SHIPWRECK by DAVE HORNER

Author:DAVE HORNER
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sheridan House
Published: 2021-09-07T00:00:00+00:00

11

Treasure Is Trouble

He has paid out more than 24,000 pesos in ‘hush money’ because the amount he truly recovered exceeded 1,000,000 pesos, including a chest of diamonds, many gold bars, and an immense amount of jewelry.

Lorenzo de Soto.

AFTER UNLOADING THE TREASURE from their second diving expedition in Spain, the two adventurers, Somovilla and Reyes, did not waste time in setting forth on the third one. In early March, they sailed from Spain back to Puerto Rico. They wanted to get the long Atlantic crossing behind them and be able to focus on the Mimbres during the short season for good diving.

They had received word from friends that complaints were filed against them. They did not want to be cornered by the king’s auditors and forced to certify under oath as to the accuracy of their treasure register. Consequently, they felt considerably more secure at sea.

On June 3, 1658, they sailed from San Juan for the Little Bahama Bank aboard their special salvage vessel, nicknamed El Champeton.

They stopped at Gorda Cay en route to take care of unfinished business, namely the uncovering of a cache of treasure buried earlier “for fear it would be stolen by the English.” They also raised some bronze guns from what was left of the wreck of the Madama do Brasil.

June 14 found them diving at the Mimbres, apparently having had little difficulty locating the site of the shipwreck. They remained anchored over the Maravillas until July 3, when they left to return to Puerto Rico. By July 24 they arrived back at San Juan, “having recovered everything they could, the rest now being buried deeply in the sand.”

Their registered report of salvage listed twelve guns and 53,000 pesos. They surrendered all to the authorities.

For the three successive diving expeditions of Juan de Somovilla Tejada and Gaspar de los Reyes from 1656 to 1658, they “reported” finding the following amount of treasure:

First diving expedition, 477,000 pesos

Second diving expedition, 170,000 pesos

Third diving expedition, 53,000 pesos

Total 700,000 pesos

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