 Seafarer Exploration Corporation believes the mask may be from the 'La Conception' of the 1715 treasure fleet. | The partial remains of a rare Peruvian death mask was found on Melbourne Beach, off the coast of Florida in 2019. The mask is made mainly of copper and contains traces of gold, silver and iridium, which is usually found in meteorites. The mask was likely stolen by tomb raiders from a royal grave. |  Funerary Mask, gold, silver-copper overlays, cinnabar, Lambayeque (Sicán) |
 | On July 31, 1715 eleven of the twelve Spanish ships sailing from Havana to Spain with royal treasure were wrecked by a violent hurricane on the east coast of Florida from St. Lucie to Cape Canaveral. Seven days after departing from Havana, the ships were lost near present day Vero Beach, Florida. Around 1,500 perished |  |
 | Seven of these Spanish treasure laden ships were scattered over the reefs from south of Fort Pierce to the Sebastian Inlet. Gold and silver coins started to be found on the beaches in the 1950s after strong nor'easters or a violent hurricane. This part of Florida's Atlantic east coast quickly became known as the Treasure Coast. |  |
 | The Nuestra Señora de la Concepción was a 120-ton galleon. It very likely contained a significant portion of the treasure. It is believed the ship separated from the fleet the day before the storm struck. It's wreck has never been found. It's thought only a small fraction of the treasure of the lost 1715 Treasure Fleet has been recovered. Seafarer Exploration says the mask is a major link in a 'debris trail' that could pinpoint La Conception's final resting place. |   |
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| 1715 Fleet ships found are: 1 - Nuestra Senora de la Regla 2 - Santo Cristo de San Roman 3 - Nuestra Senora del Carmen 4 - Nuestra Señora de La Popa 5 - Nuestra Senora del Rosario 6 - Urca de Lima 7 - Nuestra Senora de las Nieves | - | Ships of the 1715 Fleet never found: 8 - Maria Galante 9 - El Senor San Miguel 10 - El Cievro 11 - Nuestra Senora de la Concepcion 12 - Griffon made it safely and went on to France |  |
 | VERO BEACH — Bonnie Schubert couldn’t believe her eyes when, about 1,000 feet off Frederick Douglass Beach near Fort Pierce, she came face to face with a solid gold statue of a bird that had lain under the Atlantic Ocean over 295 years. “I remember asking myself, ‘Is this real?’” Schubert recalled as the 5.5-inch-tall statue she found was revealed to the public at her home in the Vero Shores neighborhood of Vero Beach. “The Bird,” as it’s come to be known, is real all right. So is it’s $885,000 appraised value. |
