Trinidad Spanish galleon off Oceanside California

From what I have been able to ascertain, the Trinidad is a fabricated hoax.

However, not wanting to burst any bubbles, each person is permitted their respective beleifs.
 

Lost Treasure : Mystery of Explorer Ulloa's Spanish Galleon Still Unsolved


"It happens every six months or so. An eager visitor to the library of the San Diego Historical Society will ask the harried archivists for material on the Spanish galleon Trinidad, flagship of explorer Francisco de Ulloa, believed wrecked off the coast of Oceanside in 1540 with millions in Aztec gold."

Markey died in Dec 1985....
 

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Hi thanks for the info. I have access to Camp Pendleton and am very familiar with the coastal area running along it. I am thinking of starting a search of the area with mding and physically exploring the area myself.
 

Thank you.
 

You may want to contact Mackaydon about this one...

fixed the name on this post!
 

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Ok thanks for the tip.
 

Here is a tip. There is no gold. There isn't even a ship. The Trinidad did not sink. It returned to Spain along with Ulloa and Cortez.

How do we know this? Simple. In 1542, Cortez was being sued in Spain for breach of contract. Francisco de Ulloa testified at the trial.

And now the other facts:

1. The cave where Markey claimed to have found the skeletons, coins and diary has never been located. Because it doesn't exist. Which means it is impossible to archaeologically examine the site or determine if the skeletons were even human remains. If they exist at all.

2. The diary where Markey claimed to get his information has never been seen by anyone ever. He died in 1985. Nobody ever had a chance to examine it and never found it after his death. What happened to the diary?

3. The recovered coins from the cave have never been seen by anyone ever. What happened to them?
 

Oh wow, bummer. Thank you for the info. Shame it isn't a legite story, would have been a great adventure.
 

Nickt said:
Hi has anyone ever been involved in searching for or no a great deal about the existence of a Spanish galleon carrying gold that went down off Oceanside California in 1540? The ship was called "Trinidad".
Click to expand...


Be careful on this one... the research may lead you back to a script from an old Sea Hunt episode... What was the name of that treasure vessel that Lloyd Bridges supposedly encountered?
 

While the Trinidad is likely a hoax, there have been plenty of ships wrecked along the California Coast....

Gold is where you find it...good luck!
 

my pleasure,
who knows how many other SS Pacific types are out there waiting to be found! :icon_thumright:

Cheers!
 

Now there is a ship worthy of searching for.

Built in New York in 1850, owned by Goodall, Nelson & Perkins Steamship Co., in San Francisco. Registered at 876 tons. And sunk approximate 40 miles southwest of Cape Flattery after colliding with the "Orpheus" on November 6, 1875 while enroute from Victoria, B.C. to San Francisco. At the time she carried around $100,000 in treasure belonging to several of the passengers. As well as a strongbox containing another $79,200 in cash which belonged to Wells Fargo.

The cash probably didn't survive. But who knows how much that treasure might be worth today.
 

Hello there, I'm new to this website;however, I'm very familiar with the story of the "Trinidad." While growing up in Oceanside, I had several older gentlemen tell me the story about the Trinidad. It was said, the Captain and his wife are bury in the vicinity of Pilgrim Creek just behind where Pilgrim Creek Mobile homes are now. I've been back there, there are pictographs and morteros where some rocks are, there was also an area of about 10x10 chain link fenced off. Also, the top was covered with chain link fence.
I was told and have researched the Trinidad went down approximate 3 miles out from where Buccaneer Beach is. After the El Nino storms winter 1978-1979; there was a cannon that was found. Sorry I don't recall to much more.
Here's a link to an LA Times article The Treasure Trove of the Trinidad : New Attempt to Hunt for Fabled Galleon Off Oceanside - Los Angeles Times
Good Luck, Keith
 

When I first read Markey's statement that he had found a cache of gold coins dating from the 1st Century BC to AD 1500 which Ulloa had planned to use in bartering with local Indian chieftains-- I couldn't stop laughing--I still am. To even suggest (as Markey did) that Ulloa brought ancient and 'modern' gold coins from Europe to use as barter with native Americans is... ( I can't find the words).
Don.........
PS: kvk971 Welcome to Treasure Net !! You may have better luck searching around where Pendleton's barracks, BOQ, BX, baseball field grandstands and other facilities were during WW II.
 

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1540. Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortez ordered three small caravels, under the command of Captain Francisco de Ulloa, to explore the coast of California. Before reaching the waters of California, one of the ships, the Santo Tomás, was scuttled and another, the Santa Agueda was sent back to Mexico. The remaining ship, the Trinidad, 35-tons, and her twenty-four crewmen, continued on alone and by summer was in the vicinity of San Diego. By the end of August, the tiny caravel was moored off San Luis Rey and all of the men were placed ashore due to sickness. A sudden storm blew in while the crew was ashore and the Trinidad disappeared. Apparently the anchor cable parted and the vessel drifted to places unknown. In recent years there has been a great deal of publicity concerning persons claiming to have located this shipwreck as well as claims that a substantial amount of treasure has been recovered from the wreck. One author claims the log of the Santa Agueda tells of Ulloa removing a chest of gold from his ship and placing it aboard the Trinidad. However, no evidence to substantiate the claim of the discovery and no proof the ship carried any treasure has turned up. Even if the wreck is discovered, there is little chance that the Trinidad carried any treasure at all, with the exception of a few personal effects belonging to members of the crew. Various theories place the wreck site the near Santa Ana River, or somewhere off Point La Jolla, possibly between Encinitas and Solano Beach. The San Luis Rey Historical Society offered a $10,000 reward to anyone finding the remains of the Trinidad. The reward still remains unclaimed to this day. (Note: The first published account of the Ulloa expedition can be found in Francisco Lopez de Gomara’s book, the Conquista de Mexico, probably written shortly after 1542. A few years later, in 1556, an extended account of the expedition appears in G.B. Ramusio’s Navigationi et Viaggi, volume III, translated in Italian and purported to have been written by Francisco Preciado, who witnessed and recorded the events of the voyage in the form of a diary. That Preciado wrote in Spanish seems most likely, but if so the original has disappeared. In 1600, the Italian version was translated by English historian Richard Hakluyt and published in Principal Navigations, volume III. For more information see California Voyages: 1539-1541, Translation of Original Documents, edited by Henry R. Wagner, published in 1925.) (Source: Shipwrecks & Nautical Archaeology of the New World: A Comprehensive Directory 1492-1900) PP. 921)
 

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