Bobadilla
Sr. Member
Hello all treasure hunting fellows,
As you probably know from my former posts and answers, I live and dive mainly in Dominican Republic and I am interested in all the pirates stories and wrecks in Dominican waters for years. Regarding Henry Morgan, it is well known that he had from time to time his operational base in island of Saona, close to the southern coast of DR. On several occassions he used this island as a randevous or meeting point with other fellow pirates, especially before some large expedition. It was also mentioned in famous Exqemelin book, for example.
Regarding Morgan 's flagship "Oxford ", it was believed that it had been sunk in other operational base of Henry Morgan which was in actual territory of Haiti, to be more precise, in Ille de Vache (Cow Island). The place itself is called for centuries "Port Morgan". Today it is a small bay with a hotel operated by a French enterpreneur. US based famous subsea research company SubSea Research was behind "Oxford" for a long time. I was in short contact with them. As I know they have their explore ship stationed in Port Morgan now. The problem is that unstable Haitian government gives you explore permit one day and they take it off you the other day. Cow Island is very interesting from the point of view of treasure wrecks anyway. There are said to be more than 200 sunken old ships on the reef outside the Cow Island. Famous Barry Clifford went to Ille de Vache as I know, too in the hunt for Oxford but he did not succeeded. One Swiss explorer and treasure hunter, Klaus Keppler with his company Sea explorer AG claims that he found Oxford there couple of years ago but it is not true. What he found there could be "Jamaica Merchant ", other Morgan' s ship but even this is doubtful. So, to make long story short, nobody has found "Oxford " yet which is strange because searching area is about 500 x 500 square meters with the depth between 5 and 10 meters. It has always been natuarl harbor for pirate ships. There are plenty of artifacts on the bottom of the bay in Port Morgan but no "Oxford ".
I have heard recently from more than one source that "Oxford " could be sunk just off the shore of Saona Island. There are couple of sunken pirate ships there (historically documented but never found so far because nobody was searching for them). Saona Island served for many years as a favourite pirate base where they were waiting for Spanish ships and convoys leaving or coming to close Santo Domingo harbor.
So, my friends, any help or your opinion would be more than appreciated........
Lobo
As you probably know from my former posts and answers, I live and dive mainly in Dominican Republic and I am interested in all the pirates stories and wrecks in Dominican waters for years. Regarding Henry Morgan, it is well known that he had from time to time his operational base in island of Saona, close to the southern coast of DR. On several occassions he used this island as a randevous or meeting point with other fellow pirates, especially before some large expedition. It was also mentioned in famous Exqemelin book, for example.
Regarding Morgan 's flagship "Oxford ", it was believed that it had been sunk in other operational base of Henry Morgan which was in actual territory of Haiti, to be more precise, in Ille de Vache (Cow Island). The place itself is called for centuries "Port Morgan". Today it is a small bay with a hotel operated by a French enterpreneur. US based famous subsea research company SubSea Research was behind "Oxford" for a long time. I was in short contact with them. As I know they have their explore ship stationed in Port Morgan now. The problem is that unstable Haitian government gives you explore permit one day and they take it off you the other day. Cow Island is very interesting from the point of view of treasure wrecks anyway. There are said to be more than 200 sunken old ships on the reef outside the Cow Island. Famous Barry Clifford went to Ille de Vache as I know, too in the hunt for Oxford but he did not succeeded. One Swiss explorer and treasure hunter, Klaus Keppler with his company Sea explorer AG claims that he found Oxford there couple of years ago but it is not true. What he found there could be "Jamaica Merchant ", other Morgan' s ship but even this is doubtful. So, to make long story short, nobody has found "Oxford " yet which is strange because searching area is about 500 x 500 square meters with the depth between 5 and 10 meters. It has always been natuarl harbor for pirate ships. There are plenty of artifacts on the bottom of the bay in Port Morgan but no "Oxford ".
I have heard recently from more than one source that "Oxford " could be sunk just off the shore of Saona Island. There are couple of sunken pirate ships there (historically documented but never found so far because nobody was searching for them). Saona Island served for many years as a favourite pirate base where they were waiting for Spanish ships and convoys leaving or coming to close Santo Domingo harbor.
So, my friends, any help or your opinion would be more than appreciated........
Lobo
We FOUND a wreck that wasn't on any map that I have seen yet, and we found good stuff too. We didn't even have a blower on site, just two divers with MD's, scoops, and ping pong paddles. A salvage permit has been submitted but not approved by the local government. It's a short day trip from Ambergris Caye, so the environment is pleasant out of the water as well. 
You never know...here's a tip, talk to your local lobster hunters! They generally know every inch of sea bed in their area. These guys put me on anchors with no GPS, and directly over timbers by just looking back at the shore a few times. Based on the remoteness of the unidentified wreck, I'm betting these guys are the only ones that know it's there
