Buen Jesus y Nuestra Senora del Rosario Treasure

The wreck site of the Spanish ship Buen Jesus y Nuestra Senora del Rosario, has been found 400 miles from the Florida Keys. The ship was part of a Spanish fleet of 28 ships, eight of which met their demise on September 5, 1622, during a hurricane. 500 people on board perished and the hiding place of their treasure remained a mystery for nearly four centuries. The disaster was directly responsible for the failure of the Bank of Madrid. The disaster contributed to the eventual downfall of the formerly all-powerful Spanish colonial empire.

Among the 17,000 objects are pearls from a rare species of oyster found in seabeds off the coast of Venezuela. The wreck contains 39 gold bars, and nearly 1,200 silver pieces of eight.