Florida Family Finds $300,000 Worth Of Sunken Treasure

[freak 1,032]

A Florida family who spends their time together hunting for treasure struck it rich over the weekend, hauling an estimated $300,000 worth of gold from a historic wreckage in the Atlantic Ocean.

Rick Schmitt, his wife and two children from the town of Sanford found gold chains and coins from the wreckage of a convoy of 11 ships which went down in a hurricane off the coast of Florida in 1715.

The ships' manifests indicate that about $400 million worth of treasure was on board, of which $175 million has been recovered, according to the company who owns the rights to the wreckage.

Under U.S. and Florida law, the treasure will be placed into the custody of the U.S. District Court in South Florida. The state of Florida will be allowed to take possession of up to 20% of the find for display in a state museum. The remainder will be split evenly between the wreck’s company and the Schmitt family.

The story of the 1715 wreckage was used as a basis for the 1977 film The Deep, and for the 2008 film Fool's Gold.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mwlHGXkHRc