On the afternoon of July 13, 1733, the Spanish ship named the San Pedro left Havana, Cuba. The ship was loaded with silver coins and precious jewels. This was supposed to be a routine trip, transporting goods from the colonies to Spain.
But the San Pedro never completed its voyage. That afternoon, a hurricane roared in. Waves and winds thrashed the ship, breaking it apart. The San Pedro sank, dropping beneath the waves before coming to its final resting place 18 feet (5.5 meters) below. And there the ship sat for more than 200 years.
In the 1960s, divers rediscovered the lost ship, still nestled in its sandy grave 18 feet (5.5 meters) below the warm waters off the Florida Keys. In the ruins of the ship, the divers found a treasure. But it wasn’t gold and silver—the Spanish had recovered almost all of those riches long ago.
Instead, the divers found the ship transformed was now a coral reef teeming with life.
