{"id":6828,"date":"2021-06-01T14:50:38","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T12:50:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thomasnumismatics.com\/?post_type=actualites&p=6828"},"modified":"2024-05-13T16:19:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T14:19:28","slug":"shipwreck-treasure-consolacion","status":"publish","type":"actualites","link":"https:\/\/thomasnumismatics.com\/en\/blog\/shipwreck-treasure-consolacion\/","title":{"rendered":"The shipwreck and treasure of the Consolacion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Only in the 90s did we find traces of the treasure of the Santa Maria de la Consolacion<\/strong>, a Spanish ship which was wrecked off the coast of Ecuador in the 17th century. For more than 300 years, thousands of silver coins remained at the bottom of the sea. They are now collected by numismatists fond of Spanish coins<\/strong>. Let\u2019s take a look back at the sinking of the Consolacion<\/strong> and its legendary treasure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding the treasure of the Santa Maria de la Consolacion <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 1998, two brothers were walking on the beach of Santa Clara Island. One of them slipped two unusual black flat stones into his pocket that he had just discovered on the sand. Soon after, they realize that they are indeed “coins of eight”<\/strong> from a sea treasure. Where did these silver coins come from? How did they get there? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santa Clara Island is located in the bay of Guayaquil, off the coast of Ecuador. It is called “Isla del Muerto” in Spanish, because it is similar to the body of a dead man covered with a shroud. This macabre name was, without doubt, at the origin of the legend of the Spanish treasure<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discovery of the men is of particular interest to the Ecuadorian Roberto Aguire, who us the rich owner of a tuna fishery and a numismatist-to-be. He created the Robcar company to carry out the investigation of the treasure. Two years went by before he got the authorization from the Ecuadorian government to start rescue and expeditions<\/strong>. While the divers brought up thousands of pieces, Roberto Aguire hired Joel Ruth to identify the galleon. Is it genuinely from the Santa Maria de la Consolacion shipwreck<\/strong>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jo\u00ebl Ruth is a marine archaeologist, historian and specialist of Spanish coins<\/strong>. At first, he identified the wreck as the Santa Cruz’s which sank in 1680 in the same area. Then, new clues put him on the track: maps with annotations and a carbon-14 analysis of burned wood found in the water. Ruth went to the wreck of the Consolacion. After 20 days of efforts, several objects confirmed the dating of the ship between 1649 and 1680. There is no further doubt that the ship aground on Santa Clara Island is none but the Santa Maria de la Consolacion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a precious find, because the ship’s manifest, kept in the General Archives of the Indies in Seville, lists all the cargo it was carrying before it sank. We now know that the cargo consisted of 146,000 pesos in silver and gold and silver bars. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sinking of the Consolacion <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A legendary story? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

How did the Santa Maria de la Consolacion end up at the bottom of the ocean? In the 17th century, the kingdoms of Portugal and Spain shared the colonies. The other maritime powers did not look kindly on this and pirates<\/strong> hired by other nations sailed and raged in the troubled waters. In South America in particular, maritime traffic was rich and intense. Ships carried silver and gold from the mines in Bolivia to Panama, before being sent to Europe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Consolacion was one of them. A galleon armed with 24 cannons and 350 sailors<\/strong>, it left the port of Lima in April, heading north. Legend has it that on its way, it came across the Trinity, the ship of the pirate Bartholomew Sharp<\/strong>. The latter chased him. In a panic, the commander of the Consolacion struck the island of Santa Clara. The crew set fire to the ship before it sank so that the pirates could not steal the goods. He was then massacred by the buccaneers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An enigmatic treasure <\/h3>\n\n\n\n