History of the Santa Margarita 

In September of 1622, a fleet of 28 ships, including the Santa Margarita, gathered off the coast of Havana loaded with riches collected from the many Spanish colonies throughout the ‘New World.’ This valuable cargo was desperately needed by King Phillip IV to pay Spain’s rapidly increasing debts. The Santa Margarita galleon was registered to be carrying 166,574 silver “pieces of eight” treasure coins, more than 500 ingots of silver and 9,000 ounces of gold.  

In addition to registered legal cargo, passengers would often carry contraband wealth on their person and in their luggage to avoid paying a 20% tax to the Spanish crown. Within days, a violent storm wrecked five of the fleet near the Marquesas Keys in the Florida Straits. In total, 550 passengers and crew, including 142 from the Santa Margarita, perished in the brutal seas. All the treasure was lost to the bottom of a vast ocean. 

This loss was a huge setback for Spain, whose world dominance at the time was reliant upon the riches from fleets returning 

from their colonies. Immediate attempts to salvage the lost treasure were soon abandoned due to strong currents and further 

storms scattering the treasure on the ocean floor. In 1624, Francisco Melian obtained the royal salvage contract for the sunken fleet. With the aid of Venezuelan pearl divers and his own invention, the diving bell, several hundred ingots and thousands of silver coins were found. However, multi-millions in treasures in the form of silver, gold and precious gems still remained lost at the bottom of the ocean. Over time, the Santa Margarita was forgotten, but not forever. 

In 2007 and 2008, our associates recovered treasure from the site with an estimated value of $16 million consisting of gold chains and jewelry, a religious reliquary, silver coins and artifacts and gold bars. Two particularly notable discoveries: a lead box containing 16,184 rare and valuable natural pearls including one pear sized at 52 carats, one of the rarest natural pearls in the world and an exquisitely crafted gold chalice with an estimated value of more than $1,300,000.