A former Florida fisherman turned treasure hunter believes he is closing in on the treasure of Commodore Louis Aury, a French pirate, who is believed to have left behind items worth $200 million near New Port Richey, Florida.
Joe Zsiga was a fisherman for 30 years before he retired and became a treasure hunter. However, the treasure he’s searching for isn’t made of gold. “When people think of treasure, they often picture shiny gold coins, silver, and emeralds,” he said. “But there’s more to treasure than that—there’s history.”
Zsiga has spotted two anchors and a large pile of ballast stones, which he believes belonged to the slave ship ‘Isabelita.’ He told Fox 13 in Tampa that he was convinced the ship had become stuck on rocks as it set sail, prompting the crew to abandon the anchors and ballast to “free” the vessel. By the time the ship arrived at the slave auction, only 95 of the ship’s 117 enslaved people had survived.
Zsiga believes that studying his find could help explain where the 22 missing enslaved people died or if some even managed to escape. “There might be somebody who sees this and says my grandfather got freed and made his way down to Tampa. You don’t know,” he said.
Who Was Commodore Louis Aury?
In addition to being a slave trader, Commodore Louis Aury, the French privateer, played a key part in early 19th-century independence movements across Spanish colonies in the Americas.
Indeed, by April 1813, he had aligned himself with the revolutionary cause of New Granada (now Colombia), by sailing from North Carolina to Venezuela to attack Spanish ships. He also ran the Spanish blockade to evacuate hundreds from the besieged city of Cartagena de Indias to Haiti.
On this day in Texas history, in 1817, Parisian-born pirate Louis-Michel Aury resigned his commission to rule Galveston Island. In 1816 he joined New Orleans associates planning a Mexican revolt against Spain & was made commissioner by rebel leader José Manuel de Herrera. pic.twitter.com/uyo4Mvo9v5
— Derrick G. Jeter (@derrickjeter) July 31, 2024
His disputes with the revolutionary leader Simon Bolivar caused him to leave the cause and instead was appointed as resident commissioner of Galveston Island, Texas, by Jose Manuel de Herrera. There he established a privateering base he used to attack Spanish ships.
Other notable treasures found in Florida include the Spanish treasure fleet and Nuestra Señora de Atocha
Florida’s coastal waters have seen a fair amount of treasures, most of them from shipwrecks that date back to the 18th century. Perhaps the most notable find in this region of the world is the 1715 Spanish Treasure Fleet.
In 1715 11 Spanish ships were sailing from Cuba to Spain when they were suddenly destroyed by a hurricane near Florida’s east coast. In 2015, treasure hunters found more than 350 gold coins worth $4.5 million. Remarkably, amongst those recovered were nine minted exclusively for King Philip V of Spain.
The same year subcontractors for 1715 Fleet-Queens Jewels LLC recovered 60 gold artifacts from the Spanish fleet, which were valued at 1 million.
Another famous wreck recovered off the Florida Keys was the Nuestra Señora de Atocha. This vessel was a Spanish galleon that sank in 1622 during a hurricane near the Florida Keys. After a 16-year search, treasure hunter Mel Fisher discovered the shipwreck in 1985. At the time of its recovery, the treasure was estimated to be worth $400 million.
After the discovery was made, the state of Florida sued, as they claimed ownership of the treasure, and demanded 25 percent of the findings. This claim caused an eight-year legal battle between the treasure hunters and the state of Florida, which was ultimately won by those who made the find.
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