Emeralds and Gold of the 1715 Fleet off Sebastian

The 1715 Fleet wrecks off Sebastian and Indian River County have yielded gold coins, gold chain and jewelry set with Colombian emeralds and diamonds, alongside the far more common silver (GIA).

The landmark gem finds in the table below come from two sites: the Cabin Wreck south of Sebastian Inlet (1715 Fleet Society) and the Corrigan's Beach wreck 5 miles north of the Vero Beach city limits (1715 Fleet Society). GIA's Fall 2024 study notes that besides coins, loose stones, mainly emeralds, and gold and silver jewelry have been recovered, and that the salvage company supplying its samples is licensed for the offshore area between Sebastian Inlet and Fort Pierce (GIA Gems and Gemology). The fleet's flagship alone, the Capitana of Don Juan Esteban de Ubilla, guarded more than 3.5 million pesos in treasure (Florida State Parks).

Possibly: in July 1993 a crew at the Cabin Wreck raised diamond brooches and pineapple-shaped earrings that match survivor descriptions of jewels meant for the Queen of Spain, though the link is not proven (1715 Fleet Society).

The commission behind the Sebastian legend was large. More than 1,200 pieces of jewelry from the Americas were being sent to Spain as dowry pieces for Elizabeth of Parma, the new wife of Philip V. Her requests included a heart made of 130 pearls, pearl earrings, a coral rosary and an emerald ring weighing 74 carats, and the dowry was stored in the cabin of the fleet's senior officer (CoinWeek).

The 1993 Sebastian finds came over a single week. A butterfly brooch shaped as a bow of ribbons held 161 rose-cut and emerald-cut diamonds, and a matching floral brooch came up with it. One gold drop earring was found on July 3 and its mate on July 9; each is inlaid with 53 diamonds, and the lower part is shaped like a pineapple, the detail survivors gave in letters and sworn testimony (1715 Fleet Society). The brooches and earrings now sit in a private collection, so they are not on public display in Sebastian.

The emeralds GIA tested from the 1715 salvage area between Sebastian Inlet and Fort Pierce are Colombian, a conclusion its laboratory reached in 2024 from the stones' chemistry and inclusions (GIA).

The trade explains why Colombian stones lie off Sebastian. After conquering Bogota in 1538, Spain gained control of Colombia's emerald deposits, and by the mid 1500s Colombian emeralds, chiefly from the Muzo mines, were moving to European and Asian markets. The most striking piece GIA examined was a gold and emerald pendant, about 3.5 inches wide, holding 61 of the original 94 emeralds; the 33 missing stones were presumably lost on the seafloor. A second piece was a gold ring set with a Colombian emerald between two amethysts (GIA Gems and Gemology).

Emerald crosses are the signature gem find of the Indian River County beaches. On November 24, 1984 a gold cross set with six emeralds came out of Corrigan's Beach under only four inches of sand; it is 1 5/16 inches tall, its center stone is estimated at 60 points, and the metal is 22K solid gold (1715 Fleet Society). On June 1, 2003 a crew working the Cabin Wreck recovered a gold box with two rings, a long gold chain and a cross with six emeralds, which the Society calls the biggest treasure in years from that site (1715 Fleet Society). The State of Florida collection includes a manicure toothpick set with an emerald (1715 Fleet Society).

Thousands of 1715 gold coins have come up along the Treasure Coast, from about 3,376 at the Douglass Beach wreck in 1964 to over 350 at the Corrigan's site near Vero Beach in 2015 (1715 Fleet Society).

The 2015 hoard is the modern benchmark for the Sebastian end of the field. On July 30 and 31, 2015, the 300th anniversary of the wreck, the crew of the salvage boat Capitana recovered 302 gold coins and 7 Royals, then added two more Royals by August 13 for a total of over 350 gold coins, all at the Corrigan's wreck site (1715 Fleet Society). Earlier in that season, on June 17, 2015, a crew at the Douglas Beach site found a fully dated 1715 eight escudos Royal (1715 Fleet Society).

Royals are the rarest 1715 gold. The Spanish called these Mexico City coins galanos, and the Real 8 salvors named them Royals (1715 Fleet Society). The Society estimates fewer than fifty have been recovered from the fleet, with seven in the State of Florida Collection (1715 Fleet Society).

The gold chains from the 1715 salvage area between Sebastian Inlet and Fort Pierce show skilled New World work: GIA found one chain built by bending and twisting thick gold wire and a finer one with each link soldered in place (GIA Gems and Gemology).

GIA's metal tests show how the jewelry was made. Most pieces were high-karat gold of nonstandard purity, typically 20.1 to 21.5K, with one 13.2K piece, and copper and silver made up the rest of the alloys (GIA Gems and Gemology). Chain also turns up with the gems: the June 1, 2003 Cabin Wreck recovery included a long gold chain along with a gold box, two rings and an emerald cross (1715 Fleet Society).

Raw gold survives as well: the State of Florida collection lists 17.54 grams of gold dust (1715 Fleet Society). The Real Eight salvors who worked the Sebastian wrecks opened their own museum on May 1, 1965, next to the First National Bank of Satellite Beach, about 35 miles north of Sebastian; it drew more than 25,000 visitors in its first half year and displayed a solid gold ingot that weighed seven pounds (1715 Fleet Society archive).

The closest public display is the McLarty Treasure Museum at the south boundary of Sebastian Inlet State Park, open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a $2 entry fee (Florida State Parks).

The museum stands on a survivors camp of the 1715 fleet and tells the story of the gold, silver and queen's jewels that salvagers still work to recover; the last film of the day starts at 3:15 p.m. (Florida State Parks). Park entry is separate: $8 per vehicle with two to eight people, $4 for a single-occupant vehicle and $2 for pedestrians and bicyclists (Florida State Parks). A practical warning: as of October 14, 2026 the park's Hours and Fees page still carries an old July 2023 line saying the McLarty Museum opens seven days a week, directly above the current Wednesday to Sunday hours, so a Monday or Tuesday trip will find it closed.

The public share of the finds is held by the state. Salvors work offshore under Exploration and Recovery Permits from the Division of Historical Resources; after analysis and conservation a portion of the materials may be awarded to the permittee, and the state keeps the remainder for research collections and public display (Florida Division of Historical Resources). The Florida Department of State says close to eighty thousand objects are on exhibit and research loan to more than one hundred venues, and that a portion of a 1715 Fleet silver cache donated in 2026, including two horseman plaques, will be exhibited at the Museum of Florida History when it reopens (Florida Department of State).