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

Several days ago Captain Eric Schmitt and the crew of the M/V Arrr Booty made a significant discovery of gold and silver items at the Douglas Beach wreck site. The recoveries included a beautiful Lima 8 Escudo dated (1)708, seven 8 reale silver coins, several small silver coins and 2 low carat and 2 high carat gold rings. Not only are the finds excellent on their own, but hopefully their recovery location will add to our knowledge of the break up and scatter of the highly dis

Congratulations to Eric Schmitt and the crew of the Aarrr Booty for their find of a Bogota 2 Escudo at the 1715 fleet wreck site known as Douglas Beach. Using methodical excavation techniques, Eric and crew found the coin on June 29th, in an offshore area of the Douglas Beach site. Eric and crew are sure to produce more exciting finds as the summer salvage season progresses! #2018 #AarrrBooty #EricSchmitt #DouglasBeachWreck #1715GoldCoins

Congratulations to Jason and Joey Gooch! Several weeks ago while conducting methodical excavations on the 1715 fleet Douglas Beach wreck site they made their first silver coin discovery. A beautiful Lima one reale dated (16)98, with the date clearly legible on both the obverse and reverse sides of the coin. #2018 #JasonandJoeyGooch #DouglasBeachWreck #1715SilverCoins

After a long windy and rough winter, the weather finally broke on June 2nd starting the 2018 summer field season. A number of vessels working with 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, LLC on the 1715 fleet wreck sites have made it out and some artifact finds are being made. Captain Dan Porter and Captain John Brandon found first gold on Sunday, June 3rd. Using Dan’s new salvage vessel the M/V Seatrepid crewman Levin Shavers found a beautiful Mexico 1 Escudo, circa 1715, pictured. #2018

Veteran historical shipwreck salvors Capt. John Brandon (left) and Capt. Dan Porter share a congratulatory hand shake after another successful collaboration, while holding 16 gold coins. The gold coins were recovered by Dan and the crew of the M/V Sea Reaper from August 17th through August 20th at the 1715 fleet Douglas Beach Wreck in an area suggested by John. John and Dan have cooperated on numerous successful historical shipwreck recoveries, with Dan starting to work with

Capt. Dan Porter and the crew of the M/V Sea Reaper continue to recover gold coins from the Douglas Beach Wreck site. On Saturday they recovered ten more 2 escudos with numismatic specimens from the mints at Bogota, Lima, Mexico and possibly another Cuzco. Many bore clearly legible dates. It was also a day of firsts, with many of the Sea Reaper's crew finding their first gold coins. Pictured below is Art Schweitzer, a principle in Dan's company Maritime Research & Recovery, w

M/V Sea Reaper diver Rob Hill is shown with a just recovered Mexico 2 escudo dated 1712. 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels Operations Manager John Brandon suggested a challenging area of the 1715 fleet Douglas Beach Wreck site's debris field for Capt. Dan Porter and the Sea Reaper crew to reinvestigate. Utilizing highly refined search techniques Capt. Porter and crew recovered the Mexico 2 escudo as well as Rob also finding a Bogota 2 escudo! #DanPorter #DouglasBeachWreck #JohnBrandon

Phil Ratcliff (left) and Oliver Ackland-Snow of the M/V Perfect Day shown recovering beautiful sherds of Kang Hsi Chinese export porcelain. Searching a predominately unexplored area of the Douglas Beach wreck site, they are finding the archaeological clues that will help to further define this extremely scattered shipwreck's debris field. Kang Hsi china sherds have been frequently found on the Douglas Beach wreck site associated with other significant finds, including gold co

Capt. Eric Schmitt and the crew of the M/V Aarrr Booty continue excavations in the northern most extremities of the Douglas Beach Wreck site's known debris field. Yesterday's field excavations yielded a beautiful piece of Kang Hsi export porcelain, which was recovered by diver Gavin Buck. The Douglas Beach "Gold Trail", first established in 1987/88 consisted primarily of Kang Hsi sherds, musket balls, gold jewelry, and over 1,000 gold coins and stretched for half a mile! Capt