SOLD Santa Margarita Shipwreck 8 Reales Pendant; Please Explore Our Spanish Shipwreck Pendants For Similar Items.

Description:

This coin also comes with Mel Fisher's Treasure Salvors Grade 1 Santa Margarita photo certificate #8515. This is a genuine silver coin salvaged from the Santa Margarita Shipwreck. In the Summer of 1622, the treasure arriving by mule to Panama City was so immense that it took 2 months to record and load the precious cargo. That delayed the treasure fleets return voyage to Spain well into hurricane season. On the return voyage to Spain on September 6th, the Santa Margarita along with the Nuestra Senora de Atocha and 3 other ships were caught in a violent hurricane. At least four ships, including the Atocha and the Santa Margarita, were pushed into the Florida Keys. The 15-foot waves carried the Margarita across the reefs, grounding her in the shallows beyond. Her commander, Captain Bernardino de Lugo, watched the Atocha in peril to the East.
The lost ships of the 1622 treasure fleet lay scattered over 50 miles from the Dry Tortugas eastward to where the Atocha went down. 550 people died and a cargo worth more than two million pesos was lost. The loss of the 1622 treasure fleet was a disaster for the Royal Treasury. Using a copper diving bell in June of 1626 the wreckage of the Santa Margarita was found and much of the precious cargo was recovered by the Spanish. Presently, modern salvage operations are still recovering valuable scattered artifacts from the Santa Margarita that the Spanish were unable to recover in the 1620’s.