"Incredible" 300-Year-Old Artifacts From Florida Shipwreck Identified & Are Nearly Perfectly Intact

Photo byFacebook Screenshot, Florida Division Of Historical Resources

Floridians know that Florida is no stranger to shipwrecks. According to Click Orlando, there are possibly 5,000 shipwrecks along Florida's coasts.

One shipwreck off Florida's Atlantic Coast had artifacts that were not identified when pulled from a 1700s Spanish shipwreck. However, experts have just identified them and they are rare because of their fragility and the fact that they're still intact after 300 years.

1715 Spanish Plate Fleets And How Experts Believe The Ship In Question Sank: The ship in question has not been identified by name, but experts believe that it was part of the 1715 Spanish Plate Fleet which was sailing from Cuba to Spain when it encountered a hurricane, which will not be surprising for Floridians.

The Identification Of The "Onion Bottles" And Why They Are So Rare: When the artifacts were recovered, they were heavily encrusted and therefore not easily identifiable.

Florida Division of Historical Resources officials carefully cleaned and dried the bottles and then coated them with acrylic to stabilize the glass. After this process, they were able to positively identify the artifacts as "onion bottles" which officials believe “contained some sort of alcoholic spirit."

The bottles are so rare because they are seven and they are "nearly intact."

This is unusual because already fragile artifacts that sit under the water typically break apart.

Mark Ard, the Florida Department of State’s director of external affairs, told the Miami Herald:

“Intact examples are rare. These bottles are very fragile, and for them to first survive the destruction of the ship and then being submerged under water for over 300 years where they were subject to tidal forces is incredible...Archaeologists typically only find small fragments of these vessels.”

Photo byFacebook Screenshot, Florida Division Of Historical Resources