into the mind of admiral Ubilla & the hurricane path --effects on the 1715 fleet

ivan salis

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into the mind of admiral Ubilla & the hurricane path --effects on the 1715 fleet

ok -- heres the the idea --admiral ubilla was the head of the 1715 fleet --- after passing the florida keys --he was sailing due north (360 or 0 degrees) toward cape canaveral staying fairly close to land and using "dead reckoning" ---using land marks to know how far north he was---(after clearing the keys they sailed northward along florida's coast line "looking" for cape canaveral then turned eastward to return to spain) which was the spanish standard sailing practice in those days--- he was in the in the florida / bahamas "slot"--- when a storm approach him from off of cuba (the storms "bearing" was 135 degrees (southeast) to him (behind him-- lower right hand side ) he knew the storm was headed his way and that attempting to go back to havana would place him off the deadly keys when the storm hit him -- he knew his slow sailing heavily loaded nao's could not "out run the storm" by "pouring on the sails" and trying to heading northward --- so he tried to shorten his sails in hopes that by sailing slowly the the storm MIGHT pass ahead of him and then head northward thus sparing the fleet -- sadly for him the tactic did not work the storm did not go to the north but instead slammed dead into them -- in a last ditch effort ubilla had the vessels turn their bows into storm hoping to ride the storm out --but it steadily pushed them to the northwest into the coast wrecking them. ---then the hurricane as it came very close to them --it finally turned northward running up the coastline --the wreckage items scatter pattern of the found vessels of the 1715 fleet starts off shore and "runs" in shore going from where they struck bottom and the hulls busted from the southeast headed (northwest) or upward and inward toward the coast also some scatter runs to the northward from the wreck sites--- ideas on this theory? Ivan
 

Re: into the mind of admiral Ubilla & the hurricane path --effects on the 1715 fleet

I would say your right on the money with that one, and in my opinion some of the scatter pattern will be on the Indian River side also.
 

Re: into the mind of admiral Ubilla & the hurricane path --effects on the 1715 fleet

Works for me. Accounts I've read say the fleet was becalmed just before the feeder bands started hitting them. Ubilla's slow sailing allowed the storm to catch them quicker. Certainly the Grifon, and possibly others, sailed ahead on a different heading. If Ubilla was in the lead, and the Nieves was at the end, it's likely the other large ships of the fleet are between them, and the other ships were substantially ahead of them.

Since a hurricane is a heat engine, it maintains its strength as long as it is over the Gulf Stream. Thus, it would still be a powerful storm, even at North Florida.

Read T.L. Armstrongs new book.."Rainbow Chasers".
 

Re: into the mind of admiral Ubilla & the hurricane path --effects on the 1715 f

That's Tommy Gore's book, The Rainbow Chasers. T.L. is the editor.
You can get it at www.signumops.com
Paddy
 

Re: into the mind of admiral Ubilla & the hurricane path --effects on the 1715 fleet

thanks paddy didn't read that one --
 

Re: into the mind of admiral Ubilla & the hurricane path --effects on the 1715 fleet

I recently talked with a person about Maging the Holiday Inn property and he agreed to do it.
Anyway he told me that he had magged the rest area at Sabastian Inlet area and had over 17 hits.
He said that according to the reading he had put together a SCATTER PATTERN all the way to the Indian River.
He was stopped by a Park Ranger and asked what he was doing and he responded by saying that he doing a survey to help in plotting a Scatter Pattern to be used in locating wrecks in the Atlantic Ocean and that this was of HISTORICAL VALUE.
The Ranger follwed him around for about 1 hour and then left but not until he had his name and tag number.
This shows me that YES there are parts of several ship wrecks located in the Indian River.
Peg leg
 

Re: into the mind of admiral Ubilla & the hurricane path --effects on the 1715 fleet

I have no doubt that some of the wreckage might have went up and over on the massive waves and high tides caused by the high water surge of the hurricane and thus would have wound up in the indain river area--- they would have went over what is modern day A!A highway ---back in 1715 it was just a high ridge type dune -- A1A was built up by the CCC groups during the 30's making the "road" higher and less prone to "flooding out"---- Ivan
 

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