I enjoyed the event, the build up and speculation about what the weather report meant was fun for me.
In terms of generating PVP, I think there were a couple of problems.
1) If you saw a ship coming back from the wrecks, it wasn't worth gambling a 1 hour fight where you might not cap him, or accidentally sink him, when you could gamble on picking up a wreck yourself.
2) Maybe a partial solution would be to give flags in the open world, like there are for conquest flags, for players that are carrying a chest.
3) Perhaps indicating when the wrecks are empty could also encourage more pvp, as you can then switch entirely to hunting other players.
Overall, enjoyed it and look forward to seeing what adjustments are made.