DISCOVER THE 1715 FLEET
Official site for Queens Jewels, 1715 Treasure Fleet

Andreas Kerner working aboard the M/V Hitting Bottom made several interesting discoveries about two weeks ago. At the 1715 fleet Rio Mar wreck he has been recovering some small gold nuggets and flakes. This gold was being shipped back to Spain in its raw form. In 1969 when Mel Fisher and his Treasure Salvors group first excavated this wreck site they discovered fairly significant amounts of raw gold dust and nuggets. Once this gold was uncovered through excavations Mel let hi

Several days ago while doing methodical metal detector surveys of the 1715 fleet wreck site known as the Rio Mar Wreck, 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels subcontractor Andreas Kerner, working from the M/V Hitting Bottom, found this 6.5 gram raw gold nugget. (Roughly the weight of a two escudo gold coin) When the Rio Mar Wreck was first excavated in 1969, Mel Fisher had his teenage sons Dirk and Kim recover gold dust and nuggets using a turkey baster. Several pounds were recovered by t

Andreas Kerner working aboard the M/V Hitting Bottom has been doing methodical metal detector surveys of the 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels’ Power Plant site. While the Power Plant site search is primarily focused on the recovery of artifacts dating to the late 16th or early 17th century, scattered debris from a number of other ship wreck sites are known to be in the area. Within the last week Andreas has recovered two coins, one gold and one silver, dating to the late 18th Century

Andreas Kerner working aboard the M/V Hitting Bottom recovered two very interesting bronze spikes at the 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels’ Power Plant site. One of the spikes is pictured below. Very crude in appearance, these spikes might well date to the late 16th or early 17th centuries and could be related to the finds of silver paddies and Philip II 2 Reale silver coins that have been recovered in the same general area in the past. Also recovered was a lead seal of an unknown ori