The Santa Margarita was a Spanish ship that sank in a hurricanein the Florida Keys about 40 miles (64 km) west of the island of Key West in 1622. The saga of the Santa Margarita begins in 1622. Namesake of the patron saint of homeless people, midwives and reformed prostitutes, Santa Margarita was a Spanish galleon of 600 tons, armed with twenty-five cannon. One of a fleet of 28 ships, she was voyaging to Spain with an enormous cargo of plundered New World treasures. In registered wealth, the Santa Margarita carried 166,574 silver “pieces of eight” treasure coins, more than 550 ingots of silver weighing some 10,000 pounds, and over 9,000 ounces of gold in the form of bars, discs and bits.Additionally, there was contraband — a fortune in “unregistered” treasure having been smuggled on board