Maravillas Treasure Finally Discovered By Underwater Archaeologists

CNN

The Maravillas, a renowned Spanish galleon, met its watery demise over three centuries ago in the treacherous waters of the northern Bahamas, marking one of the most opulent shipwrecks in history. Believed to have been salvaged to obscurity, recent endeavors by Allen Exploration have unveiled a mesmerizing tapestry of riches extending over 5 kilometers beneath the ocean’s surface.

In the dark hours of January 4, 1656, the Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas, aptly named Our Lady of Wonders, succumbed to the depths of the western Little Bahama Bank. Laden with a staggering cargo of silver bars and coins, it also bore the remnants of a previous galleon lost near Ecuador two years prior. The ship, laden with wealth, was on its homeward journey when disaster struck.

The subsequent years witnessed a series of attempts to salvage the sunken vessel, with no fewer than 21 occasions marked by relentless efforts to retrieve relics. Spanish salvors, followed by English and American crews, scoured the wreck, stripping it of its treasures. Between 1972 and 1991, a modern era of salvage operations rediscovered the site, unearthing a purported 30 tons of gold bars and coins, silver nuggets, jewelry, emeralds, iron anchors, and cannons.


This remarkable tale of maritime opulence and the relentless pursuit of riches beneath the waves serves as a testament to both the historical significance of the Maravillas and the enduring allure of sunken treasure, echoing through the centuries and captivating the imaginations of explorers and historians alike.

“Many experts believe the story of the Maravillas is over, that past salvage picked the old ship dry,” Carl Allen, the founder of AllenX, stated. “Now we’ve proven the wreck is not all vanished.”

Licensed by the Bahamian government since 2019, AllenX has unearthed a vast array of artifacts, spanning over three miles southeast from the location where the Maravillas initially struck a reef and sank.

Allen Exploration

Concealed beneath the waves and sand lie a treasure trove of artifacts, including olive jars, silver pieces of eight, silver bars, emeralds, amethysts, and gold jewelry. Each discovery, ranging from 828 lead musket balls and 10,988 fragments of olive jars to nearly 3,000 silver coins and 125 emeralds and amethysts, has been meticulously documented and mapped.\

“You might think that it was centuries of hurricanes and storms that broke up the Maravillas. But the archaeology has forced us to re-think that theory,” Dan Porter, the project’s offshore manager who oversaw the mapping, said.


At least 142 hurricanes and storms have hit the Bahamas since 1500. “If the galleon was broken up by hurricane after hurricane, the remains would be scattered around all four points of the compass. That’s not the reality. They’re mostly focused in one artifact scatter trail running southeast,” Porter said.

The project’s lead archaeologist, Jim Sinclair, expressed astonishment as he discovered unique gold chains and jewels adorned with precious gems along the scatter trail. These items were identified as the personal belongings of affluent passengers and officers.

“You can be sure that if these valuable items were still sitting on the main wreck when the Maravillas was salvaged in 1656, they’d have been brought up too,” Sinclair said. “This can only mean that the treasures found by AllenX were scattered during the five months before the Spanish salvage operations began in June 1656.”

The Trade-wind Belt encompasses the western Little Bahama Bank. During winter, ‘northers,’ characterized by winds averaging 30-40 miles per hour from the northwest and northeast, prevail. AllenX theorizes that two to three storm fronts of this nature contributed significantly to the formation of the primary segment of the Maravillas’ scatter trail between January and June 1656.

The predominant category of artifacts lost along the Maravillas scatter trail originates from the sterncastle. This area served as storage for the passengers and crew’s possessions, ranging from elegant Chinese and Mexican dining bowls and dishes to swords, navigational dividers, and gold jewelry.

New York Post

Carl Allen explained that historical accounts showed how the three stern cabins had collapsed into the ocean. “The quarterdeck and sterncastle floated away, never to be seen again.”

“Throw into the mix rampant smuggling: the Maravillas was carrying at least 100% contraband above the value of the cargo – and so much of the archaeology of the Maravillas is still to be explored and its history written.”

The Maravillas scatter trail research findings were officially released by the team in Ocean Dispatches 4, a publication supported by the Bahamas Maritime Museum in Freeport. Carl Allen, the museum’s founder in 2022, established it to showcase the recovered treasure.

From 1992 to 2019, The Bahamas imposed a moratorium on issuing licenses for shipwreck salvage. In 2019, Carl Allen received a new license for scientific and archaeological exploration, opening the seas once again. Currently, AllenX diligently submits monthly written reports to the country, providing detailed maps of discoveries, lists of findings, and research updates.

 

 

What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!

True Activist / Report a typo

Popular on True Activist