Is elusive treasure still out there?

Thousands of wrecks off North Carolina — but only one carried treasure

Off the coast of North Carolina lies one of the world’s most treacherous stretches of sea—a place where shifting shoals, sudden storms, and centuries of shipwrecks have earned it the name “Graveyard of the Atlantic.” In this Charlotte Ledger series, journalist Mark Washburn explores the region’s lore through wartime sinkings, devastating hurricanes, pirate legends, lost treasure and enduring nautical mysteries.

• MONDAY: The Mystery of the Ghost Ship Deering: A schooner runs aground with no crew aboard — only clues, whispers and a six-toed cat remain. (🎥 Watch video)

• TUESDAY: North Carolina’s Pirate Legacy: Blackbeard’s legend looms large — but how much of it is true, and where’s the treasure he left behind? (🎥 Watch video)

• WEDNESDAY: The Tides of War: The quiet beaches of North Carolina once lit up nightly with fire and torpedoes, turning the shoreline into a clandestine battlefield where vessels vanished and history pivoted. (🎥 Watch video)

• THURSDAY: The Elusive Treasure: Centuries of shipwrecks — but only one treasure fleet ever made it this far north. Is it still out there? (🎥 Watch video)

• FRIDAY: Tales from the Depths: From daring rescues and doomed voyages to a storm-sunk movie star, these are the shipwreck stories you’ve never heard — but won’t forget.

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Centuries of shipwrecks — but only one treasure fleet ever made it this far north. Is it still there?

By Mark Washburn

You’d think, with thousands of sunken vessels roosting in the Graveyard of the Atlantic off North Carolina, that there would be the occasional mound of treasure.

You’d think wrong. See, we were basically robbed. By tradewinds.

Florida’s coast is treasure alley. That’s where the big Spanish galleons went to die. Bulging with gold and silver, the king’s fleets would set out from Havana and, bang, sail right into a howling hurricane.

Pedestrian prospectors can still be seen on the sands of Vero Beach or Melbourne scanning for pieces of eight after a big storm. These trinkets just wash ashore in pebble quantities, little silver snowflakes, bidden by turbulent currents scouring the deeps where treasure chests sank centuries earlier.

Hurricanes we get. But the treasure ships had made their turn east long before hitting the menacing shoals of North Carolina.

Except for one named the El Salvador. It rode here on a freak of nature.