Urca de Lima 1715
Marker: recorded wreck position (Age of Sail).
Key facts
| Name | Urca de Lima | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Year lost | 1715 | English Wikipedia lead text (year following a loss verb, parsed) |
| Era | Age of Sail | derived from year |
| Ship type | archaeological site, shipwreck | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Sea / ocean | North Atlantic Ocean | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | United States | Natural Earth (public domain) |
| Position | 27.5053, -80.2992 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
Urca de Lima is a Spanish shipwreck (which sank in 1715) near Fort Pierce, Florida, United States. She was part of the 1715 Treasure Fleet, one of the numerous Spanish treasure fleets sailing between Spain and its colonies in the Americas. The wreck is located north of Fort Pierce Inlet, 200 yards off the shore from Jack Island Park. It became the first Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve when dedicated in 1987. This was followed on May 31, 2001, with its addition to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
Diving & visiting
The shipwreck was discovered in 1928 by William J. Beach, close to the shore near Fort Pierce. The river inlet in which Urca de Lima originally grounded, however, did not exist anymore due to changes in the coastline. In 1932 the city council issued the first permit for a salvage operation. The last permits were issued in 1983 and 1984. The results of those salvage operations however were rather meager, since the Spanish salvaged most of the cargo in 1715. Only one bar of silver bullion, two silver wedges and a few cannons were recovered. The city council decided to turn the wreck into an archaeological preserve.
Location
- Recorded position: 27.5053, -80.2992 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: North Atlantic Ocean
- Nearest coast: United States
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Urca de Lima (revision 1373466843), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Discovery of the shipwreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- Lofthus 1898 · 108 km
- SS Copenhagen (1898) 1900 · 146 km
- Half Moon 1930 · 198 km
Browse more: North America wrecks · wrecks off United States · North Atlantic Ocean · Age of Sail