Canadians find key clues in undersea treasure hunt
SUSAN BOURETTE
The Globe and Mail
Thursday, October 21, 1999
Toronto -- Canadian treasure hunters believe they've found the first few pieces of a titanic treasure of gold and silver, the remains of ancient Spanish galleons sunk by pirates and hurricanes off the Cuban coast.
A company headed by Doug Lewis, the former solicitor-general, has discovered a gold chalice and holy cross necklace, cannon balls, and pottery with blue markings (possibly originating from the Ming dynasty), among other finds, just off the coast of Havana.
The cannon balls are particularly significant because balls of that size were used in the early 1600s -- a time when Spanish galleons sailing from Central and South America carried their richest cargos of gold and gems.
"This is just like finding King Tut's tomb. It's an important glimpse into history," said David Coates, a spokesman for Visa Gold Explorations Inc., which made the discovery. "It's also the story of greed and lust and robbing and pillaging."
"It is astounding that the lust for gold and jewels was so strong that so many would have risked their lives on these ships to curry favour with the royal court."
Sunken ships carrying gold and silver looted by the Spanish conquistadors from Central and South America have remained untouched for almost five centuries along Cuba's coral reefs. Diving technology that would have helped treasure hunters retrieve the shipwrecks has only been around since the early 1960s. As well, access to the Cuban coast has been restricted by Fidel Castro since the 1959 revolution.
However, nearly two years ago, the Cuban government agreed to let the Toronto company recover what it could from the ships, which were also thought to be filled with billions of dollars in jewels and other artifacts. The two parties have agreed to share equally in the findings.
"There are thousands of envious people out there today," said Ed Burtt, Visa Gold's vice-president of operations, who has been chasing treasures buried under the sea for more than three decades.
"Americans have been trying to get to this treasure for years. They are undoubtedly sitting there and looking at us with big green eyes of envy."
The artifacts -- found about 10 kilometres west of Havana -- are still lying on the floor of the ocean, waiting to be excavated.
Taffi Fisher-Abt, an expert in the field, who has spent 20 years studying the galleons, says she believes Visa Gold's findings are significant.
Most telling, she said, is the discovery of a complete stone ballast pile, which indicates that a ship is very likely close by.
"It sounds very exciting. It's quite possible that this is a very rich find," Ms. Fisher-Abt said.
She worked alongside her famous father, Mel, who uncovered the richest Spanish treasure ship in history, the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, a galleon packed with gold and silver worth about $400-million (U.S.) that sunk off the Florida Keys in 1622.
Mr. Castro is said to have been captivated by legendary stories of the former Spanish colony's role in the so-called silver route pioneered by Hernando Cortez, who overthrew the Aztec empire in 1519. The Castro government's failed attempts to retrieve the wealth from its shores prompted its agreement with the Canadian company.
Visa Gold said it researched Spanish exploration, stretching over hundreds of years beginning in the 1500s, and traced the paths of ships that sailed between the New and Old Worlds. Of the estimated 13,000 Spanish ships that sailed between South and Central America and Spain, about 45 per cent sank before reaching their destination.
Many of them now lay close to Cuba, due in part to hurricanes, but also because of the difficulty ships had in manoeuvring the island's large coastal coral reef, Mr. Burtt said.
The company's target all along has been a fleet of five ships that foundered in a hurricane in 1711. The El Moranta Santissima Trinidad -- which carried most of the fleet's valuables -- sank with about $500-million in today's dollars in precious metals and treasure.
It was sailing from South America to Spain with a stopover in Havana. But the artifacts the company announced it found yesterday aren't thought to be from that fleet.
For his part, Mr. Lewis, the former Conservative member of Parliament and senior cabinet minister in Brian Mulroney's government, said it could prove to be the most lucrative maritime discovery of the modern age.
"There's no road map in how to do this. We'll just have to see where we go from here," Mr. Lewis said in Toronto yesterday. "But I think from what we've seen, it is tremendously encouraging."
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