Using a shovel enchanted with Fortune on sand in an ocean or river biome has a chance to yield sunken treasure. This can include rare loot like sponges and a Message in a Bottle.
Guide
In order to have a chance of obtaining a sunken treasure reward from a block of sand, the player must have at least 4 blocks of water above them and break the sand block with a shovel enchanted with Fortune. Each additional level of Fortune increases the chance of receiving sunken treasure from a sand block; Fortune I yields a 10% chance, Fortune II yields a 26% chance, and Fortune III yields a 48% chance.
Rewards
If the player obtains sunken treasure from a sand block, the distribution of items they can find is below. Note that the weights of the first table are not quite exact due to a simplification of how the sunken treasure loot tables are actually set up, but for all intensive purposes, they are close enough.
In Java Edition, each sunken treasure contains 1 item stacks, with the following distribution:
| Item | Stack Size [FN 1] | Weight [FN 2] | Chance [FN 3] | Avg. per chest [FN 4] |
Avg. # chests to search [FN 5] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Bone |
1 | 1729⁄9999 | 17.3% | 0.173 | 5.8 |
 Seagrass |
1 | 1729⁄9999 | 17.3% | 0.173 | 5.8 |
 Mossy Cobblestone |
1 | 1152⁄9999 | 11.5% | 0.115 | 8.7 |
| File:ParallelItemSprite message-in-a-bottle.pngMessage In A Bottle | 1 | 1152⁄9999 | 11.5% | 0.115 | 8.7 |
 Kelp |
1 | 864⁄9999 | 8.6% | 0.086 | 11.6 |
 Prismarine Crystals |
1 | 576⁄9999 | 5.8% | 0.058 | 17.4 |
 Prismarine Shard |
1 | 576⁄9999 | 5.8% | 0.058 | 17.4 |
 Sea Pickle |
1 | 576⁄9999 | 5.8% | 0.058 | 17.4 |
| File:ParallelItemSprite waders.pngWaders | 1 | 300⁄9999 | 3.0% | 0.030 | 33.3 |
 Bottle o' Enchanting |
1 | 288⁄9999 | 2.9% | 0.029 | 34.7 |
 Scute |
1 | 288⁄9999 | 2.9% | 0.029 | 34.7 |
 Gold Ingot |
1 | 288⁄9999 | 2.9% | 0.029 | 34.7 |
 Leather Boots |
1 | 250⁄9999 | 2.5% | 0.025 | 40.0 |
 Wet Sponge |
1 | 173⁄9999 | 1.7% | 0.017 | 57.8 |
| File:ParallelItemSprite treasure-chest.pngTreasure Chest | 1 | 58⁄9999 | 0.6% | 0.006 | 172.4 |
{ "chestNames": [ "sunken-treasure" ], "gameVersion": "Java", "loot": { "sunken-treasure": { "poolsJava": [ { "items": { "sea-pickle": [ 1, 1, 576 ], "seagrass": [ 1, 1, 1729 ], "prismarine-shard": [ 1, 1, 576 ], "parallel:waders": [ 1, 1, 300 ], "parallel:message-in-a-bottle": [ 1, 1, 1152 ], "gold-ingot": [ 1, 1, 288 ], "wet-sponge": [ 1, 1, 173 ], "parallel:treasure-chest": [ 1, 1, 58 ], "mossy-cobblestone": [ 1, 1, 1152 ], "prismarine-crystals": [ 1, 1, 576 ], "bone": [ 1, 1, 1729 ], "bottle-o'-enchanting": [ 1, 1, 288 ], "kelp": [ 1, 1, 864 ], "scute": [ 1, 1, 288 ], "leather-boots": [ 1, 1, 250 ] }, "rolls": [ 1, 1 ], "totalweight": 9999 } ], "poolsBedrockUpcoming": [], "itemDataJava": { "sea-pickle": { "sortsize": [ 1 ], "weights": [ "<sup>576</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "chanceany": 0.057605760576057596, "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 576 ], "armor": 0, "material": 0, "avgamount": 0.0576057605760576, "itemname": "sea-pickle" }, "seagrass": { "sortsize": [ 1 ], "weights": [ "<sup>1729</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "chanceany": 0.17291729172917292, "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 1729 ], "armor": 0, "material": 0, "avgamount": 0.17291729172917292, "itemname": "seagrass" }, "gold-ingot": { "sortsize": [ 1 ], "weights": [ "<sup>288</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "chanceany": 0.028802880288028798, "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 288 ], "armor": 0, "material": 3, "avgamount": 0.0288028802880288, "itemname": "gold-ingot" }, "scute": { "sortsize": [ 1 ], "weights": [ "<sup>288</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "chanceany": 0.028802880288028798, "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 288 ], "armor": 0, "material": 0, "avgamount": 0.0288028802880288, "itemname": "scute" }, "prismarine-shard": { "sortsize": [ 1 ], "weights": [ "<sup>576</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "chanceany": 0.057605760576057596, "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 576 ], "armor": 0, "material": 0, "avgamount": 0.0576057605760576, "itemname": "prismarine-shard" }, "parallel:waders": { "itemname": "parallel:waders", "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortsize": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 300 ], "weights": [ "<sup>300</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "avgamount": 0.030003000300030003, "chanceany": 0.030003000300030003 }, "parallel:message-in-a-bottle": { "sortsize": [ 1 ], "weights": [ "<sup>1152</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "chanceany": 0.11521152115211519, "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 1152 ], "armor": 0, "material": 0, "avgamount": 0.1152115211521152, "itemname": "parallel:message-in-a-bottle" }, "bottle-o'-enchanting": { "sortsize": [ 1 ], "weights": [ "<sup>288</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "chanceany": 0.028802880288028798, "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 288 ], "armor": 0, "material": 0, "avgamount": 0.0288028802880288, "itemname": "bottle-o'-enchanting" }, "parallel:treasure-chest": { "itemname": "parallel:treasure-chest", "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortsize": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 58 ], "weights": [ "<sup>58</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "avgamount": 0.0058005800580058, "chanceany": 0.0058005800580057665 }, "prismarine-crystals": { "sortsize": [ 1 ], "weights": [ "<sup>576</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "chanceany": 0.057605760576057596, "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 576 ], "armor": 0, "material": 0, "avgamount": 0.0576057605760576, "itemname": "prismarine-crystals" }, "bone": { "sortsize": [ 1 ], "weights": [ "<sup>1729</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "chanceany": 0.17291729172917292, "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 1729 ], "armor": 0, "material": 0, "avgamount": 0.17291729172917292, "itemname": "bone" }, "mossy-cobblestone": { "sortsize": [ 1 ], "weights": [ "<sup>1152</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "chanceany": 0.11521152115211519, "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 1152 ], "armor": 0, "material": 0, "avgamount": 0.1152115211521152, "itemname": "mossy-cobblestone" }, "kelp": { "sortsize": [ 1 ], "weights": [ "<sup>864</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "chanceany": 0.0864086408640864, "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 864 ], "armor": 0, "material": 0, "avgamount": 0.08640864086408641, "itemname": "kelp" }, "wet-sponge": { "itemname": "wet-sponge", "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortsize": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 173 ], "weights": [ "<sup>173</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "avgamount": 0.017301730173017303, "chanceany": 0.017301730173017282 }, "leather-boots": { "itemname": "leather-boots", "sizes": [ 1 ], "sortsize": [ 1 ], "sortweight": [ 250 ], "weights": [ "<sup>250</sup>⁄<sub>9999</sub>" ], "avgamount": 0.025002500250025, "chanceany": 0.02500250025002504 } }, "structID": "sunken-treasure", "poolsJavaUpcoming": [], "structure": "Sunken Treasure", "container": "sand block", "itemDataJavaUpcoming": [], "allRollsJavaUpcoming": [], "itemDataBedrock": [], "poolsBedrock": [], "allRollsBedrockUpcoming": [], "allRollsBedrock": [], "itemDataBedrockUpcoming": [], "chest_type": "suspicious sand", "header": "[[parallel:Sunken Treasure]]", "allRollsJava": [ 1 ], "link": "[[parallel:Sunken Treasure]]" } } }- ↑ The size of stacks (or for unstackable items, number) of this item on any given roll.
- ↑ The weight of this item relative to other items in the pool.
- ↑ The odds of finding any of this item in a single chest.
- ↑ The number of items expected per chest, averaged over a large number of chests.
- ↑ The average number of chests the player should expect to search to find any of this item.