LIVING HISTORY
FAMILY TIES?
A Port St. Lucie man searches for family ties to the
commander of the doomed 1715 treasure fleet
STORY AND PHOTO BY GREG GARDNER
José Ubilla can’t prove it just yet, but the Port St. Lucie
man is sure he is an ancestor to the commander of a fleet
of Spanish ships which sank off the Treasure Coast in a
1715 hurricane.
“I need to trace it back to Mexico. It has to be,” said Ubilla,
owner of a Fort Pierce stone and granite company. “The
Basque region of Spain is where the name originated.”
In 1715 Captain-General Don Juan Esteban Ubilla left
Veracruz, Mexico, to rendezvous in Havana with the
Cartagena Fleet. From there, the two fleets headed for Spain
by way of St. Augustine, leading a fleet of five treasure-laden
ships, part of which carried the dowry for King Felipe V of
Spain’s bride-to-be, Elizabeth Farnesse. Ubilla himself was
aboard the ship La Capitana, which carried 1,300 chests with
more than three million silver coins. Also on board were
emeralds, pearls and precious Chinese porcelain.
“He ( Captain-General Ubilla) left Mexico. The name only
exists (outside of Spain) in Nicaragua, Chile and Mexico. We
believe he had sons. It’s not a very common name.”
The armada of 12 ships left Havana July 24 in calm seas.
But on the night of July 30 and morning of July 31, the ships
encountered a hurricane, forcing them aground and breaking
them up. Eleven of the ships went down and half of the
2,500 crew was lost, including Ubilla. Wreckage and bodies
were scattered along 30 miles of what is now known as the
Treasure Coast. The survivors made it to shore by swimming
or holding onto wreckage.
Captain-General Ubilla perished along with 1,000 other
sailors, according to two books written about the 1715 shipwrecks.
Miraculously, about 1,500 sailors survived, but many
perished later from disease and raids by local Indians.
“Is it a direct coincidence or a direct link?” Jose Ubilla said.
“I am going to find out. My children are intrigued by it. They
are in college now, but as they grow up, I am going to encourage
them to find out
the truth.”
While Ubilla’s immediate
ancestors are from
Nicaragua, there is a 150-
year gap between the
genealogy that is known
and the records on the
captain-general, he said.
“I can’t determine exactly
at this point. We think he
had sons who migrated to
Central and South America.”
Ubilla, owner of Real
Stone & Granite in Fort
Pierce and Boynton Beach,
and the captain-general
have something else in
common besides a shared
last name. Like Captain
General Ubilla, José Ubilla
views his work as dealing
in precious treasure.
“We continue to bring
treasures here in the form
of stones,” Ubilla said.
that sank off the Treasure Coast
Treasured History 20
José Ubilla, above, has researched his family’s connection to Captain-General Don Juan Esteban Ubilla,
commander of the doomed 1715 Plate Fleet that sank off the Treasure Coast. Ubilla stands in front of a painting of
the church where he was christened in Nicaragua.