By: Staff Writer
August 2, 2022
Allen Exploration is set to unveil its new museum on August 8 in Grand Bahama showcasing rare gems retrieved from the sunken Spanish Galleon, the Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas and claims there are “thousands more” scattered throughout The Bahamas.
Allen Exploration, in a press release sent to the media, said: “Opening onAugust8, 2022, Allen Exploration’s Bahamas Maritime Museum in Freeport, Grand Bahama, tells the story of The Bahamas’ rich maritime legacy for the first time.Straddling700islandsand cays, and flanked by the great Bahama Bank through which the world’s trade sailed, water has always defined he Bahamas’s history from Lucayan free-divers and the horrors of the slave trade to Spanish treasure fleets and as the pirate capital of the Americas.
“The Bahamas Maritime Museum explores these themes, set around The Bahamas’ sunken crown jewel: remains of the shipwrecked Spanish galleon the Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas (Our Lady of Wonders), lost off the northern islands on January 4, 1656.”
The release also said that: “While searching for the missing Maravillas, Allen Exploration has so far discovered around 18wrecks. There are hundreds more on the Little Bahama Bank and thousands spread across The Bahamas.”
Allen Exploration was granted a license by the Bahamian government in 2020 to search for the wreckage of the Maravillas and it was renewed in 2021, but they are not the first treasure hunters to have found artefacts from the wreckage as treasure hunters have worked the site previously as far back as the 1970s.
The government of Spain has also weighed in on Allen Exploration’s interest and search for the treasure of the Maravillas as one of its lawyers has gone on record demanding that any artefacts be returned to Spain for its cultural heritage and preservation. But Bahamian law does not support the claims made by Spain as all wreckage found in Bahamian waters is owned by the Bahamian government by law.
The release also said: “The 891-tonMaravillaswas part of the Tierra Firme (Mainland) fleet, homeward-bound to Spain from Havana, Cuba, with royal and private consignments. Also on board was a former Spanish cargo wrecked off Ecuador a year and a half earlier. The Maravillas ended up colliding with its fleet flagship, hitting a reef 30 minutes later and sinking.
“Allen Exploration is currently exploring a debris trail left behind by the Maravillas and uncovering remarkable finds. Alongside Spanish olive jars, Chinese porcelain, iron rigging, and gold and silver coins, the team has discovered a silver sword handle that belonged to the soldier Don Martin de Aranda y Gusmán. Three gold chains have been saved, as well as four pendants worn by members of the sacred Order of Santiago, a religious band of knights deeply active in Spanish maritime trade. All these finds are unique among the world’s three million shipwrecks.”
“The Maravillas is an iconic part of The Bahamas’s maritime history,” says Carl Allen, entrepreneur, explorer, philanthropist and the founder of Allen Exploration. “The wreck of the galleon had a tough history: heavily salvaged by Spanish, English, French, Dutch, Bahamian and American expeditions in the 17th and 18th centuries, and blitzed by salvors from the 1970s to early 1990s. Some say the remains were ground to dust. Using modern technology and hard science, we’re now tracking a long and winding debris trail of finds. We’re delighted to be licensed by the Bahamian government to explore the Maravillas scientifically and share its wonders with everyone in the first maritime museum in The Bahamas.”
“Ten Spanish salvage expeditions brought up a huge chunk of the Maravillas’ treasure cargo,” Carl Allen adds. “The galleon, though, was stuffed with contraband illegally greasing the palms of Spanish merchants and officials. Defrauding the Spanish Crown continued into the salvage years. Our archaeology is finding that most recovered coins were minted in Mexico. But the Maravillas didn’t officially load coins in Mexico. Illegal contraband again raises its suspicious head.”
The release also said: Allen Exploration’s team, made up of marine archaeologists, operations’ directors and local Bahamian divers, has plotted over 8,800 magnetometer targets across a search area measuring around 12 x 8 kilometers. The position of every artifact is mapped from potsherds and iron hull fasteners to rigging, coins, ballast and high-status goods. The finds fit the profile of personal property that drifted miles away from the central wreck on broken sections of the wooden hull.”
“By mapping each type of find, AllenX is finally reconstructing the mystery of how the ship was wrecked and fell apart,” says project marine archaeologist James Sinclair. “This isn’t just forensic marine archaeology. We’re also digging into former excavations, working out what previous salvage teams got up to, where and why. So much data has been sadly lost from this ravaged wreck. AllenX’s respectful, science-led approach to the Maravillasis reversing former trends.”
It added: “Two years of fieldwork has exceeded expectations. ‘Exploring the debris field veering away from the Maravillas’ strike point is a mixed feeling,’ says Carl Allen. ‘The sea bottom is barren. The colorful coral that divers remembered from the 1970s is gone, poisoned by ocean acidification and choked by meters of shifting sand. It’s painfully sad. Still lying on those dead gray reefs, though, are sparkling finds: olive jars, the spikes that held the Maravillas together, the odd cannon and anchors. And then there are the lucky strikes. Scatters of emeralds and amethysts mined in Colombia, not registered on the manifest, are tell-tale proof of contraband trafficking.’”
It continued, “A stunning AllenX discovery is an 887-gram gold filigree chain, 176 centimeters long, made up of 80 alternating circular flat and tubular links. They are decorated with four-lobed rosette motifs. No exact parallels exist from other excavations, in museum collections or are seen in Spanish portrait art. The Maravillas chain was intended for a wealthy aristocrat or even royalty. It was probably crafted in the Philippines from local gold, using Chinese craftsmen, and then exported to Spain by way of Mexico on a Manila galleon.
“The star finds from AllenX’s exploration so far are the Order of Santiago jewels. A golden pendant with the Cross of Santiago (St. James) at its center, just 3.5 centimeters long, was designed in the form of a scallop shell. The pendant is reinforced on its back edge by what is seemingly an Indian bezoar stone, famous in Europe for its powerful healing properties.
“A second golden pendant found on the Maravillas’ debris trail is oval in shape and 4.7 centimeters long. At its center a gold Cross of St. James overlies a large green oval Colombian emerald. The outer edge is framed by 12 more square emeralds, perhaps symbolizing the 12 apostles. To these can be added the team’s discovery of a 5.3-centimeter majestic oval gold locket with an elaborate cross of St. James framed by swirling foliage incised on the back, and a tiny golden cross, probably fallen out of another pendant. All these artworks were crafted to an exquisite standard and are again unique among excavated remains, museum collections and portrait art.”
