1715 — July 31, Hurricane, Spanish ships ground, Fort Pierce to Wabasso Beach, FL –1,000

–1,000-2,500 Peterson, M. The Funnel of Gold. Boston / Toronto: Little, Brown and Co., 1975.
— 1,000 Blanchard estimate.*
–>1,000 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 118.
— 1,000 Marx, Robert F. Shipwrecks in the Americas. Bonanza Books, 1983.
— 1,000 Millas, J. C. Hurricanes of the Caribbean and adjacent regions, 1492-1800. 1968.
— 1,000 Neely. The Greatest and Deadliest Hurricanes of the Caribbean and the Americas. 2017.

*We choose to use 1,000 as the fatality estimate based on majority of sources noted herein

Narrative Information

“The Hurricane of 1715—This hurricane occurred on July 31st near the southeastern Bahamas and the Straits of Florida. The fleet of Spanish Admiral Don Juan de Ubilla suffered a hurricane n the Bahama Channel. Ten treasure laden ships were lost, and with them the Admiral and one thousand persons….

Since the majority of the goods consisted of silver coins and bullion, the venture was dubbed the Spanish Plata (Silver) Fleet. Due to numerous delays, the fleet of twelve ships didn’t leave Havana Harbor until July 27, 1715, well into hurricane season…

“…once they turned north into the Bahama Channel the ships encountered contrary northeasterly winds. As the winds strengthened, the fleet was forced to a scuttle as it moved into the wind in the narrow Bahama Channel….the heavy-laden Spanish ships were left to slowly sail on to Spain, and they began to experience the signs of an oncoming hurricane. But Captain General Don Juan Esteban de Ubilla found himself trapped between the uninhabited, reef-strewn Florida shore to his west and the shallow, English pirate-laden Bahama Bank to his east and had no choice but to try to clear the channel before the worst of the storm struck.

“It was a race he lost, and the hurricane overtook the fleet just as it emerged from the channel. Three ships were sunk in deep water, the other eight were driven onto the Florida coast from present-day Fort Pierce to Wabasso (North of Vero Beach), where they wrecked upon rocks and reefs. Of the 250-0 sailors and passengers, 1000 perished in the storm, including Ubilla. The rest struggled for survival on an inhospitable coast….Most of the survivors were rescued….” (Neely. The Greatest and Deadliest Hurricanes of the Caribbean and the Americas. 2017.)

Sources

Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

Neely, Wayne. The Greatest and Deadliest Hurricanes of the Caribbean and the Americas: The Stories Behind the Great Storms of the North Atlantic. 2017. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse. 2017.

Rappaport, Edward N. and Jose Fernandez-Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1995. National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC 47) 28 May 1995, updated by Jack Beven, 22 April 1997. Accessed 4-20-2020 at: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdeadly.shtml