The Virgins' Treasure Isle by Julian Putley

Author:Julian Putley [Putley, Julian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Virgin Island Books
Published: 2010-09-19T22:00:00+00:00

Part 3

The Treasure

On the 18th of August, 1750, a fleet of ships raised their anchors and departed the port of Havana in Cuba bound for Spain. The ships that made up this fleet were: the Nuestra Senora de Guadelupe, a galleon captained by the fleet commander Juan Manuel de Bonilla; the Nuestra Senora de los Godos, a galleon commanded by Don Pedro Pumarojo; His Majesty’s Ship La Galga captained by Don Daniel Huony; a frigate captained by Don Joseph Rospaldiza; His Majesty’s Ship La Zumaca; and a packet of Portuguese registry.

The Guadelupe had originated its voyage in Vera Cruz and was full of silver. The Godos, accompanied by the frigate, had come from Cartagena and was full of assorted treasure. La Zumaca was laden at Havana. The treasure of the combined fleet was well into the hundreds of millions of dollars at today’s values. It must have been a wary crew that sailed north eastwards between the Bahama banks and the Florida coast, but once they were clear of Grand Bahama and the one time pirates’ nest of New Providence they must have breathed easier. It was a relatively simple matter to ride the gulf stream north and then to sail with the prevailing westerlies back to Europe. But as so often happens at sea when one relaxes one’s vigilance it is suddenly put to the test.

On the fifth day of the voyage the fleet, all in sight of each other, were clear of the Bahamas when the sky darkened and the wind slowly backed. A fierce storm was brewing and at some stage it must have occurred to Bonilla that this was not a front but a dangerous tropical storm. They were at the latitude of 28 degrees and 51 minutes and as the wind backed the heavy and not very weatherly ships could point no better than north, north east. The east coast of America presented the fleet with a dreaded lee shore. The storm continued for days – the rain poured, lightening flashed and the wind tore at the rigging, driving the ships, now separated, inexorably towards the coast. On the 29th of August the storm increased to a hurricane and the exhausted crew of the Guadelupe were powerless against such a tempest. The four pumps aboard the ship were just able to keep up with the seawater coming aboard but the masts were all torn down by the ferocity of the wind and the ship had lost her rudder. The helpless vessel, now at the mercy of the howling winds and huge seas drifted into soundings near Cape Hatteras and there the crew managed to set two anchors that held the ship and saved her from wrecking. By the 31st August the stricken vessel had drifted north almost 400 miles and now lay at anchor near 35 degrees north. The next day the storm abated although the huge breaking seas threatened the vessel every minute.

The exhausted crew of the unlucky galleon now decided that their best hope for survival was to run the ship ashore.

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