spanish steamer merida ? Off the Virginia Capes ?

[jeff of pa]

I don't remember hearing of this before.

Harrisburg telegraph. (Harrisburg, Pa.), 19 July 1916.



Harrisburg telegraph. (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, July 19, 1916, Page 9, Image 9 « Chronicling America « Library of Congress

 

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[Darren in NC]

Very famous shipwreck. Had numerous salvage attempts throughout the years. Likely that SORIMA salvaged her already. Herbo Humphreys recently claimed another attempt.

 

[ShipwreckHunter]

The Lost Treasure of the SS Merida ..
The 6,027-ton Merida was built in Cramps shipyard in Philadelphia in 1906 and was rated a first-class mail and passenger vessel. She was 400 feet long, with a 50.2 feet beam and a hold depth of 17.5 feet. She had three decks fore and aft, was of steel construction, and had seven watertight bulkheads. Her two, three-cylinder triple expansion engines, developing 5,000 horsepower, made her one of the faster ships in service between New York and Havana (17 knots). According to reports at the time of the sinking in 1911, the ship had set sail with 17 tons of silver, gold, copper and jewels. Much of the treasure that was thought to be on board the Merida was gold and silver Mexican bullion and coins of wealthy citizens fleeing the Civil War. Also the 80-year-old president of Mexico Porfirio Diaz was shipping his assets out of the country, as he was about to be overthrown in a revolution. One of the notarized listing of the Peon family, including his injured wife, Jacinta Bolio de Peon. They were clearly a wealthy family. Some of Augusto’s lost possessions included a pair of French shoes, a cashmere suit, silk socks, and a case of literature and medical texts. His full list of expenses was $1,064.60. His wife Jacinta’s list included corsets, a Kimona (Japanese inspired blouse), several ostrich feathers, and necklaces of black pearls, emeralds and diamonds. Her jewelry alone was valued $41,500 (in 1911 dollars). The ship sank in the early hours of May 12th, 1911, in thick fog after the Mexico-to-New York, via Havana, Cuba, steamer was accidentally rammed by the United Fruit Company chartered steamer Admiral Farragut, which was en route from Philadelphia to Port Antonio, Jamaica. Everyone aboard the Merida was rescued and its 188 passengers and the 131 crew members were taken aboard the Farragut, although that steamer had suffered a large hole in her port bow. None of the cargo or passenger’s luggage was saved. The whole dramatic episode was crammed into a terse 61-word wireless sent by the captain of the Merida, Archibald Robertson, who wrote: “Merida and Admiral Farragut in collision at 12:30 o’clock this morning. All passengers and crew trans-shipped to Farragut, except captain, first officer and four men. Merida sank at 5:30 o’clock in 35 fathoms of water. Six men on board went to Farragut in small boat. Passengers now being trans-shipped again from Farragut to Old Dominion liner Hamilton. Will proceed to Norfolk.”
Efforts to try to retrieve the treasure aboard the ship began just weeks after it went down, followed by several other attempts over the years. Several other salvage operations claimed to have found the vessel, which sank off the mouth of Chesapeake Bay along the coast of Virginia. But the only piece of treasure that has ever been recorded as being recovered from it was a single silver ingot found by an Italian salvage outfit in 1939. Treasure hunter Herbert “Herbo” Humphreys has claimed another wreck site at which he and his crew will search for sunken cargo of gold, silver and jewellery. Captain Humphrey’s company, Marex Gulfstream Ventures, claimed the wreck of the steamship Merida in US federal Admiralty court in Savannah, Georgia in Aprilh and plans to start their expedition to retrieve its treasure this summer. Captain Humphreys, the former owner of Holiday Inn Resort in Grand Cayman, plans to appoint Caymanian boat captain and treasure hunter Kem Jackson as his chief engineer on the adventure. Captain Humphreys said videos his divers have shot at the site show that the early expeditions’ explosives had done a lot of their work for them as the wreck site looks like a “junk pile”. But he said it should be easy to remove the pieces with a hydraulic cactus grab.
“There is some conjecture that the silver rolled off the ship as she was sinking, which according to Hank Hudson, who has researched the complete files, may make our work even easier as we might not have to penetrate the actual wreckage,” Captain Humphreys said. “The Merida dropped anchor after the collision so she has not drifted far.”He and his team have the ship’s complete manifest, its ship plans and insurance records, he said.
Captain Humphreys’ previous wreck finds have included the Spanish Galleon Nuestra Senora de las Maravillas (sank in 1656), the HMS Thunderer (1780), the El Cazador (1784), the Santa Catalina (1550), the Ancona (1917), and the SS North Carolina (1843).

SS Merida which sank in 1911 while transporting wealthy Mexican citizens fleeing the Civil War with their wealth....

Herbert “Herbo” Humphreys, former owner of Holiday Inn Resort in Grand Cayman, has claimed another wreck site at which he and his crew will search for sunken cargo.

S.S. Admiral Farragut in Port Antonio Harbor circa 1905.. The SS Merida was was accidentally rammed by this ship in a heavy fog in 1911.

 

[jeff of pa]

Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), 28 Oct. 1924.





https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...arch&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

 

[jeff of pa]

Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.), 03 July 1925.



https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...ext=&andtext=&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1

 

[enrada]

Are you finding articles like this by just spending hours in the archives or are the newspapers scanning old copies with OCR which allows you to find by google?
Just curious.

 

[jeff of pa]

1789 - 1943 Newspaper Archives



https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/...tance=5&rows=20&searchType=advanced&sort=date

 

[enrada]

Awesome research tool. I don't think many people realize how much time is needed and spent doing research before doing any physical search.
I am pretty sure Merida isn't in The Treasure Divers Guide! I spent only 4 years researching Manila Galleons. I wonder how many years John Potter spent doing research for TTDG or Eugene Lyon has spent doing research?
Thanks Jeff