Spanish Treasure Fleet

Edward Thatch: "Was the haul aboard as rich as men are saying?"

Edward Kenway: "A thousand times that. I reckon a million pounds worth of reales were sunk that day."

—Edwards Thatch and Kenway, on the Treasure Fleet's cargo, 1715.

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Spanish Treasure Fleet
Timeframe	Golden Age of Piracy
Date	1715
Place	Caribbean

The annual Spanish Treasure Fleets were convoys of warships that departed the Spanish Empire's New World ports, such as Havana, after receiving mule loads of trade goods like gold, silver, and jewels from Spain's colonies in South America, such as Peru. These goods were then transported across the Atlantic Ocean to the ports of Cádiz and Seville in Spain.

The Treasure Fleets were notably susceptible to tropical storms. Several fleets in 1622, 1715, 1733, and 1750 were all decimated by hurricanes, spilling a fortune of gold reales into the ocean.

History

1713 fleet

In 1713, the pirate crew of the Sea Dog's Bite heard rumors of a sunken treasure galleon and sailed to Kingston in search of a Spanish sailor who had served on the ship. After saving him from the Royal Navy, he led them to the shipwreck's location in the Bahamas in exchange for a share of the loot, but the pirates were beaten to their prize by the Navy Captain Blount. They thus resolved to steal the treasure from Blount's camp, and sank his Man O' War when it attacked them during their escape.

1715 fleet

Edward Kenway sailing the El Dorado through the storm

On 13 July 1715, a fleet under the command of Captain-General Don Juan Esteban de Ubilla left Havana. Six days after their departure from Havana, the Treasure Fleet was hit by a severe hurricane, which destroyed eleven of its twelve vessels. The surviving ship was a brig known as El Dorado, which had been stolen by the pirates Edward Kenway and Adéwalé during their escape from imprisonment aboard one of the fleet's sister ships. Following the escape, Kenway took the El Dorado as his own and rechristened it the Jackdaw.

Word of the fleet's capsize quickly spread throughout the region, with Edward Thatch at one point expressing interest in exploring the wrecks to salvage some of their treasure. Edward Kenway later dove to the wreck of the San Ignacio to locate medicine for the citizens of Nassau at Thatch's request, although the cures he recovered were "quite spoilt".

1716 fleet

In November 1716, another Spanish Treasure Fleet was attacked by the pirates Alonzo Batilla, Olivier Levasseur, and Samuel Bellamy; upon noticing the pirates, the fleet tried to depart, but Batilla pursued and engaged it. Despite this, Alonzo could not find Bellamy's "treasure", which proved to be a Fragment of Eden. Of the fleet's six ships, one frigate survived the conflict, though the pirates were forced to leave it after being confronted by Francis Hume.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed: Black Flag
• Assassin's Creed: Initiates (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Assassin's Creed: Pirates
• Assassin's Creed: Rebellion – Dead Men's Gold