Research 1502 Spanish Fleet

This is Research Project about the Sinking of the bulk of the 1502 Spanish Treasure Fleet that left Santo Domingo July 1502 bound for Spain. ## Deliverables Details on 1502 Spanish Treasure Fleet that left Santo Domingo July 1502 for Spain. I am looking for specific information about the 28 ships that were in the fleet, the 24 ships that sank, the 1 that made it to Spain and the 3 that returned to Santo Domingo. Names of ships, captains, crew, shipping manifest's if possible. What treasure was lost and what was found. Where did ships sink. You will likely need to go beyond the internet as this information has been obtained and included as a word document. We are looking for more details and specifics. Likely from archives, possibly Spanish archives. This does not exclude internet, but it has been searched. We need more sources. All sources must be provided The following information gives background of the events just prior to the fleet leaving Santo Domingo. The Sinking of the bulk of the 1502 Spanish Treasure Fleet... On April 15, 1502, Nicolas de Ovando, arrived in Santo Domingo and assumed full command of Hispaniola from the former governor, Francisco Bobadilla. Ovando commenced preparations to return most of the fleet that had brought him to Hispaniola. The fleet was all set to cart home a cargo that included as much gold as he was able to locate, and as many native slaves as he could possibly do without. During the final stages of preparation, on June 29 1502 Christopher Columbus arrived in Santa Domingo. His purpose was to buy a replacement ship to replace one of his that was in bad condition. Columbus also saw the signs of a major storm about to hit the area. Compelled by a moral obligation to warn his fellow sailors of the danger that was rapidly heading their way, Columbus appealed to the commander of Ovando’s fleet to postpone his departure until the storm had passed. His warning was not heeded and he was ordered to leave port by Governor Ovando. Columbus left Santo Domingo and sailed westward along the coast of Hispaniola while the fleet bound for Spain sailed eastward on June 30 1502, directly into the path of the rapidly intensifying hurricane. The awesome power of this terrible tempest slammed into the armada with incredible force and devastating results. Blackened skies unleashed a torrent of rain; howling winds spun the mighty vessels out of control; and waves of frightening proportion slammed into the creaking wooden hulls of the ships. Twenty-four vessels and more than five hundred passengers fell victim to the rage of this storm. This list of the dead included Antonio de Torres, commander of the fleet on his flagship “El Dorado??; Francisco Roldan, leader of the rebellion at Isabela; and Francisco Bobadilla, the former governor of Hispaniola who was also aboard El Dorado. Of the four surviving vessels, three badly battered ships managed to find their way back to Santo Domingo, while ironically a fourth ship, the Aguja, the weakest ship of the convoy, made it all the way to Spain and ironically carried safely with it all the gold, some 4000 peso’s, belonging to Christopher Columbus. There was treasure, in quantity, on the destroyed ships. A large portion of its gold and pearls, would have been aboard El Dorado. The flagship was believed to have gone down in the Mona Passage, where depths of 1000 feet are encountered. No trace of its wreckage was discovered during the salvage work by 1500 Indian skin divers along the coasts after the seas had subsided. Some treasure was recovered from wrecks which had been thrown up on reefs and beaches, but more than $3,000,000 (note: value was in 1962) in gold and pearls was gone. If accounts of Bobadilla's 3310-pound golden table were true, about $2,000,000 (1962 dollars) in treasure lie in the remnants of El Dorado, under Mona Passage. Some of the other wrecks along the coasts of Puerto Rico, Santo Domingo, and Mona islands that were partly salvaged or beyond reach of the Indian skin divers, might be accessible using modern technology. Various stories have circulated over the years about a “gold table?? or “kings table?? that was lost when Bobadilla’s ship El Dorado sank. One story of a gold table weighing more than 1300 pounds is written in a book by Richard Winer entitled "The Devil's Triangle??. Another version of the gold table tells of a large gold nugget in the shape of a dinner plate. As the story spread around, the nugget grew as large as a dinner table. Another story speaks of a solid gold table, reputed to weigh 3300 pounds, through which Bobadilla intended to express his gratitude to the Catholic Kings for his appointment as governor. Yet another gives an account of pork being served on a large gold nugget saying it was “a table fit for a king?? from which the legend grew. ## Platform microsoft word (PC)