STOLEN 1715 FLEET COINS RECOVERED

A collection of 37 gold coins — with a combined value estimated at more than $1 million — have been recovered after they were stolen by salvagers back in 2015 from a famous 18th century shipwreck off Florida's Treasure Coast, state authorities announced Tuesday. A professional treasure hunter has been charged in connection with the case.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced the recovery in a news release, calling it a "major milestone in a long-standing investigation into the theft and illegal trafficking of these priceless historical artifacts." As required by state and federal law, the recovered artifacts will be returned to their "rightful custodians," the agency added.

The coins were aboard the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet, a convoy of 11 ships filled with treasure from the New World that were lost to a hurricane in July 1715. The shipwreck gave Florida's Treasure Coast its name.

Schmitt spoke to "CBS Mornings" in July 2015 after his family's business, Booty Salvage, helped find the coins while searching in shallow waters off the coast of Fort Pierce.

In 2015, members of the Schmitt family, working as contracted salvage operators for a company called "1715 Fleet - Queens Jewels," uncovered 101 gold coins worth $4.5 million, FWC said. Fifty-one of these coins were reported correctly and adjudicated, but 50 coins were not disclosed and were subsequently stolen. FWC investigators, in collaboration with the FBI, launched an investigation on June 10 for the missing coins.

Evidence linked Schmitt, to the illegal sale of multiple stolen gold coins between 2023 and 2024, FWC said.

Authorities executed multiple search warrants, recovering the stolen coins from private residences, safe deposit boxes and auctions, FWC said. Five stolen coins were reclaimed from a Florida-based auctioneer, who unknowingly purchased them from Schmitt.

On behalf of the 1715 Fleet Society, its Board of Directors and myself, I/we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all those involved in recovering 37 Spanish Colonial gold coins that were part of a larger authorized salvage in 2015 but were illegally withheld and unreported by the salvage team that located the hoard.

Legitimate salvagers that recover coins and artifacts that are part of Florida's heritage do so with the permission of the state through lease arrangements. As such, they operate on the honor system which includes an unwritten code of ethics. These legitimate operators take great pains to ferrate out any bad actors that can tarnish their reputations, as was the case here. In fact, 1715 Fleet – Queens Jewels, LLC which is the District Courts' appointed custodian and exclusive salvaging company of the historic 1715 Treasure Fleet took this matter very seriously. The company worked closely with law enforcement and the state of Florida to ensure that the recovered coins are now going through the proper process for legal adjudication.

The theft and concealment of coins found on the wreck sites of the 1715 Fleet is not just a simple case of stolen coins. It is a case of stolen history. These coins tell us a lot about the monetary history of that period. When that history is lost, it is a crime of greater proportions. It is a loss of knowledge. It is a loss of heritage. It is a loss of scholarship. But most of all, it is a loss of trust. Trust in a system that is based on trust.

Although this is a dark chapter in the modern history of Fleet salvage and recovery there is a bright side to this all. For these that helped to recover these coins were part of the legitimate, hard-working professionals that work and search the wreck sites every day (weather permitting). These are the folks that will continue to search and find coins and artifacts, many of which end up in museums and public displays.

This sad episode should not be an indictment on all that do this work. For in the end, there are bad actors in every profession. And judging the group by the actions of a few is not only unfair but wrong.