Odd disc found on Florida shipwreck tied to 1700s Spanish monarchy, experts say

A baffling disc found on a treasure ship off Florida’s Atlantic Coast has been discovered to have ties to 1700s Spanish monarchy, according to the nonprofit 1715 Fleet Society.

Capt. Mike Perna admits he was was hoping for treasure when he uncovered the 4-inch-wide lead disc, which bears an “image of a seated figure with all the trappings of royalty.”

But what he got was more mysterious.

“When I first put my hand on the artifact, the visibility was very poor and it immediately felt like a small gold disc. As I removed it from the sand it was not clear what it was that we had found,” Perna told McClatchy News in an email.

“Once the artifact came topside, we were able to look at it a little bit better, however it was still unclear if it was silver or lead. One thing was for sure — it was not a gold disc, and so at the time it was a bit of a let-down.”

Attitudes changed when additional research in the special collections section at Lehigh University libraries showed the disc appeared to be a royal document seal that had “remarkable similarity” to a circa-1556 document seal featuring Phillip II, King of Spain, the society noted in a September artifact report.

“Royal seals were used by monarchs on official documents to signify that a document was authentic and had royal approval,” the report says.

Perna, a member of the society’s advisory board, found the disc at a site known to historians as the “Cabin Wreck.” The large shipwreck is believed to have been the 471-ton Nuestra Señora de la Regla, which was carrying more than 1,300 chests of silver coins and silver bars when it hit a reef and split apart, historians say.

It was part of the legendary fleet of about a dozen Spanish treasure ships that were “homeward bound to Philip V” when they encountered a hurricane and were destroyed, historians say. It happened July 31, 1715, as the fleet sailed past what is today Indian River County, Florida, according to 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels, LLC.

So how did such a seal get aboard the ship?

“There were many prominent individuals traveling onboard the ship at the time of its sinking and this artifact denotes that one of the individuals was likely carrying documents proclaiming their noble status,” Perna said.

“There have been several small lead seals found on the 1715 fleet and shipwrecks of the colonial time period. Most of them are used to claim ownership of textile and tobacco bales.”

The future of the seal remains to be decided, including whether to do extensive restorative cleaning.

It is currently under the care of 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels LLC, which is the U.S District Courts’ custodian and exclusive salvaging company of the historic 1715 Treasure Fleet. It was recovered on a vessel registered as a licensed subcontractor, Perna noted.

“This artifact continues to intrigue and thrill us as its mystery unravels and new information about the item reveals itself,” he said.

This story was originally published September 15, 2025 at 8:00 AM with the headline "Odd disc found on Florida shipwreck tied to 1700s Spanish monarchy, experts say."