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The treasure of the Spanish galleon "Nuestra Señora del Sol" is finally discovered
The daily St.Tosia Courier reported yesterday that the wreck of the galleon "Nuestra Señora del Sol"was found and described the finds
as 'astonishing'. It allows pieces of 'incalculable historical value' to be recovered. It will now be protected as St.Tosia Underwater
Archaeological Preserve. The wreck was found by the world-renowned diver and treasure hunter Captain James MacLullintyre. Among the
objects found were gold chains and an assortment of silver and gold coins, several emerald jewels, buckles, sword handles, and a pistol.
In 1622, the Spanish 110 foot heavily armed galleon "Nuestra Señora del Sol", commanded by Capitano Esteban de Lavarra y Zuviza, was on
course North to the heavily fortified port of Havana. The galleon was part of the Esquadron de Terra Firme which served South American
trade routes out of Cartagena. In Havana, it would group together with other ships in convoy style and then navigate towards the strong
Gulf Stream before turning east when at the same latitude as Spain to bring them back to Europe. In Havana, the galleons were loaded with
supplies and repairs were made. Additional cargo was also loaded. Fresh water and food items were placed aboard each ship before the long
and treacherous Atlantic journey back to Spain.
In the early seventeenth century, the Terra Firme Flota was an extremely valuable treasure fleet. The mines in Peru, especially those near
Potosi, were the richest known, generating as much silver as all of the world's other mines combined. Production was at a level that would
not be surpassed in the colonies until modern mining techniques were implemented. As much as ten million pesos worth of treasure was being
produced every year. The peso, or piece-of-eight, was a silver coin that was the standard way of measuring the size of treasure shipments.
Capitano De Lavarra had made the decision to start the long and perilous voyage back to the Old World, even though the hurricane season had
long begun. He believed that the general weather conditions were more favorable during the summer months. The waters of the Atlantic Ocean
were calmer, and the prevailing winds gentler. However, the very warm waters of the South Atlantic contribute to unstable weather, and the
then unpredictable rapid development of violent and devastating tropical storms. For the first five days, the voyage was uneventful with the
weather remaining good and giving no indication whatsoever of bad weather.
Nevertheless, his decision would indeed prove to be fatal. Unknown to the Spaniards, an exceptionally powerful hurricane was brewing to
the east of the Lesser Antilles. Long swells started to appear, coming from the east and started to make the ship dip and roll. Experienced
sailors knew that these were the early signs of a looming tropical storm. The monster hurricane advanced quickly. The velocity of the wind
kept increasing, the sea was rapidly building up, and by midnight, the ship was barely under control. Several hours before daybreak of Monday,
September 5th, the doomed ship was hit by the full impact of the eye of the killer storm. Its sails and rigging were reduced to shreds and
masts and tillers battered or broken. The seas were mountainous and for safety, most everyone, seasick or in prayer, was below deck.
The ship drifted helplessly toward the notorious dangerous and deadly jagged Attorador Reefs, 10 miles East of St.Tosia. The "Nuestra
Señora del Sol" was being lifted high on a wave and smashed violently on the reef.
The vessel sunk instantly, pulled to the bottom of the deep underwater trough by her heavy cargo. Imagine, a three-deck, 64-gun,
2,500-ton vessel crossing the Atlantic richly laden with a treasure cargo including of a great number of chests of gold coins, gold bars,
gold dust, silver coins, the rare Muzo emeralds, gems, jewels, indigo, tobacco, and spices. They were loaded on board at the heavily
fortified ports of Cartagena and Porto Bello at the Terra Firme as the mainland of South America was called at the time.
The next day, a small fishing boat from St.Tosia, making its way through the debris, rescued two survivors, both priests, clinging to
the ship's mizzenmast and still praying hard. They were the only ones of 465 passengers and crew, among whom were wealthy travelers and
an entire company of 82 infantry soldiers to defend the vessel from possible enemy or pirate attacks and boarding.
The wreck "Nuestra Señora del Sol" had not been found until last week, hiding a treasure now worth hundreds of millions of dollars for
nearly four centuries. All those years, knowledge of the location of the treasure was lost and there was no technology to find it.
Finding the wreck was still difficult because wooden ships have long since disintegrated, and almost 400 years of coral growth has
made it virtually impossible to visually locate the piles of ballast stones or other clues that usually mark Spanish wrecks. The
searchers had to rely on magnetometers to locate anchors or other iron artifacts that would be associated with the galleon. The treasure
may be widely scattered.
Search and salvage will remain a challenge because of the dangerous Attorador Reef.
Cdr. Bud Slabbaert
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