Divers searching Spanish shipwrecks off Florida’s “Treasure Coast” turned up more than 1,000 silver coins and five gold coins from a fleet that sank in 1715.

Queens Jewels LLC owns the exclusive rights to salvage the wrecks of a Spanish fleet that sank off Florida on July 31, 1715, sending gold, silver and jewels worth as much as $400 million in current value to the ocean floor. On Tuesday, the company announced the results of a recent find.

The term Treasure Coast refers to a stretch of southeastern Florida’s Atlantic coastline north of Miami consisting of Indian River County, St. Lucie County and Martin County. The name stems from the wreck of the 1715 treasure fleet, according to Indian River Magazine.

Capt. Levin Shavers and the crew of the boat Just Right turned up the coins, Queens Jewels said.

“Each coin is a piece of history, a tangible link to the people who lived, worked, and sailed during the Golden Age of the Spanish Empire. Finding 1,000 of them in a single recovery is both rare and extraordinary,” Queens Jewels Director of Operations Sal Gattuso said.

The condition of the coins, which still have dates and mint marks, suggests that they were in a single container or shipment that spilled when the boat carrying them sank in a hurricane, Queens Jewels said.

Some of the coins also showed signs of being contained in a burlap sack.

“In the past, there’s evidence of them finding a chest which contained three burlap sacks and each sack had about 1,000 coins. We could potentially be looking at a chest of coins and with there being two more thousand coin dumps in the area,” Mr. Shavers told Treasure Coast Newspapers.

The coins will undergo preservation work before being displayed publicly. Under Florida law, the treasure belongs to the local U.S. District Court. The state of Florida will take up to 20% of what was found with the rest divided amongst the crew or crews that found it, according to Treasure Coast Newspapers.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.