Hey Bob Welcome from Texas
Here is a little info to get you going
Florida has more sunken treasure along her coastline and in the inland bays than any other state in the Union. There are also hidden caches made by gangsters, Indians, smugglers, and politicians. The State offers these locations to the treasure hunter, plus the best coin shooting beaches in the world. Florida is truly a treasure hunters paradise.
Rumors of a cache of $500,000 in gold bullion reportedly buried in the Everglades of Florida by a group of Confederate soldiers have persisted for more than 100 years, and many searches have been made for it. Here is the story:
In 1865, Captain John Riley and a detachment of Confederate troops were sent from Kentucky with a half ton of gold bullion to be transported to Fort Mead, Florida, and then on to Havana, Cuba. As Union troops advanced through Florida, the Confederate band fled into the Everglades, buried the gold at the last camping place, and continued their flight.
In September, 1944, it was reported that State Game Officer L. P. Harvey led a small party into the Everglades and located what they believed to have been the last camping place of the Confederates, almost hidden by undergrowth but identified by Confederate relics found there. The site was described as being located at the point of an angle formed by a line 40 miles due west of Ft. Lauderdale, and another line due northwest of the Miami City Hall until it met the first line.
This would place the treasure on a Seminole Indian Reservation in west central Broward County.
During the early years of the 18th century, it was the custom of Spanish ships laden with fold and silver mined in Mexico and Peru to gather in the mid-summer off the Florida coast near Sebastian Inlet, about 40 miles south of the present-day space center at Cape Kennedy. The purpose of this rendezvous was to form a convoy for protection against pirate attacks. Undoubtedly some late arrivals in July of 1715 delayed formation of the fleet, and it was not until the start of hurricane season that the homeward journey of eleven galleons was begun. Setting sail on July 13, 1715, the Spanish convoy was hit by a violent hurricane that sank all but one of the ships and scattered fabulous treasures on the ocean floor some 2000 feet from shore.
St. Joseph was once the largest town in Florida and is notable among Floridas several ghost towns as having been abandoned almost overnight. The town owed its existence to a bitter dispute over homestead claims. Between 1804 and 1811, the Spanish granted a company of Indian traders a large tract of land on the Apalachicola River and St. George Sound, which included the settlement of Apalachicola. When the United States acquired Florida in 1822, a legal battle over the validity of the title developed. The U. S. Supreme Court upheld the companys claims, making squatters of those who held property there. Many refused to come to terms with the compan7 and selected a new town site on St. Joseph Bay and named it St. Joseph. The first constitutional convention of Florida was held there, and the town boomed.
In 1841, a ship from Africa tied up in St. Joseph and brought yellow fever. Within a matter of weeks, of the estimated population of 7,000 had died. Panic stricken survivors abandoned their homes and fled. Ships avoided the port and hotels and business houses closed. For three years the town was deserted, with only a few venturesome fishermen daring to approach the site.
In 1844, a hurricane and tidal wave leveled the spot. Devastating storms followed at intervals until, bit by bit, all remains of the town were obliterated. Today, the site is covered by a jungle growth of pines, matted creepers, and palmettos.
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If you believe everything you read you are reading to much.
Treasure is a Harsh Mistress
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