The Manila Galleons: Treasures For The "Queen Of The Orient"

[ZuluDiver]

Six Galleons for the King of Spain: Imperial Defense in the Early Seventeenth Century. https://www.sandiegohistory.org/jour...r-galleons.htm

By Carla Rahn Phillips. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986. Maps. Illustrations. Tables. Bibliography. Index. xiv + 318 Pages. $37.50.
Reviewed by Harry Kelsey, Chief Curator of History, Natural History Museum, Los Angeles County, author of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (1986).

A series of nautical inventories in the manuscript collections of the James Ford Bell Library of the University of Minnesota describe the equipment for six galleons constructed in the late 1620's for the Spanish crown. Intended for use in the squadron guarding the fleets that sailed to and from the Indies, these ships were the product of Spanish labor and business enterprise and were important elements in the machinery that kept the Spanish empire operating during a period of mounting global conflict.

Using the construction of the ships as a starting point, Carla Phillips has given us glimpses of Spanish social structures, business procedures, and bureaucratic techniques that can only delight her fellow scholars. More than this, Professor Phillips has assembled enough information about mundane matters to enable us to understand the milieu in which most of these events took place.

For example, Martin de Arana, who contracted to build the ships, did so at considerable personal cost and continued to operate in this way over a period of years. At first inexplicable, his behavior seems completely reasonable, once we learn that Arana expected and received substantial royal favors for his children and other members of his family. Similarly, Roque Centeno reduced himself to absolute penury in equipping the fleet, then was rewarded by the sovereign with a new posting and back pay, plus "pensions, stipends and preferment" for his six children.

The crown often asked and frequently received more than its subjects could reasonably be expected to deliver, but perhaps there was no other choice. Built during the continuing battles of a Thirty Years War, the galleons have now become vehicles for studying Spanish imperial administration during a time of crisis. One or another of the six galleons served the crown in the Indies and in European waters for a dozen years and more, while Spain successfully fended off European rivals in most of the New World and evaded total disaster in Europe.

Nonetheless, the value of the book for San Diego historians lies not so much in the description of Spanish efforts to fight a global war as in the thorough and scholarly descriptions of ship design, finance, construction, crews, and shipboard life. The latter includes excellent materials on salaries, discipline, diet, and health. While all of the information may not apply directly to ships built and operated along the west coast of New Spain and in the Pacific, most of it does, including some excellent pages on scurvy and a surprising Spanish resistance to that disease.

Even more useful is the detailed study of hull design, derived partly from the Instrucción Nautica of Diego Garcia de Palacio, who lived in Guatemala in the later sixteenth century and understood the peculiarities of ship design on the west coast of New Spain. Moreover, the inventories of the six galleons, thoughtfully translated in Appendix A, can serve as a guide and outline for understanding the inventories of the ships built a century earlier by Hernán Cortés for the voyages of discovery to California.

Based entirely on firsthand accounts, this study by Carla Rahn Phillips is the best and most concise treatment of Spanish ship construction and operation for the late sixteenth and the early seventeenth centuries. No one can expect to understand these ships without first consulting Six Galleons.

[Ellsworth Boyd]

Thanks for sharing the excellent write-up from Six Galleons for the King of Spain by Carla Rahn Phillips. It is indeed "one of the most concise treatments of Spanish ship construction and operation for the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries." There is still another book that Spanish ship enthusiasts might like: History Under the Sea by the late Mendel Petersen. This book covers a variety of subjects incuding early ship design, fittings, armaments, coins, bottles, gunfounders' marks, etc. I've used it many times in my research. It was my pleasure to meet the author at a shipwreck symposium in Key West, Florida, in the 1980s. He gave a fascinating slide/talk presentation. Ellsworth Boyd Wreckmaster

[ZuluDiver]

from: http://www.sailanddivecharters.com/spanishgalleons.html

Spanish Galleons

Florida is famous for its fabled Spanish treasure galleons. Florida's coastline is dotted with more colonial Spanish wrecks than any other state in the nation, primarily because of three treasure fleet disasters.

In 1622, 1715, and again in 1733, Spain suffered horrible economic blows when the treasure fleets or flotas entered Florida waters and were destroyed by hurricanes. The 1622 fleet was scattered across the lower Florida Keys and the Dry Tortugas. The 1715fleet wrecked along the Atlantic coast of southern Florida, on what is now known as the Treasure Coast. And finally, the 1733 fleet met its fate along the upper Florida Keys, from modern Grassy Key to upper Key Largo.

The 1622, 1715, and 1733 flotas were an integral part of an economic system that had developed early in the three centuries of Spanish rule in the New World. A pattern of trade, controlled strictly by the Spanish crown, had evolved based on the policies of the day. Spain's policy was to establish a monopoly, keeping her colonies dependent on her. This monopoly was eventually challenged successfully by English and Dutch traders, but by law Spanish colonials could trade only with the authorized Spanish merchant flotas. As early as the 16th century a law was passed by the Casa de Contratacion, or "House of Trade," which called for the periodic sailing of fleets from Spain to the Caribbean twice a year (though they hardly ever sailed on schedule). The fleets carried manufactured goods for sale to the citizens of the New World, and were then filled with the rich treasures of the Americas for transport back to Spain.

The typical fleet consisted of several types of ships. Heavily armed galleons served as protection for the bulk of the fleet, merchant naos. The only difference between the nao and galleon was the amount of armament carried. Several pataches, small reconnaissance vessels, also accompanied the fleet, as well as resfuerzos or supply ships.. The fleet was led by the Capitana, or flagship, and the Almiranta, or vice-flagship.

The fleet would leave Spain (first from Seville and later Cadiz), sail down the coast of Africa until they reached the Cape Verde Islands. Here they sailed west with the prevailing tradewinds until they entered the Caribbean. At that point the ships split into two separate fleets, the Nueva Espana flota and the Tierra Firme flota (after 1648 it was called Los Galeones). The first fleet sailed to Mexico (Nueva Espana)'s port of Vera Cruz, while the second fleet visited the South American mainland ports of Cartagena, Nombe de Dios, and Porto Bello.

In these ports, the ships traded manufactured goods for the wealth of the Indies, such items as gold, silver, emeralds and other gemstones, hides, exotic woods, copper, tobacco, sugar, cochineal, indigo, and other valuables. In addition to these goods, another Spanish fleet called the Manila Galleons crossed the Pacific and sent treasures from the Orient to Acapulco, and then to the Caribbean flotas. These commodities included such materials as ginger, cowrie shells, porcelains, silks, velvets, damasks, drugs, pearls, and ivory.

The great flota system reached its height between 1590 and 1600. Then, over the next century the system began to slowly decline. Spain's leadership weakened and her debts increased, colonial mines produced less precious metals, privateer attacks increased, and other European powers began to colonize the Caribbean and break up the Spanish trading monopoly. At the end of the 16th century, the average number of ships in the flota was 100; this was to degrade to 55 by 1610, and to 25 by 1640. At home, Spain suffered general economic and industrial decline and began to lose its shipbuilding industry, as attested to by the fact that by 1650 more than two thirds of the flota ships were of foreign construction. The Spanish navy was so weak by the end of the 17th century that often foreign warships (usually belonging to the nation that Spain owed the most money to) escorted the flota home. The loss of the 1715 and 1733 treasure flotas were a tremendous blow to Spain in the early 18th century. Finally, the last flota to make the transatlantic run sailed in 1778, and Spain officially declared free trade among its colonies.

Spanish Wrecks in Fkorida:

El Capitana

El Infante

El Almiranta

San Francisco ("Craig Wreck")

Chaves

Herrera

El Lerri (San Felipe)

San Pedro

Sueco de Arizon

Tres Puentes

San Jose

Angustias

Nuestra Senora del Populo

Atocha and her sister ship, Santa Margarita.

[ZuluDiver]

Readers might enjoy perusing the trade routes map available at:

http://ns.gov.gu/spain.html.

Check out the lines delineating the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the "island" of Japan in the top left corner, the "island" of California (today's Baja), the relative location of Acapulco, and the name of Nueva Granada given to North America at that time!

I find this stuff fascinating.

[Ellsworth Boyd]

The history of Spain and its fleets and settlement in the New World is fascinating and continues to draw scholars and authors throughout the world. Many thanks for the nice list of Spanish wrecks in Florida and the trade route map. It's interesting to note that as Spain's leadership in the world slowly declined, other countries gradually moved to the forefront. Spain's economic and industrial decline, in addition to its shipbuilding slump, were due partly to the need for silver and gold from the New World in order to pay off debts. Large losses at one time, such as the 1715 and 1733 fleets, were a major blow to the king. Spain survived on treasure from the New World and suddenly the supply was rapidly diminishing. Fascinating indeed how history tracks and traces this country's decline. Ellsworth Boyd Wreckmaster

[ZuluDiver]

Excerpred from http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/w.../129facts2.htm

"The Urca de Lima and the Shipwreck Disaster of 1715

In 1700, Charles II of Spain died childless and named Philip—the grand nephew of his first wife, Marie Louise of Orleans, and the grandson of Louis XIV of France—as his heir. The Dutch and the English saw this combining of power as threatening and launched the War of the Spanish Succession. The routes between Spain and the Americas were not safe, and the flow of treasure virtually stopped. As the war neared its end in 1713, Spain was on the verge of bankruptcy. King Philip V already had ordered a fleet to sail to the Americas decreeing that as much treasure as possible must be brought back.

On September 16, 1712 the New Spain fleet sailed from Spain under the command of Captain-General Don Juan Esteban de Ubilla. The eight ships reached Veracruz on December 3. The plan was to winter there, conduct the trade fair in the spring, and load up goods for the return trip to Spain via Havana. However, a series of events including damage to ships from storms and problems receiving and loading cargo prevented the fleet from leaving Veracruz for more than two years. On May 4, 1715, the fleet finally sailed for Havana. By this time, however, the fleet consisted of only four ships because the others were destroyed during a storm while at port. The four ships included the Capitana, the Almiranta, the Urca de Lima (a resfuerzo), and the Nuestra Senora de las Nieves (a patache). The total amount of registered treasure aboard the ships was more than six million pesos. General cargo included indigo, vanilla, chocolate, copper, Chinese porcelain, and brazilwood.

The Tierra Firme fleet, commanded by Captain-General Don Antonio de Echeverz y Zubiza, had left Spain on July 9, 1713, for Cartagena, Colombia. Cargo included hundreds of tons of English manufactured goods. In November, the fleet of six ships headed for Portobelo to pick up more goods before returning to Cartagena for the spring and summer. The fleet sailed for Havana on September 7, 1714 carrying gold, silver, tobacco, brazilwood, hides, and chocolate. After reaching Cuba a few weeks later, the crew spent the winter and spring waiting for the flota to arrive from Veracruz.

The two fleets finally came together in Havana in the summer of 1715. By this time, the Spanish Crown was in desperate need of money, and merchants were impatient to sell their New World goods on the European market. Despite the fact that hurricane season was underway, the combined convoy left Havana on July 24 carrying 14 million pesos' worth of treasure and cargo. The convoy included five ships of the New Spain flota (Ubilla had added one small ship in Havana), six of the Tierra Firme, and one French merchant ship named Grifon. Spain had detained the Grifon in Havana so it could not reveal the convoy's departure date to privateers.

After leaving Havana, the convoy enjoyed calm weather as it made its way up the Bahama Channel. On the night of July 30, however, a violent hurricane struck the ships off the east coast of Florida and drove them onto the shallow reefs and hard rock bottom. In a matter of hours, the storm destroyed 11 of the ships. The Grifon was the only ship to escape. Miguel de Lima, owner of the Urca de Lima, described the wreck of his ship:

The sun disappeared and the wind increased in velocity coming from the east and east northeast. The seas became very giant in size, the wind continued blowing us toward shore, pushing us into shallow water. It soon happened that we were unable to use any sail at all…and we were at the mercy of the wind and water, always driven closer to shore. Having then lost all of our masts, all of the ships were wrecked on the shore, and with the exception of mine, broke to pieces.1
More than 1,000 people died in the storm, including Ubilla. About 1500 people survived and made it to shore by swimming or floating on pieces of wreckage. Upon reaching land, however, many died from exposure, thirst, and hunger. Further complicating matters, wreckage and people were scattered for almost 30 miles along the uninhabited coast. Fortunately, the Urca de Lima had grounded in shallow water and remained somewhat intact. Supplies and food were recovered from her hold and helped sustain many survivors.

A few launches (small boats carried onboard the warships) survived the disaster, and survivors managed to send one to Havana for aid. One month later, relief boats from Havana and St. Augustine, Florida, arrived with supplies and salvage equipment to recover sunken chests of coins and goods. The Urca de Lima was the first of the wrecked ships to be salvaged by the Spanish. All the cargo that could be recovered was removed from the hull, and the wreck was burned to the waterline to hide it from English pirates.

By the end of the year officials claimed to have recovered all of the Crown's treasure and much of the treasure belonging to individuals (totaling 5 million pesos). The Spanish completed salvage efforts by July 1716. It was not until the end of August—four years after the original fleet left Spain—that the recovered treasure finally arrived in Spain. More than half of the total treasure was still missing and would remain so for the next two hundred years."

[Ellsworth Boyd]

Interesting that you mentioned the Urca de Lima. I will be writng about Florida's Archaeological Preserve in a future Wreckchat and the Urca de Lima is the first one listed in a brochure all about the preserve. Victuals from the ship's stores kept survivors alive for 31 days until rescuers came. Burned to the waterline to hide her from English freebooters, she was discovered in 1928by a hard-hat diver who raised 16 cannons and four anchors from the wrecksite. The Urca de Lima became the first of Florida's Underwater Archaeological Preserve in 1987. The remains are in 10-15 feet of water on the first offshore reef 200 yards from the Ft. Pierce beach. Mooring buoys provide access to the site for divers who want to see the remains of a Spanish galleon. Ellsworth Boyd Wreckmaster

[ZuluDiver]

Hi Mr. Boyd,

I look forward to reading your blog about the Urca de Lima. Here's another story of a treasure ship from the Spanish Galleons era:

This wreck was the largest loss ever experienced by the Spanish South Seas (Pacific) Fleet, of which the Jesus María de la Limpia Concepción was the capitana (“captain’s ship,” or lead vessel) in 1654.

Official records reported the loss of 3 million pesos of silver (2,212 ingots, 216 chests of coins, and 22 boxes of wrought silver), augmented to a total of as much as 10 million pesos when contraband and private consignments were taken into account. By comparison, the entire annual silver production in Peru at that time was only about 6-7 million pesos!

Obviously overloaded, technically the Capitana sank due to pilot error, which drove the ship onto the reefs south of the peninsula known as Punta Santa Elena, a geographic feature the pilot thought he had cleared. Twenty people died in the disaster.

For eight years afterward, Spanish salvagers officially recovered over 3 million pesos of coins and bullion (with probably much more recovered off the record), leaving only an unreachable lower section for divers to find.

Ironically, the main salvager of the Capitana in the 1650s and early 1660s was none other than the ship’s silvermaster, Bernardo de Campos, whose fault it was that the ship was overloaded with contraband in the first place!

The wreck was rediscovered in the mid-1990s and salvaged (completely, according to some), in 1997. After a 50-50 split with the Ecuadorian government in 1998, investors placed most of their half of the more than 5,000 coins recovered up for sale at auction in 1999.

Almost exclusively Potosí 8 and 4 reales, the coins were a healthy mix of countermarked issues of 1649-1652, transitional issues of 1652, and post-transitional pillars-and-waves cobs of 1653-1654, many in excellent condition and expertly conserved.

As an interesting footnote, the very coins salvaged from the Capitana by the Spanish in 1654, were lost again on the Maravillas wreck of 1656, and some of those coins salvaged from the Maravillas were lost again in the wreck of the salvage vessel Madama do Brasil off Gorda Cay (Bahamas) in 1657.

Furthering Spain’s woes was the destruction of another treasure fleet in 1657 by English marauders (fresh off a victory in the Bay of Cádiz) off Santa Cruz on Tenerife in the Canary Islands.

Edited from: http://www.oceantreasures.org/rubriq...a,1070218.html

"It was revealed recently that a Spanish galleon that sank with treasure of plundered gold 343 years ago, has been found by divers off the coast of Ecuador. The Spanish naval flagship La Capitana Jesus Maria went down in 1645 with a cargo of gold, silver and jewels stolen from Peru’s Indians. According to Norwegoan reports, the treasure is believed to be worth up to £5bn, according to Norwegian reports.

An international consortium has been searching for the vessel for three years. As the finders they can keep half the treasure, with the rest going to the government of Ecuador.

'It is like walking right into a fairy tale,' said a spokesman for the Norwegian consortium which has helped fund the treasure hunt, 'People have been searching for this ship for 300 years without success.

La Capitana Jesus Maria was sailing from Peru to Panama when it sank in shallow waters. Even though the captain survived and was able to note the ship’s approximate position, it remained hidden for centuries.

'It’s not very deep there, only about 50 feet, but part of the problem is that the waters are very turbulent and the last ten feet are very silty. So it has been very difficult to get orientated.' said Norwegian investor Morten Moe.

From the registers of the Archivo General de Indias en Sevilla, the passengers on board declared that the contraband was more than 10 million pesos in treasure and that the Plaza de Armas of the city of Los Reyes would be too small for it...!

The story of this “Unlucky Treasure” begins aboard the ship know as 'La Capitana' which was the largest vessel of her time built in South America. She weighed 1,150 tons with a length of 122 feet and a beam of 40 feet. Carrying 60 guns, 44 of which were bronze, the ship was the flagship of the Viceroyalty of Peru and the South Sea Armada (an area which covered the countries of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Ecuador).

On October 26, 1654, the pilot, Miguel Benitez, was confident that they would clear Punta Santa Elena safely, and make port at Isla de Plata. However, at 11:00 p.m. that night a passenger spotted breakers ahead.

What follows is a quote from Captain Sosa: 'The danger was very near and dead ahead. In turning, we found ourselves in the midst of reefs. After hitting three times, our rudder fell off. The pumps were started because the shock of each impact was splitting our seams. Water was pouring through the caulking. In addition to the three pumps being manned, everyone on board was bailing with jars, bowls and buckets. We worked all night. At daylight we had about eight feet of water in the hold. Everyone was exhausted.'

In the testimony of another crew member it was also noted that 'there was difficulty getting the anchors down because there were mountains of unregistered goods stored on the foredeck and on top of the anchor cables.' La Capitana was so overloaded that she drew water up to the second deck. It was stated that if the ship had not been so heavily loaded it would have been able to free itself from the bottom beneath 22 feet of water.

The morning of October 27th was total havoc; everyone was exhausted and near panic. Some people tried loading their pockets with gold and silver and swimm to shore; at least twenty people drowned in their attempts to reach safety.

By high tide Captain Sosa managed to move La Capitana closer to shore and permanently grounded her in shallow water. Here, he and his silver master, worked feverishly and salvaged much of the treasure, cargo and 4 of the 44 bronze cannons.

For greater access to the treasure and other valuables below deck, they burned the ship to the water line. Many of the compartments there were not yet filled with water. At the peak of salvage operations, up to 52 divers worked the wreck with only one fatality; a diver bitten by a sea snake.

Captain Sosa was able to salvage 1,500,000 pesos from the wreck; salvagers sent later from Spain recovered another 2,000,000 pesos; it was known that more treasure remained.

This started a major scandal as only 3,000,000 pesos in silver was supposed to be the cargo; later estimates placed the total aboard closer to 10,000,000.

During the criminal trials that followed, several people were jailed and condemned to death for neglect of duty.

Fate was not done with the treasure of La Capitana. The salvaged treasure was moved to Cuba where it was loaded onto another galleon, 'Nuestra Senora de la Maravilla', which sank on January 4, 1656, and was subsequently the subject of salvage operations. A salvage vessel sent from Cuba to convey the salvaged treasure from the 'Maravilla' also sank.

In 1996 this story continued when this shipwreck was discovered by Herman Moro and his crew. After reaching an agreement with the country of Ecuador, he was granted full ownership of half the salvaged treasure.

This amazing treasure now, remarkably, rests in our own Great Falls."

[Ellsworth Boyd]

Anyone interested in the story of La Capitana should read Dave Horner's book, Shipwreck, A Saga of Sea Tragedy and Sunken Treasure, published by Sheridan House, 1999. Dave, a prolific author, found the diary of Padre Diego Rivadeneira while reseaching galleons in the Archives of the Indies in Seville, Spain. The Padre survived the sinking of La Capitana, and then, on his next voyage--trying to reach Spain--he was a survivor of the Maravillas disaster, another Spanish galleon loaded with treasure. He was one of 45 survivors. Six hundred passengers and crew were lost. Dave Horner also was one of the divers and backers in the salvage of coins and artifacts from La Capitana in 1996 and 1997. Dave is a good friend and when I went to hear him talk and promote his book, not long after it came out, he gave me an eight reale (piece of eight) from La Capitana. I proudly display it in my coin collection. Dave is also the author of Shipwrecks, Skin Divers and Sunken Gold, The Blockade Runners, The Treasure Galleons, and other books. His books, all well written and informative, have been good sellers throughout the years. Ellsworth Boyd Wreckmaster

[ZuluDiver]

From: http://www.1715fleet.com/1715shipsbyweller/carmen1L.htm

"Rio Mar Wreck-site" Lat. 27° 38.25'N Long. 80° 20.50'W

Don Antonio de Echeverz y Zubiza selected the largest and best of the Galeone fleet as his Capitana, the "Carmen'.' She was 713 tons in ballast and carried 72 cannon, all iron. It was a formidable size vessel in 1715, and fairly new. Echeverz' fleet were all privately owned vessels, issued contracts by the king to pickup the treasures in South America and return with them to Cádiz.

The trip was very speculative because of the weather factor, and Spain seemed always at war with someone so the privateers in the Caribbean were on the prowl, but each vessel could make several times its own value on a single trip. The trade for porcelain and spices from the Far East, and for the native cocoa, brazilwood, hides and tobacco were in heavy demand in Europe and commanded a high price.

The arrival of the fleet in Cartagena was always a great event and began a trade fair that would last several months. While the fair was in progress Echeverz dispatched a boat to Porto Bello to advise that the fleet was in and to start the shipment of Peru gold and silver over the Isthmus. Runners also made the trip to Lima to start the mule packs down the mountains with the gold and silver coins and bullion from the mint there. Also there were pearls to be collected from the divers on the island of Margarita. In total the registered treasure on the manifest listed as follows:

79,967 pesos in gold bars and doubloons
309 castellanos of gold dust
1,175 pesos of plata doble
3 gold chains
7,766 pounds of cocoa
33,600 pounds of brazilwood
dry goods and hides

From Cartagena the fleet moved to Porto Bello where they remained through the winter months. Then, laden with treasure and merchandise the ships traveled to Havana to await General Ubilla's Nueva Espania fleet that had treasured up in Vera Cruz. So far the journey had been uneventful for Echeverz, but now the fleet was held up as Ubilla was delayed in Vera Cruz by a severe storm.

Echeverz waited out the winter months tied to the Havana docks,and trading for tobacco during the parties that seemed to go on without end. Finally, Ubilla arrived in June 1715, and within a month of replenishing and refurbishing the combined fleets were ready to sail back to Spain.

Two days out of Havana, just as the fleet approached the narrowest northern part of the Bahama Channel, the hurricane struck. Aboard the Capitana the crew took in the reefs of the topgallant, lowered the crew-jack, and battened down the hatches for bad weather they knew must lie ahead. By mid-day the lanterns were lit, and as the storm grew in fury the sails were lowered except the headsail to keep the bow into the thundering waves now rolling across the channel from the east. Before long the Carmen lost the bowsprit from plowing into the white water now washing over her main decks. Then, the topgallant masts and sail fell onto the forecastle, dragging in the water until cut free.

With the steerage gone the Carmen was at the mercy of the hurricane now shrieking around her. A large wave struck the stern shattering cabin windows in the high poop deck and sending water flooding into her stern. In spite of the damage the ship struggled on, now near the looming coastline of Florida. The sound of breakers ahead caused Echeverz to order his bow anchors dropped, and the ship caught hold and swung once more to face into the wind. The hold had begun filling with water and the pumps failed to hold their own against the rising water and the captain ordered the crew to lighten ship and everything that could be pushed over the side, including many of her cannon, disappeared into the raging seas. Somehow the Carmen missed the outer reef, still holding with her anchor, and then struck hard on a reef only 900' offshore where she rolled on her starboard side and sank in 19' of water. There was little loss of life.

After the hurricane passed, the Carmen' supper works remained above water, and one of the large ship's launches seemed repairable. The survivors began moving what provisions they could salvage to the beach where they set up a small camp. The 24 foot launch was repaired and sent north to the main salvage camp where Ubilla's Capitana had sunk 2 miles south of today's Sebastian inlet. Sebastian Mendez, pilot of the Carmen, was in charge of the launch that was then dispatched to St. Augustine to advise of the disaster that had befallen the fleet.

Because much of the topworks of Carmen remained above water, most of her registered treasure was salvaged. As the 1715 fleet began to be salvaged by modern day methods in 1965, the wreck-site of the Carmen was well known because of the pile of cannon lying directly offshore of the northernmost green of the Rio Mar golf course. But it took a back seat to the efforts at Fort Pierce and Sebastian where the gold and silver seemed to cover the bottom of the ocean.

It wasn't until 1969 that Mel Fisher moved his Treasure Salvors operation to the Carmen wreck-site. Here, opposite a small point of land, he uncovered 19 cannon and 2 large anchors. The blowers also uncovered 149 gold coins, numerous bars of gold, 2 beautiful gold crosses that at one time ornately hung pearls, and over 40 pounds of silver coins. It was their best salvage year in several years, and on a site they felt had little to offer.

The area just inshore of the cannon and ballast pile is deep sand. Hard bottom reef stretches the last 100 yards to the beach, in some areas exposed at low tide. Under the edge of this reef, in water 4-5 feet deep, a number of artifacts have been recovered in recent years.

Richard MacAllaster's Peninsular Salvage group worked a riffle box mounted on a small pontoon barge in 1985. They had spotted traces of gold dust everywhere, but trying to pick it out of the reefs was like trying to pull hen's teeth. After 2 weeks, and a lot of fun playing prospector, the group recovered a few ounces of gold dust, and a piece of gold jewelry. The year before, MacAllaster's group recovered several bronze crosses near the cannon pile.

John Brandon working the Endeavor out of Fort Pierce has always seemed lucky on the site, and in 1986 he recovered 5 gold coins during the few days he worked Rio Mar. There seems to be treasure on the site, and following the scatter pattern of the rest of the 1715 fleet, it would probably be found a few hundred yards north and near the beach. The site remains one of the greatest in terms of photography because of the 19 cannon and 2 large anchors still on the site, grouped in an area 100' x 100' approximately 900' offshore from the extreme northern end of the Rio Mar golf course at the south end of Vero Beach.