THE 1656 SHIPWRECK OF THE SPANISH GALLEON MARAVILLAS
A rare Christie's out of print catalogue Spanish Art 1 " TREASURE FROM THE MARAVILLAS " and other works of art, The Nuestra Senora de las Maravillas treasure; Silver; Portrait miniatures; Ceramics; Sculpture; Frames; carpets; Arms; and Books and Manuscripts. The property of MARINE ARCHEOLOGICAL RECOVERY and HERBERT HUMPHRIES Jr. and from various sources. An interesting catalogue with very good descriptions and photos (most in colour) of the lots,
As the "almiranta" of the homeward bound Spanish fleet in January of 1656, the Maravillas was officially filled with over five million pesos of treasure (probably much more in contraband, as was usually the case). That treasure included much of the silver salvaged from the South Seas Fleet "Capitana" of 1654 that wrecked on Chanduy Reef off Ecuador. The ill-fated treasure sank once again when the Maravillas unexpectedly ran into shallow water and was subsequently rammed by one of the other ships of it's fleet, forcing the captain to try and ground the Maravillas on a nearby reef on Little Bahama Bank off Grand Bahama Island. In the ensuing chaos, exacerbated by strong winds, most of the 650 people on board the ship died in the night, and the wreckage scattered. Spanish salvagers soon recovered almost half a million pesos of treasure quickly, followed by more recoveries over the next several decades, yet with over half of the official cargo still unfound.
The first re-discovery of the Maravillas in the 29th century was by Robert Marx and his company Seafinders in 1972, whose finds were featured in an auction by Schulman in New York in 1974. The second big salvage effort was by Herbert Humphrey's and his company Marex in the late 1980s and early 1990s, resulting in two big sales by Christie's of London in 1992 and 1993. The wreck area is still being searched today, but officially the Bahamian government has not granted any leases on the site since the early 1990s. It is possible the bulk of the treasure is still to be found.
