TreasureDiver,
Thanks for the info. I am working on a new approach, though I do not know if it will work for the Bahamas. I have a relationship with the current rightful heir to Hernan Cortes, a lady who lives in Italy. Cortes was an entrepreneur and personally owned most of the ships that transported his materials. Certainly in US waters, Spanish shipwrecks, whether owned by the State or privately, have a special status under the 1902 Treaty of Friendship with Spain. As shown in the case of SeaHunt and the Juno and laGalga, Spanish wrecks cannot be "abandoned" except by specific act, and so belong to their original owners, or their descendents. Because of this most Spanish wrecks in US waters belong to the Spanish government, and eliminates the possibility of recovering them legally, but not if they were privately owned. I am interested in trying to identify any Cortes wrecks in US waters, because I think that the current heir would be recognised as the legitimate owner and allowed to recover the wreck. I would, incidentally, be interested in forming a relationship with people who might have the capability of finding and legitinately recovering such wrecks.
I know that the Bahamas currently have a moratorium on shipwreck recovery, but if it was possible to identify the wreck of a ship that had been privately owned by Cortes I wonder if they would be amenable to giving his legitimate heir permission to recover it, using appropriate archaeological methods of course. Its too late to matter now, but I suspect that the Tumbaga wreck recovered a few years ago in the Bahamas was a Cortes ship.
That is why I am interested in working out whether the "Santa Maria de la Concepcion" that you referred to was privately owned by Cortes, and could reasonably be located.
Mariner
Thanks for the info. I am working on a new approach, though I do not know if it will work for the Bahamas. I have a relationship with the current rightful heir to Hernan Cortes, a lady who lives in Italy. Cortes was an entrepreneur and personally owned most of the ships that transported his materials. Certainly in US waters, Spanish shipwrecks, whether owned by the State or privately, have a special status under the 1902 Treaty of Friendship with Spain. As shown in the case of SeaHunt and the Juno and laGalga, Spanish wrecks cannot be "abandoned" except by specific act, and so belong to their original owners, or their descendents. Because of this most Spanish wrecks in US waters belong to the Spanish government, and eliminates the possibility of recovering them legally, but not if they were privately owned. I am interested in trying to identify any Cortes wrecks in US waters, because I think that the current heir would be recognised as the legitimate owner and allowed to recover the wreck. I would, incidentally, be interested in forming a relationship with people who might have the capability of finding and legitinately recovering such wrecks.
I know that the Bahamas currently have a moratorium on shipwreck recovery, but if it was possible to identify the wreck of a ship that had been privately owned by Cortes I wonder if they would be amenable to giving his legitimate heir permission to recover it, using appropriate archaeological methods of course. Its too late to matter now, but I suspect that the Tumbaga wreck recovered a few years ago in the Bahamas was a Cortes ship.
That is why I am interested in working out whether the "Santa Maria de la Concepcion" that you referred to was privately owned by Cortes, and could reasonably be located.
Mariner