Another truth about treasure galleon El Dorado

[Bobadilla]

Hello,

As I am browsing old posts of this forum, I stopped reading about Ghost El Dorado Galleon. Your opinions about this ship were that it was nickname, that El Dorado was sunk in 1551 close to Bimini, another El Dorado was placed to Indonesia, another opinion was that real name of this ship was San Antonio do Brasil and so on. But nobody on the forum here mentioned caravelle "El Dorado", sunken in big hurricane on the 4th of July of 1502 in Mona Passage in Dominican waters. El Dorado was flag ship of Antonio de Torres, commander of the whole fleet of 32 ships that left Santo Domingo just 40 hours before that desaster. It was literally written in official documents in Sevilla Archive that ".... never before sea bottom received so big treasure at one time..." Almost half of the treasures loaded on ships of this fleet was loaded on El Dorado. It is even said that massive golden table, gift of Francisco Bobadilla to Spanish kings, was also on the board. El Dorado sunk together with other 28 ships of the fleet and with lost of 500 lives. This ship was never found.

May be I was a little of help.

Lobo

 

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[jeff k]

DeTorres' Fleet: Poetic justice in a tragic form took place on July 4, 1502. A fleet of 32 caravels had assembled at Santo Domingo four days before, making ready to sail for Spain. Among the passengers on Antgonio de Torres' flagship, El Dorado, was the scheming Bobadilla who had imprisoned Columbus two years earlier. By coincidence, their paths crossed again when Columbus put in at Santa Domingo on his return from a voyage. He didn't like the feel of the heavy, still atmosphere, recognizing the familiar forwarning of hurricane. He told Bobadilla as much, but his advice was scorned. Perhaps Bobadilla remembered the navigator's warning four days later as he struggled for his life in the watery fury of the worst hurricane ever recorded at that time. During twelve hours of July 4, its cyclonic winds and massive waves tore the flota to shreds, swamping a dozen of the ships in the Mona Passage and breaking most of the rest against the shores of Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, and Mona islands. Only five lived through the day. Twenty-seven caravels, among them El Dorado, were lost with over 500 lives, including Bobadilla's. There was treasure, in quantity, on the destroyed ships. Perhaps half of its gold nuggets and dust, and pearls, had been stowed aboard El Dorado. The single richest item was a solid gold table, reputed to weigh 1.5 tons, through which Bobadilla intended to express his gratitude to the Catholic Kings for his appointment as governor. The flagship was believed to have gone down in the Mona Passage, where depths of 1000 feet are encountered. No trace of its wreckage was discovered during the salvage work along the coasts after the seas had subsided. Much was recovered from wrecks which had been thrown up on reefs and beaches, but at least $3,000,000 (note: value was in 1962) in gold and pearls was gone. If accounts of Bobadilla's 3310-pound golden table were true, about $2,000,000 in treasure lie in the remanants of El Dorado, way down under Mona Passage. Some of the other wrecks against the coasts, partly salvaged or beyond reach of 1500 Indian skin divers, might make worthwhile targets for modern SCUBA-diving skin divers, but El Dorado and her treasures will probably never be found.

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Municipio San Cristóbal: Bajos de Haina

History

According to some versions, Miguel Díaz, who had migrated from La Isabela, arrived to Haina after having injured a man who was intimately related to the Spanish authorities. Once he settled there, he married a native woman named Catalina who told him of a gold deposit in the western bank of the Haina River. After confirming the existence of the precious metal, he returned to La Isabela where he told Christopher Columbus and his brother Bartholomew of his discovery. The Admiral sent his brother to confirm the existence of the deposit, since he had to leave for Europe.

Bartholomew realized that there indeed was gold and decided to build a fort that he named San Cristóbal, which served as lodging for the soldiers that participated in this activity.

A very large gold nugget was found in 1502, at the western bank of the Haina River, eight kilometers from Villa Altagracia, in a place known as Madrigal. The nugget was sent to Spain, but the ship that carried it sank along with Governor Francisco Bobadilla, Cacique Guarionex and dozens of Spaniards.

 

[Bobadilla]

Hello Jeff K,

Many thanks for your detailed information. It just confirms my own investigation. You seem to know more about Hispaniola treasure history and our wrecks than me! Congratulations! One never finish learning something new.... May I ask you WHERE did you find this particular information? I found some more information about famous 225 onzas gold nugget only in Spanish book of Ferrera: El Cofresi Intrepido. (By the way, great sorce of information, not only about pirate Cofresi).

Best regards

Lobo

 

[jeff k]

The first part came from "The Treasure Divers Guide," by John Potter. I probably found the second part about the nugget on the Internet. The nugget is believed to have weighed about 60 lbs., and was the size of a loaf of bread. "Shipwrecks in Puerto Rico's History," by Walter Bonet, also mentions this fleet. Burt Webber did an extensive search for this wreck in the 1980's or 90's, but couldn't locate it.

 

[Bobadilla]

The first part came from "The Treasure Divers Guide," by John Potter. I probably found the second part about the nugget on the Internet. The nugget is believed to have weighed about 60 lbs., and was the size of a loaf of bread. "Shipwrecks in Puerto Rico's History," by Walter Bonet, also mentions this fleet. Burt Webber did an extensive search for this wreck in the 1980's or 90's, but couldn't locate it.

Thanks for your information. I knew that several expedition were looking for the wreck of El Dorado during last 50 years and nobody has found it so far.

Regards

Lobo