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By Greg Hupé
(Independant Story, 2004)
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After 23 years of serious thought and planning of treasure hunting the Florida coast, I finally
found some in October 2004. While in high school, I had dreams of traveling to the Florida
“Treasure Coast” in search of lost riches from the ill-fated Spanish 1715 Plate Fleet. It is
called the “Plate” fleet due to the abundance of silver (Plata in Spanish, hence the name, ‘Plate’).
The fleet of 11 Spanish galleons sank off of the east coast near Vero Beach after a violent
hurricane over took the unsuspecting mariners.
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After high school I had planned to fly to Florida after a hurricane in search of gold and silver,
which washes up onto the beach after serious storms and hurricanes. Much is buried under several
feet of sand, which is stripped away
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after such acts of Mother Nature. I suppose it is her way of giving some back after taking it
nearly 300 years ago. I would plan to use a metal detector for the task.
I had waited over 20 years without any hurricanes hitting the area directly. Who would have thought
that after moving to Florida a few months before that a succession of hurricanes would devastate Florida,
two of which hit Vero Beach and the surrounding areas dead on within weeks of each other! I now had two
occasions to drive the 2-hours it would take to get to one of the richest galleon wreck sites known.
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Stairway to heaven...
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Greg Hupe (right) and Zac Smith begin the hunt.
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During the wait for a hurricane to hit the area, I did extensive research on the Internet about where
the wreck sites where. I settled with directions and coordinates from a web site that looked good.
The first trip was a few days after Hurricane Frances tore through the area. I went three times during
a 2-week period and found many modern U.S. coins and a few artifacts from the site, mostly bronze rivets and
possibly one very weathered silver half reale.
The second hurricane, Jeanne, would do even more damage and expose more of the older layers of beach. I made
two trips to the coast and didn't find
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anything, not even a penny, during six hours of searching the first day.
The night before my second outing, I decided to compare coordinates and landmarks from the web site
against a book written by Bob “Frogfoot” Weller.
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I discovered that the web site missed a large southern area of one of
the wrecks closest to the beach. I decided I would try the area from the web site first and then go to the
southern area that was overlooked.
After my research for the night was over, I decided to watch the movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean” for good luck, or
as the saying goes, “Good Luck equals Preparation plus Opportunity”. I would find out the next day just how true that is.
The next morning, after 2-hours of detecting the well-searched area of the web site location, I went to the southern
area I wanted to investigate.
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Encrusted half reale as found.
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Greg's first confirmed silver half reale.
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Reverse side of silver half reale.
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After approximately 30 minutes, I found my first silver reale in excellent
condition. I couldn't believe it, here in my hand was a 300-year old piece of treasure! I was elated and
looked around me to see if there was anyone who saw my body motions or heard my voice exclaiming in delight. No
one was around so I felt confident nobody realized I had found a good spot.
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I jotted down notes and made a detailed map for future searching. I continued in a grid pattern to search
the site very carefully and was rewarded with a small caliber musket ball from an old pistol (800 in total
over three months). This, too, was from the 1715 fleet. Another few minutes and I found my second coin,
which was not in as good of condition.
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Gold ring Greg found from the 1715 galleon.
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Hundreds of musketballs found on the beach.
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My first gold doubloon!! view 1.
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Greg's gold doubloon. view 2.
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I continued my search, when after another hour, my metal detector blared out the alert of another find.
This time I found a gold ring in very good condition. It was still in its perfect circle-shape but the
outside was dulled from the many years of abuse from sand abrasion. The inside had some corrosion but
revealed brilliant gold along the edges. I would find out later that it was from the 1715 fleet and was
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most likely 10 carats. After such a bountiful day and being late, I decided I would make the 2-hour drive back to Lakeland and
photograph my finds to share with my friends via email.
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I would have to wait three days in order to return to “my” spot in order to continue the hunt where
I left off. When I returned, I did a thorough grid search of the area where I found the gold ring.
Within an hour I found what it is all about, a gold escudo, or doubloon as the pirates called them.
I could not believe my eyes when I dug out the object my metal detector sounded out. I smoothed the
sand away to reveal a gleaming golden coin. Wow! What a feeling. I was awestruck. I didn’t make a
noise and didn’t do the chicken dance this time. My mouth just dropped in shock. I thought,
“Cool, now what do I do with it?” Simple enough, I stuffed it into my zippered pocket and went
right back to finishing the search area I set forth earlier.
It wasn’t until I was driving home that it all struck me, I found what all kids, young or old,
dream about. I found the ultimate buried treasure, a gold coin from the time of pirates! I
truly realized a dream in the most unbelievable way and am almost saddened by it. I reached a
long time goal so now what do I do? Dumb question Greg, you go out there and find the rest of
the treasure chest!!!
Happy hunting!
Greg
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Greg with his first gold doubloon at Frogfoot’s house.
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Treasure hunter, “Frogfoot”, and myself at his house playing show and tell with each other's treasures.
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Greg holding 7-pound solid gold disc discovered by Frogfoot.
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After successfully finding gold and silver from the Spanish galleons that sank in 1715, I contacted
Bob "Frogfoot" Weller, a legendary local treasure hunter and author of the book that led me to my finds. I
sent him images of some of my treasures. He immediately replied back saying, "You found gold! How would you like
to come over? I can show you a few of my treasures." I asked if he would be home in two
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days and he said to
come over any time. Upon meeting, I thanked him for writing the book that I referenced to find my treasure.
I spent the whole day looking at and holding fantastic objects. It was an honor and privilege to meet him
and see some of his amazing treasures!
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After hunting alone for nearly two months, I had two different groups of friends fly to Florida
to hunt with me. The first group members were my brother, Adam, and friend, Steve Drummond. Adam
flew over from Washington and Steve from California. We found hundreds of musket balls from
the same site I previously found. Unfortunately we did not find any coins or jewelry during their stay,
but still had a great time.
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Michael Blood and Cecil Caufield flew out to help with the hunt.
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Greg and Cecil pulling apart trees and bushes to hunt the difficult areas.
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The following week, friends Michael Blood and Cecil Caufield flew over from southern
California. I put them on the musket ball site so they would be guaranteed to find something from
the wreck site. I went off on my own to try a different technique of finding coins. I decided that
I would have to work a little harder since the beaches had been
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After clearing away debris, we use detectors to pinpoint the treasure.
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One day's worth of finds on the beach.
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completely worked by treasure hunters.
Every bare square foot of beach had been searched. I began to pull trees, bushes and other debris away
to search under them. I was immediately rewarded with a silver reale! I continued doing this and found
four silver coins in just two hours.
I went back to see what Michael and Cecil found and was happy to see
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they had found several musket balls.
I showed them what I had found and explained what it took to find them. Since it was already late in the day,
we planned to team together the next day to clear away the debris and hunt the once covered sections of beach. We found,
on average, one coin per hour of work. At the end of four days of finding coins we divided our small pile of
Spanish silver.
I really enjoyed sharing my treasure hunting adventure with my friends. Everyone went home with something from
a Spanish galleon that sank in 1715. The smiles on their faces was the true treasure!
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Teamwork pays off!
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End of long day with some Spanish silver finds.
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Greg and Cecil relax after several days of exhausting work.
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