Encrusted orbs from 18th Century shipwreck prove to be rare find, Florida lab reports

Seven months of painstaking lab work revealed two encrusted orbs found off Florida’s Atlantic Coast are rare examples of 300-year-old “onion bottles,” state historians say.

The “especially fragile” artifacts were barely recognizable when pulled from a 1700s Spanish shipwreck in 2021 and 2022, photos show. The wreck site is off Indian River County, about a 150-mile drive north from Miami, the Florida Division of Historical Resources told McClatchy News in an email.

“Intact examples are rare. These bottles are very fragile, and for them to first survive the destruction of the ship and then being submerged under water for over 300 years where they were subject to tidal forces is incredible,” according to Mark Ard, the Florida Department of State’s director of external affairs.

“Archaeologists typically only find small fragments of these vessels.”

The bottles were empty, but it’s assumed they “contained some sort of alcoholic spirit” for consumption by the ship’s ill-fated crew and passengers, he said.

Historians haven’t identified the ship by name, but it was part of the Spanish Plate Fleets that sailed from Cuba bound for Spain in 1715, officials say.

“The 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet was lost at sea along Florida’s east coast after encountering a hurricane,” Ard said. “As part of a global trade network in the 18th century, the Plate Fleets were responsible for transporting cargo from the Kingdom of Spain’s colonial territories in Central and South America, as well as goods from Asia to Europe.”

The name “Plate Fleets” comes from “the plata (silver) coins they carried,” state historians say. The ships “were heavy, slow-moving” and easy targets for pirates,” forcing crews to set sail with plenty of weapons for defense. The voyages could take up to two months, experts say.

“Beyond the gold and silver that was scattered on the sea floor, the wrecks of the Plate Fleets provide insight into the economy of the Spanish empire and maritime culture of the 18th century,” the Florida Department of State says.

Glass subjected to centuries under water can become “especially fragile” and start to flake, state conservators reported in an Oct. 8 Facebook post.

Preservation at the state lab in Tallahassee involved “meticulously slow cleaning and drying,” then applying coats of acrylic to stabilize the glass, officials said.

Seven “nearly intact” bottles from the 1715 Plate Fleet have been found off Florida, and the state’s Division of Historical Resources has made them available for display at qualified institutions across the world.

This story was originally published October 15, 2024 at 8:13 AM with the headline "Encrusted orbs from 18th Century shipwreck prove to be rare find, Florida lab reports."