THE McLARTY TREASURE MUSEUM

At Sebastian Inlet State Park

This little treasure along Highway A1A between Vero Beach and the Sebastian Inlet memorializes the violent destruction of a fleet of Spanish treasure ships, some just off-shore of the present-day museum, in a 1715 hurricane.

The fleet had been launched several years earlier, sponsored by Spanish King Phillip V who was desperate to bolster the kingdom’s treasury during the war of the Spanish Succession between 1701 and 1714.

He also was desperate for another important reason; his new wife was demanding a queen-sized dowry before she would consent to consummating their marriage.

So, the king’s ships traveled the world as far as the orient purchasing and plundering riches.  The vast fleet rendezvoused in Havana where the collected treasures were stowed on 11 ships and launched on their trip home, taking advantage of favorable currents along the coast of what is now known as Florida.

Spain used warships and forts to protect the treasure ships from pirates.  But, she could not protect them from hurricanes.

In 1715 a storm sank the fleet over a 100 mile stretch of shoreline between Sebastian and Fort Pierce.  700 crew members and passengers were lost at sea and 1,500 survivors struggled to shore. 

 

Within weeks salvagers arrived from Spanish headquarters in St. Augustine and from Havana to attempt to recover the treasure.  They were joined by natives, English pirates and assorted privateers of various nationalities who flocked to the area to retrieve—or steal from each other—as much treasure as they could.

Less than half of the material originally listed on the ships’ manifest reached the Spanish treasury.  The rest lay hidden in the coastal sea until one of the sunken vessels was found in 1928 near Fort Pierce. 

The next clues to the location of the treasure appeared in the 1940s when artifacts were uncovered at a site south of the Sebastian Inlet.

Major new discoveries still are being made along the Treasure Coast, often after later hurricanes wash away beaches, keeping very much alive, the hopes of modern treasure hunters.

As we left the museum, Sue quipped, "The movie never said whether the king ever managed to consummate his marriage.”

We chuckled.

 As if punctuating the meaning of the memorial, a storm boils toward the museum's boardwalk as we concluded our visit.