alfred E. Conway and his son Joe discovering “the muzzle of a cannon protruding from the sand,” while surf fishing. These are described as, “weighing well over a ton each. They were of brass of early Spanish manufacture.” Also found “from a darkened stratum in the high-drifted bank, a piece of copper,” which turned out to be “a portion of an old Spanish breastplate. It was made of narrow strips of copper about two inches wide, cut to conform to the shape of the body, with hand-cut sawtooth joints, hammered together.”  Also found there in the dune were human bones including a skull which soon disintegrated after being exposed to the air. It says that five cannons had been recovered so far and that the first two found “now guard the entrance to Driftwood Inn at Vero Beach.” Capt. Conway was known to be an avid treasure hunter searching the beaches for coins and treasure for many years, and along with Ron Martin, they recovered the two iron cannon which still reside at the Driftwood Inn today (a local paper in 1974 had a photo from the Conway family showing one of these cannon being retrieved from the beach in the late 30’s). As I’ve found no record of any bronze cannon ever on display at the Driftwood, likely some of the five found were iron and those are the ones now at the Driftwood Inn.

     The Driftwood Inn was and still is one of the most famous inns and restaurants in Florida whose name comes from much of the early building and furniture constructed from driftwood washed up in the area. The Miami Herald had a couple articles with photos of the Driftwood Inn back in 1940 and 42 and the two cannons can be seen in those old photos. One article also states that “Mastodon bones, pieces of eight, and many bits of pirate treasure have been imbedded in some of the masonry surrounding the inn.” Some of these items and the two iron cannons are still there, though I can’t remember seeing any pieces of eight, and if true, likely chiseled out long ago.

     Other items mentioned in the 1942 article that were found in the area described as being about a half mile between both a shell mound and indigenous burial mound, were pottery and glass shards, stems of clay pipes, rusted iron spikes, animal bones, bar shot, cannon balls, rigging pieces, etc. One unique item mentioned was, “a molten altar piece, weighing over four pounds of a metal that did not rust or corrode, and was lavishly engraved. It may possibly be of silver.”  Many Spanish gold and silver coins were also found, though the article said none seemed to be dated which I find very unusual or meant to keep secret. The silver coins mentioned were “lying like lumps of lead on the hard sand near the water’s edge, or shining up from the roadway a quarter of a mile distant.” They were described as in all shapes and sizes (cobs). Goes on to say that “Parties of picknickers, fishermen or beachcombers have braved the little traversed road to spend a Sunday digging and relaxing in the sun.” I’m sure much more was found back then.

     Another interesting note about the 1942 article is that in the beginning it mentions gold coins that were found near the inlet before 1940 which had been sent to the Smithsonian which supposedly dated those coins as the early 15th century. Likely a typo or misinformation on that time frame but indicates that coins were being found for years. Whoever built the road mentioned in the article likely found artifacts and coins during its construction, and I always assumed that all the construction along the beaches of the Treasure Coast had surely uncovered artifacts and treasures over the years. I’ve seen some very valuable 1715 land finds found years ago where condos and beachfront homes now stand.

     What wreck are the 1940-42 articles referring to? As the roadway described where silver coins were found as being a quarter mile from the ocean, maybe Corrigans wreck-site is more likely as the Cabin site lies off a much narrower stretch of land? The 1618 wreck of the San Martin, which lies just north of the 1715 Corrigan’s site, has also produced bronze cannons with dolphin handles. Four were salvaged in the 1960’s, two 11’ and two 8’, with one dated 1594. When Kip Wagner originally investigated the site in the 60's, 1715 era coins were also found mixed in with 1618 era coins which at first led him to believe it to be part of the 1715 fleet. Further investigations, especially by John Brandon, identified it as the San Martin, and those later coins had obviously been carried there by the devastating hurricane of 1715, or maybe one of the many later hurricanes years later. Were any of the bronze cannons mentioned from these early reports from the San Martin?   

     My friend Tyrrell Armstrong did some research with help from some documents donated to him by Karen McKee from her late father Art McKee’s collection, one which was a letter dated 1955 from Jack Carr stating he’d just recovered some 1715 Fleet cannons including bronze ones and wanted Art to help recover some more. This along with another note where Art sold two bronze cannons a couple years later (one dated 1687), led Tyrrell and another friend Tom Gidus to track down two of these 8’ bronze cannons which they found on display in the Ponce de Leon Fountain of Youth State Park. Tyrrell thinks these were likely from the Wedge Wreck or the Sandy Point sites.

     Hopefully, more of these early finds will come to light, though many cannons, anchors, etc were scrapped during WWII. Towns and cities across America ran drives to collect scrap metal, as brass, bronze, copper, iron, etc were in short supply.  A Florida paper in 1942 mentioned a bronze cannon that was salvaged in the Keys, along with cannon balls and other salvaged items that were dropped off at one of the Miami scrap metal war drives.

     There are still quite a few iron cannons that have been left on the 1715 wreck sites, as retrieving and conserving these can be quite expensive and time consuming. They also serve as good reference points for these sites. A small bronze swivel cannon filled with gold and silver coins was found on the Corrigans site in 2010, so who knows what’s still out there. I remember working an area on the Cabin site for over an hour in very low visibility and rough seas all for one musket ball, having not realized an encrusted iron cannon was cemented into the reef right above me disrupting my detector (that story under “Articles” tab). If I find any additional information, I’ll add it here.