Lost Treasure oi
the Outer Banks
By LEWIS PHILIP HALL
Still lost along the North Carolina
Coast, perhaps never to be found, is
one of the largest recorded treasures
of the Spanish conquistadors, dashed
upon the Outer Banks bv a fierce
storm over 200 years ago.
It all began in February 1750 at
which time a Spanish fleet of five ves¬
sels heavily loaded with chests of oddly
shaped pieces of eight, cocoa, cochi¬
neal, balsam and spices worth well over
$1,272,000 cleared from Veracruz, the
collection point of the Spanish Fmpirc
in the New World. Beating against
the trade winds across the Gulf of
Mexico, it was four weeks before they
dropped their hooks in the Havana
harbor.
Records fail to reveal why Don Jo¬
seph dc Respral Deza. and his fleet,
delayed their departure until the hur¬
ricane season, but it was late July be¬
fore the galleons unfurled their can¬
vas. broke out the proud banners of
Castile and headed northward, turn¬
ing eastward just south of Fort Augus¬
tine to cross the Atlantic before the
westerly winds to Spain.
Victims of Hurricane
In the meantime, the winds gradu¬
ally freshened to gale force, and the
vessels running before it with bare
poles were scattered and blown far
off their course. About Aug. 17. 1750.
at some unknown point between Cape
Fear and Cape Lookout a shrieking
wind and mountainous seas of a full
fledged tropical hurricane overtook
and pounced on the high-pooped anil
helpless galleons.
In spite of the frantic efforts of the
crews, the vessels were driven nearer
and nearer the roaring surf and shoals.
Old records disclose the
/7
Salva-
t lore was the first ship of the treasure
fleet to strike, and that she probably
went ashore broadside to the sea. "at
New Topsail Inlctt and was stove to
pieces." The hapless crew was swept
into the raging surf where they
drowned. Of the entire crew and of¬
ficers. "only four of her crew were
saved." the records say.
She was loaded "with 240.000
pieces-of-cight regular, besides what is
on private account." She also carried a
quantity of cochineal (a red dye),
cocoa, balsam and other cargo.
As early as 1752 this vessel was
"covered with seven or eight feet of
sand." which probably accounts for the
failure of the treasure hunters of a
later era to discover her.
How the second ship, the Neuslra
Signora
/><*
Soledad, managed to cir¬
cumvent Cape Lookout Shoals in that
stormy sea will forever remain a
mystery. However, shortly after pass¬
ing this dangerous place, she. on Aug.
I 8. piled up on Core Banks near Drum
Inlctt with her "riggin (sic) and masts
completely swept away."
Slipped Away
Her captain. Don Bonilla, pleaded
with the inhabitants of the banks for
the use of two small sloops to salvage
her cargo of 52.000 pieces of eight.
But no doubt because of the frequent
raids of the Spanish privateers on the
settlements in years gone by. the
bankers were reluctant to help him. He
finally did. however, secure the use of
two sloops and repaid their kindness
by loading the vessels with over 100
chests of silver and slipping away un¬
der the cover of darkness.
At a later date, part of the treasure
from the wreck was returned to the
owners by Col. Innis under orders from
Governor Johnston, but the bulk of it
still remains somewhere on Core
Banks.
The third galleon, name unknown,
went ashore at Ocracoke. north of
Portsmouth Island. This ship, it was
reported, carried a cargo worth over
one million dollars.
Of wreck number four very little is
known, except that she went on the
shoals of Cape Hatteras and sank in
fourteen feet of water. Cargo unknown.
The fifth and last vessel of the Flota.
or fleet, was "stove to pieces at Cur¬
rituck Inlctt but the passengers and
crew saved. Went to Norfolk in Vir¬
ginia without stopping in Carolina.
Cargo value unknown."
A map by Henry Muzon published
in London May 12. 1794. depicts at 36
degrees. 30 minutes, an inlet near the
North Carolina and Virginia line called
New Currituck Inlet, which is no doubt
the inlet referred to above.
Recovery Attempt
One of the more spectacular attempts
made to recover treasure buried on our
coast was made on Topsail Island by
the Carolina Exploration Company in
1938-39. when for a while it appeared
the lost Spanish treasure might
be found.
Prior to World War II and the gov¬
ernment's acquisition of the land, this
island of blinding white sand, wind
twisted trees and towering sand dunes,
was uninhabited.
In 1938 a group of business men
from New York City headed by
Julian S. Jacobs and Dr. William
Walker, motored down to Hamp¬
stead. a coastal village in Pender
County. There they hired a boat to
convey them across the Sound to Top¬
sail Island. The main item in their
THE STATE. March 1. 1969
1 1