Several videos back I mentioned the ill-fated 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet, but I want to explore this
story in a little more depth. If you’ve ever seen the series Black Sails you’ll probably remember
the Urca de Lima, the treasure ship Flint and his crew were chasing in the first season.
The Urca de Lima was a real ship and it did indeed wreck off the coast of
Florida after sailing into a powerful hurricane. But the Urca wasn’t alone,
it was part of a fleet comprised of 12 ships sailing from Havana to Spain.
Let me take a minute and give a little background here: Once every year a large group of ships would
depart Spain with European goods and sail across the Atlantic. When they arrived in the Caribbean
they would separate into 2 fleets, the Flota de Nueva España and the Flota de Tierra Firme.
The Flota de Nueva España, or Fleet of New Spain - which is now Mexico - sailed
to Veracruz to load silver and cochineal, a valuable red dye. They also loaded porcelain
and silk from Asia which arrived in Acapulco and was carried overland.
The Flota de Tierra Firme was sent to the South American mainland and collected gold,
silver, emeralds, and pearls. Once the fleets were loaded with treasure
they would sail for Havana and wait for the other to arrive before returning to Spain.
In 1701 the War of the Spanish Succession broke
out and the flow of treasure from the Caribbean to Spain was all but stopped.
British and Dutch privateers were prowling the sea routes looking for any Spanish ships
and English naval forces had sunk or captured several Spanish warships seizing treasure.
In 1715, towards the end of the war, the Spanish King Philip the 5th ordered the
treasure fleet to be sent to the Caribbean in order to bring back desperately needed gold
and silver. This gold and silver had been accumulating over the course of the war.
The 11 Spanish ships had grouped in Havana and would travel back with a French 4th rate
warship called Griffon. The Flota de Tierra Firme was comprised of 6 ships
and the Flota of Nueva España was made up of 5 ships including the Santissima Trinidad,
a Dutch-built merchant ship nicknamed the Urca de Lima.
The captain of the French warship reported the value of the cargo to be at 15 million
pieces of eight which is worth over $750 million dollars today. The fleet had been
waiting to sail for almost 2 years and was commanded by General Don Juan Esteban de Ubilla.
Ubilla was pressured to set sail even though the Atlantic hurricane season was already well
underway. On the morning of July 24th, 1715 the fleet set sail. July 24th was a calm day with a
gentle breeze and slowly the ships made their way into the Gulf Stream sailing up the east
coast of Florida. They would have had no idea that a massive hurricane had formed to their southeast.
The first 5 days of the voyage the weather remained calm and the trip was largely uneventful.
By July 29th larger waves had started to form from the southeast and the air would have been hazy.
Experienced sailors would have became concerned knowing these were early signs of tropical storms.
The next morning, on July 30th, the winds would have been noticeably stronger and,
by mid afternoon, would have been over 30 knots with 20 foot seas.
Ubilla ordered all ships to head into the wind so they stayed offshore and away
from the treacherous shoals and reefs that surrounded the Florida coastline.
This attempt was unsuccessful and by midnight the ships were almost completely out of control.
On July 31st at roughly 4 a.m. the doomed fleet started to run aground off the coast from present
day Varo Beach, Florida. The heavy wooden ships slammed into the shoals and broke apart like toys.
The Urca de Lima was able to steer into a river where she came to rest on a sandbar
but did not break up. Most of her cargo was intact and the Spanish built a camp around
the Urca’s wreck before burning her down to hide the position.
Out of almost 2,500 sailors well over 1,000 died including Juan Esteban de Ubilla.
The French ship, Griffon, was the only one in the fleet that made it. The Griffon had
remained offshore and sailed ahead of the fleet arriving off the coast of France on August 31st.
They were not aware that all of the other ships had sunk.
Back in Florida around sunrise on July 31st the survivors combed through the wreckage
and bodies of their friends as they washed ashore. The fleet was separated by miles so
the survivors wouldn’t have been able to realize just how bad things were. They didn’t have food,
water, or medical supplies and each day men were dying of starvation, injury, and disease.
On August 6th 19 men took one of the fleets small boats towards Cuba to try and get help.
It took them 11 days but they finally reached Havana and, a few days later,
ships were underway carrying supplies, salvage equipment, and soldiers.
Spanish sloops dredged the seabed and brought up chests of silver coins, jewelry, and gold
and soon additional ships were sent from St. Augustine to aid the salvage effort as well.
By early September the governor of Cuba sent 25 soldiers to guard over 5,000,000 pieces of eight,
but the weather began to turn.
News had spread of the wreck and privateers and pirates set sail hoping for an easy chance to get
rich. In November 1715 a Bermudian privateer named Henry Jennings heard about the news.
Jennings was operating from Jamaica and had been granted a commission from the governor,
Lord Archibald Hamilton.
In December 1715 Henry Jennings and Charles Vane captured a Spanish mail
ship. Onboard was a document that gave the position of the Spanish salvage camp
on the Florida coast. Jennings and a force of around 300 men sailed
for Florida and found a treasure shipment in a lightly guarded fort.
The men attacked the camp and the 60 Spanish soldiers had no choice but to retreat.
Jennings and his crew had captured more than £87,000 in gold and silver
which was equivalent to a 10 year salary for that time. This was an act of piracy
and the men sailed to nearby Nassau where the money was distributed amongst the men.
Jennings then sailed back to Jamaica and his arrival created a sensation,
motivating other privateers and pirates to sail to Florida hoping to find anything that Jennings had
missed. Jennings went to give governor Hamilton his share of the treasure but the governor
reported that he didn’t accept anything, simply saying “I heard it was taken from the shore”.
Hamilton, fearing a conflict with the Spanish over the stolen treasure, advised Jennings to quietly
leave Jamaica and attacked the wreck again. The Spanish offered Jennings 25,000 pieces of eight
to go away and Jennings accepted but not before taking some of the Spanish cannons for his ship.
Jennings went on to attack the wreck site a further 2 times before finally being declared
a pirate and forced out of Jamaica. Once again he sailed to Nassau where, along with Benjamin
Hornigold, he ruled the island. In 1718 the new governor of the Bahamas, Woodes Rogers,
issued a decree offering a pardon to any pirate who surrendered. Jennings
sailed to Bermuda where he accepted the pardon and went on to live out his life as wealthy and
respected member of society. He is one of the few pirates who successfully retired.
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