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Shipwreck
was a constant and terrifying threat to all vessels using the Florida straits.
From the earliest period, when navigators returning to Spain began to sail
through the waterway, the bones of ships and their victims piled up on
the beaches of the islands and coasts flanking it. As early as 1578, the
governor of Cuba had written the Spanish crown of the treacherous nature
of the passage, describing the beaches of Florida as littered with treasure
as well as the bones of shipwreck victims. In another letter the governor
informed his Majesty “of the great amount of gold and silver said to be
lost in the islands and keys of this channel. Many rumors are current here
of men who have escaped on rafts and logs and got to Florida where they
were seized by the Indians. Some inhabitants of this region talked with
them before they died and affirmed this matter saying that there were many
lost ships and many bones on the shore of people who died and had taken
their silver and gold to the land where it was lost.”
From the book
Funnel
of Gold by historian Mendel Peterson of the Smithsonian Institution
Read
on:When the Frenchmen Rene Laudonniere undertook the ill-fated
settling attempt at Florida he reported that “there is found among the
savages good quantitie of gold and silver, which is gotten out of the shippes
that are lost upon the coast, as I have understood by the savages themselves.”
Even John Hawkins reported about this practice in the 1565 voyage account
when he was near Los Martires, (Florida Keys), where proportedly an Indian
king named Cabs had a “... great store of golde and silver, so farre foorth
that in a certaine village he had a pit full thereof, which was at the
least as high as a man, and as large as a tunne... The greatest part of
these riches was had, as they sayd, out of the Spanish shippes, which commonly
were cast away in this straight.
Both Hawkins
and Laudonniere had found the Bahama Channel "dangerous," because
of "sundry banks", and he comments on the "masts” which were the wracks
of Spaniards coming from Mexico," and to these "wracks" he ascribes the
presence of gold and silver among the Indians, which the latter used to
buy what they wanted from the Frenchmen.
When Hawkins
returned to England he reported to the Queen that he had examined much
of la Florida and that it was an exceptionally promising region. Although
there were no silver mines as in Mexico and Peru, significant quantities
of precious metals and pearls had washed and no doubt would continue to
wash upon Florida's gently sloping beaches from the wrecks of Spanish galleons.
Hawkins to
Elizabeth, Padstow, Sept. 20, 1565, in Report on the Pepys Manuscripts,
Historical M anuscripts Commission (London,1911), 66.
So here we
have eyewitness accounts from the years 1565 and 1578 that the eastern
coast of Florida was beset with shipwrecks and the beaches littered with
treasure. And there was 300 years more of Spanish, French, English and
Dutch shipwrecks to come!! Entire Spanish fleets were destroyed in 1622,
1715 and 1733.
The late, legendary
treasure hunter and my friend, Mel Fisher, proclaimed that there is a shipwreck
every 1/4 mile along Florida's coast. Conservative estimates number in
the range of 4000-5000. A great many of these are historically documented.
In one small area off north Vero Beach, you can find artifacts and treasure
from three shipwrecks lost in 1618, 1715 and 1810!
I am regularly
contacted by people from across the globe, from all walks of life, asking
how they can become involved in one of my projects.
If you are
faint-hearted, conservative, and can't afford to lose your money, I suggest
you watch from the web and invest in real estate or a mid cap stock fund.
However, if you like to roll the dice, enjoy great adventure, dig
the history and romance that surround unlocking the mysteries of a long
lost shipwreck, and possibly strike it rich, you've come to the
right place.
We offer interested
partners and financial backers a "hands-on" opportunity to participate
in the once in a lifetime thrill of a shipwreck search and recovery operation.
Tom Gidus is
actively seeking funding for several exciting projects planned for the
year 2008 and beyond.
please
contact us via email
.
.
.
recovered
by Chris James & Tom Gidus, sale price $129K
Thank you and welcome
aboard!
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