Nuestro
Senora de Ia Pura y Limpia
Concepcion
On September 28, 1641, the Spanish treasure
fleet set sail for Europe from Havana. This was their
second
attempt for that season.
Only ten days before: the fleet had sailed and hit storms and
had to return to port
for repairs.
Nuestro Senora de Ia Pura y
Limpia Concepcion flew the flag of Vice Admiral Juan Luis de
Villavicencio.The
Concepcion, a leaking 600 ton
galleon with too small a rudder and overly high freeboard, was
loaded to the
gunwales with the treasures of
the New World and the Orient. She carried tons of silver from
the rich mines
of Mexico and Potosi. Also aboard
were quantities of gold and jewels, silks, spices, porcelain,
and jade.
Treasures from the Orient, which
had been sent on the Manila galleons to Acapulco then
transshipped
overland to Veracruz and loaded
aboard the fleet In addition to the government cargo, the
Concepcicn and
other ships also carried much
personal treasure of Diego de Pacheco, Viceroy of New Spain,
and payments
being remitted by major merchants
of all the new World Colonies.
On the second voyage the fleet
once again encountered severe storms, the hurricane season
being in full
swing. The fleet was scattered
and the Concepcion was badly damaged. She drifted under jury
rig for many
days, the pumps going full-time.
On November 2, 1641, the hulk of the Concepcion ran aground
amidst the
reefs north of Hispanola, the
present day Dominican Republic. Between the storm and the wreck
itself!
starvation, exposure, and sharks,
over three hundred of those aboard the Coricepcion perished,
the others
had no idea where they were
Eventually some reached Santo Domingo but were unable to say
exactly
where the ship had gone
down.
In 1687, William Phipps (later to
be governor of Massachusetts) discovered the wreck of the
Concepcion
and salvaged a large quantity of
silver and 25 pounds of gold, an estimated 13 percent of the
ships bullion
cargo. It was great wealth for
the time, but obviously much more remained to be found. Many
tried without
success. Over the years the
legends grew. The reefs where the ship went down came to be
known as the
"silver shoals," as once in
awhile a piece of eight scattered from a chest would glint in
the sun.
On November 28, 1978, salvages
found the remains of the Concepcion and modern divers were able
to
bring up the coinage which had
been in the strong rooms in the aft section, never reached by
Phipps. That tragedy has bequeathed to our age one of the
richest historical treasures taken from the sea. The wreck is
especially important to the history of our country since it is
one of the best treasure ships ever discovered that has direct
connections to our colonial period
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