Press Release - ON JULY 21, 2000, THE FOURTH CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, AT THE INSISTENCE OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT, AWARDED SPAIN THE RIGHTS TO THE SPANISH WARSHIP LA GALGA WHICH DROVE ASHORE ON ASSATEAGUE ISLAND, VIRGINIA, ON SEPTEMBER 5, 1750. UNLIKE THE RECENT TREASURE DISCOVERIES IN THE NEWS, THIS SHIP WAS NOT CARRYING APPRECIABLE GOLD AND SILVER. HER REAL TREASURE WAS THAT SHE WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE WORLD FAMOUS LEGEND THAT THE WILD PONIES OF ASSATEAGUE ISLAND DESCENDED FROM THOSE SURVIVORS WHO SWAM ASHORE FROM A SPANISH GALLEON CENTURIES AGO. IN LATE MAY, ODYSSEY MARINE EXPLORATIONS OF TAMPA, FLORIDA BROUGHT INTO THE PROTECTION OF THE FEDERAL ADMIRALTY COURT SEVENTEEN TONS OF GOLD AND SILVER COINS. SPAIN FILED PAPERS IN THAT COURT SAYING THAT IF THE TREASURE IS SPANISH IT IS THEIRS. THEY CITED THE CASE OF LA GALGA AS LEGAL PRECEDENT EVEN THOUGH A NON-SPANISH SHIP HAD BEEN MISTAKENLY ARRESTED IN THAT CASE. NOW, AFTER SIX YEARS IN THE MAKING, THE BEHIND THE SCENES STORY THAT SPANS THIRTY YEARS IS SOON TO BE RELEASED IN THE HIDDEN GALLEON: THE TRUE STORY OF A LOST SPANISH SHIP AND THE WILD HORSES OF ASSATEAGUE ISLAND, NEW MARITIMA PRESS, AUGUST, 2007.
According to the author, John Amrhein, Jr., this award should never have happened. He said that in federal government's rush to punish a treasure hunter in a premature claim of discovery in 1997, they failed to do their legal and factual homework. Since the government was predisposed to get rid of a historical treasure, they entered the litigation being heard in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on the side of Spain. The federal government argued that the Spanish warship, La Galga, was never abandoned and thus remained the property of Spain since the time of King Ferdinand VI. The historical record shows that days after the wreck, the captain of this legendary ship documented such abandonment when he told the sheriff of neighboring Worcester County, Maryland, that the "Owner of the Land Owned the Ship." This peculiar statement was finally made clear in recent documents found in Spain. Amrhein says the ship began to cover with sand immediately after it wrecked and was swallowed up by the island itself. In 1943, the federal government acquired title to this land now called the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and thus clear title to the abandoned warship. In 1983, after a meticulous search in the ocean and in American and Spanish archives, Amhrein informed government officials that the historic vessel was buried under their land. For several weeks the media gave accounts of that story including a front-page chronicle in the News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware on New Years Day, 1984. His research has continued until release of his fact-filled book that comes out in mid August. He said the government chose to do nothing about his discovery, although they have in the past always attempted to seize shipwrecks from their discoverers in the name of historic preservation. Based on research that resumed six years ago, he now believes that the lower hull and many artifacts are well preserved in the wrecks' 257 year-old tomb on Assateague.
Because the wreck sits under Assateague Island, the government had clear title to the wreck when the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals made the award in July of 2000 and was required to give the public notice that they intended to dispose of government property. Janet Reno and her gang of lawyers failed to do this. Contrary to the premise of the award, Spain claimed that if La Galga was ever found it would be their's. Amrhein found in the court records that the wreck in the ocean was never identified by any government official but in The Hidden Galleon he names the probable suspect and it's not Spanish.
Almost everyone in Virginia and the surrounding states are familiar with the horses that run wild on Assateague. Every year, nearly 50,000 spectators go to the rural island of Chincoteague to witness the pony swim and auction that benefits the local fire department. This event became world famous after Marguerite Henry published her children's book, Misty of Chincoteague in 1947. In 1961, 20th Century Fox released the movie. Now, on pony swim day, when these enthusiastic spectators hear the announcer describe the legend of the horses and the lost galleon, they may ask themselves "What is historic preservation? Has our government let us down again?"
More questions come to mind. If the court gave away the wrong ship, does the real warship buried under Assateague still belong to the federal government? If so, will they someday seek its excavation?
Amrhein says that there is some hope to save the ship. In 2003, President Bush signed Executive Order 13287 entitled "Preserve America." This order establishes new mandates for identifying, protecting, and using historic properties in its control or ownership to contribute to local economic development and it reinforces the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
Amrhein won't be alone in his hopes. Victoria Stapells Johnson, his researcher in Spain for the last 27 years who has worked with many notable treasure hunters, historians, governments and even National Geographic said that she found the Hidden Galleon project to be the most satisfying research job she has done since she first began archival research in Spain in 1977. Ellswoth Boyd, columnist for Sport Diver Magazine, said that the author, who started out as a treasure seeker, has become a meticulous, reputable maritime historian as he portrays the history of the ship and its connection to the popular legend of the wild ponies of Assateague Island coming from a lost Spanish galleon.
The story of the hidden galleon has no ending. As the book goes to press, the Kingdom of Spain, in its attempt to claim what it believes to be Spanish treasure from Odyssey Marine Explorations, has cited the case the La Galga as precedent even though they were awarded a non-Spanish shipwreck.
For much, much more on this amazing story, visit www.thehiddengalleon.com and read the July/August issue of Chesapeake Life magazine for the story "Ponies' Secrets." New Maritima Press, 536 pages, $32.95. Expected release date: August 20, 2007
According to the author, John Amrhein, Jr., this award should never have happened. He said that in federal government's rush to punish a treasure hunter in a premature claim of discovery in 1997, they failed to do their legal and factual homework. Since the government was predisposed to get rid of a historical treasure, they entered the litigation being heard in the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia on the side of Spain. The federal government argued that the Spanish warship, La Galga, was never abandoned and thus remained the property of Spain since the time of King Ferdinand VI. The historical record shows that days after the wreck, the captain of this legendary ship documented such abandonment when he told the sheriff of neighboring Worcester County, Maryland, that the "Owner of the Land Owned the Ship." This peculiar statement was finally made clear in recent documents found in Spain. Amrhein says the ship began to cover with sand immediately after it wrecked and was swallowed up by the island itself. In 1943, the federal government acquired title to this land now called the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge and thus clear title to the abandoned warship. In 1983, after a meticulous search in the ocean and in American and Spanish archives, Amhrein informed government officials that the historic vessel was buried under their land. For several weeks the media gave accounts of that story including a front-page chronicle in the News Journal, Wilmington, Delaware on New Years Day, 1984. His research has continued until release of his fact-filled book that comes out in mid August. He said the government chose to do nothing about his discovery, although they have in the past always attempted to seize shipwrecks from their discoverers in the name of historic preservation. Based on research that resumed six years ago, he now believes that the lower hull and many artifacts are well preserved in the wrecks' 257 year-old tomb on Assateague.
Because the wreck sits under Assateague Island, the government had clear title to the wreck when the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals made the award in July of 2000 and was required to give the public notice that they intended to dispose of government property. Janet Reno and her gang of lawyers failed to do this. Contrary to the premise of the award, Spain claimed that if La Galga was ever found it would be their's. Amrhein found in the court records that the wreck in the ocean was never identified by any government official but in The Hidden Galleon he names the probable suspect and it's not Spanish.
Almost everyone in Virginia and the surrounding states are familiar with the horses that run wild on Assateague. Every year, nearly 50,000 spectators go to the rural island of Chincoteague to witness the pony swim and auction that benefits the local fire department. This event became world famous after Marguerite Henry published her children's book, Misty of Chincoteague in 1947. In 1961, 20th Century Fox released the movie. Now, on pony swim day, when these enthusiastic spectators hear the announcer describe the legend of the horses and the lost galleon, they may ask themselves "What is historic preservation? Has our government let us down again?"
More questions come to mind. If the court gave away the wrong ship, does the real warship buried under Assateague still belong to the federal government? If so, will they someday seek its excavation?
Amrhein says that there is some hope to save the ship. In 2003, President Bush signed Executive Order 13287 entitled "Preserve America." This order establishes new mandates for identifying, protecting, and using historic properties in its control or ownership to contribute to local economic development and it reinforces the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
Amrhein won't be alone in his hopes. Victoria Stapells Johnson, his researcher in Spain for the last 27 years who has worked with many notable treasure hunters, historians, governments and even National Geographic said that she found the Hidden Galleon project to be the most satisfying research job she has done since she first began archival research in Spain in 1977. Ellswoth Boyd, columnist for Sport Diver Magazine, said that the author, who started out as a treasure seeker, has become a meticulous, reputable maritime historian as he portrays the history of the ship and its connection to the popular legend of the wild ponies of Assateague Island coming from a lost Spanish galleon.
The story of the hidden galleon has no ending. As the book goes to press, the Kingdom of Spain, in its attempt to claim what it believes to be Spanish treasure from Odyssey Marine Explorations, has cited the case the La Galga as precedent even though they were awarded a non-Spanish shipwreck.
For much, much more on this amazing story, visit www.thehiddengalleon.com and read the July/August issue of Chesapeake Life magazine for the story "Ponies' Secrets." New Maritima Press, 536 pages, $32.95. Expected release date: August 20, 2007
