3353) i) El Cazador - the Shipwreck of the Treasure ship that Changed History: ii) Recovery of the treasure of 4,50,000 Reale and Peso Silver coins minted in Mexico City:
Sometimes called the shipwreck that changed American history, Spanish officials awaited the arrival of the Spanish brig of war, El Cazador, who was returning from Mexico with hundreds of thousands of silver “pieces of 8” meant to help bolster Spain’s failing economy in New Orleans.
She never arrived.
In 1993 a commercial fishing trawler snagged her nets in 300 feet of water, only 50 miles off New Orleans. She had discovered the remains of El Cazador.
More about the El Cazador: 1784: The prevailing scenario:
For over 300 years the Spanish ruled most of the Americas. In the mid-to-late 1700s, wars raged all over the world, many of them for control of the North American territories.
The Seven Years’ War (between Great Britain, France and Spain) began in 1754, and was known as the French and Indian War in North America (this is when the classic Illustrated tale - “Last of the Mohicans” is set).
Britain won in 1763, and Spain and Britain divided up a vast area of land which had formerly belonged to France; it ran from the Gulf Coast into Canada. The French called it Upper and Lower Louisiana.
The new territory of Spanish Louisiana, then inhabited by approximately 50,000 European settlers, extended from the Gulf of Mexico and the present day state of Louisiana, up to the Canadian border and encompassed over 800,000 square miles.
During the American Revolutionary War the Spanish funnelled supplies to the American “rebels” through New Orleans and the vast Louisiana territory beyond.
The majority of New Orleans’ architecture comes from Spain’s ownership of the city.
The political context of the sinking of El Cazador:
The Kingdom of Spain acquired Louisiana in 1762 during the Seven Years’ War.
Louis XV ceded the territory to his cousin, King Carlos III through the Treaty of Fontainebleau, a way for Louis XV to keep the precious territory of Louisiana out of British hands. The territory was gigantic, covering millions of square kilometers, from New Orleans to the Canadian borders.
The management of the colony by Spain soon proved to be complex and by the 1970s its economic situation was faltering. A wave of counterfeiting and a shortage of hard currency devalued the paper money in circulation.
The solution?
Replace it with valuable Spanish silver coins to replace the worthless banknote. That is why on October 20, 1783, King Carlos III of Spain decided to send El Cazador to transport funds to save Spanish Louisiana.
The voyage of the ill-fated El Cazador:
The El Cazador (meaning The Hunter in English) was a Spanish brig that sank in the Gulf of Mexico in 1784. In the 1770s the Spanish Louisiana Territory’s economy was faltering due to paper money that was not backed by silver or gold.
Carlos III, King of Spain, decided to replace the worthless currency with valuable Spanish silver coins.
On 20.10.1783 Charles III of Spain sent the El Cazador on a mission to bring much-needed hard currency to the Spanish colony of Louisiana in order to stabilise the currency.
The vessel, "El Cazador", (or "the Hunter"), had been sent by Spain from its port in New Orleans to pick up Mexican coins for its holdings in Louisiana, with the aim of stabilizing their currency.
The ship sailed to Veracruz, Mexico where it was loaded with approximately 450,000 reales minted in the workshop in Mexico City, mainly in coins of eight reales which are known as “coins of eight”.
To be more precise, she was loaded with silver Spanish coins, mostly 8 reales, “Pieces of Eight”. It carried 400,000 silver pesos and another 50,000 pesos worth of smaller change, of various dates. At one ounce to the peso, and 12 troy ounces to the pound, that is the equivalent of 37,500 pounds of silver.They are all bear the effigy of the Spanish King, Carlos III.
King Carlos III had enlisted his most trusted captain, Gabriel de Campos y Pineda, to command the ship. El Cazador, which translates to “the hunter” in French, was a small Spanish two-masted warship which was 90 feet long, consisting of 16 cannons and a crew of about 50 people, commanded by Gabriel de Campos y Piñeda.
On 11.01.1784, the vessel sailed for New Orleans, and was never heard from again. El Cazador was expected in January 1784 in New Orleans, the capital of the Spanish colony of Louisiana. It never arrived and disappeared on its journey, in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Spain’s attempts to locate the ship were unsuccessful and in June 1784, El Cazador was officially listed as missing at sea.
The Shipwreck - aftermath:
This accident was dramatic for the Kingdom of Spain and its place in the New World. Unable to save the economy of the region, it had no choice but to give Louisiana back to France a few years later.
On 01.10.1800, Spain and France signed the secret treaty of San Ildefonso, in which Napoleon gave the King of Spain’s son-in-law the throne of Tuscany in exchange for the territory of Louisiana.
Soon, in 1803, the United States bought Louisiana from France for $15 million.
Some historians believe that if El Cazador had gone to New Orleans and its treasure had been able to support the economy, part of today’s United States would still be Spanish.
The recovery of the El Cazador's treasure:
On 02.08.1993, the trawler "Mistake", Captain Jerry Murphy in the home port Pascagoula, Mississippi, was fishing in the Gulf of Mexico fifty miles south of New Orleans.
As it fished, "Mistake's" net hung on a snag. When the crew hoisted the net and dumped the contents on the deck, they found the net was filled with silver coins. The coins bore markings from the Spanish mint in Mexico, along with the date 1783.
Treasure from the ship was originally housed in a safe at the old Grand Bay State Bank building in Grand Bay, Alabama.
In 12/2004 the Executors of the Reahard estate hired Jonathan Lerner of Scarsdale Coin to appraise the coins. This appraisal was completed in February 2005.
It is now administered through the Franklin Mint.
The shipwreck of El Cazador is known as one of the events that “changed the world”:
Indeed, it had a significant impact on the history of the western world and has led to the current territory of the United States. It also left behind a treasure: more than 450,000 reales were found in 1993, after having been underwater for more than 200 years.
The excavation of the treasure of El Cazador:
More than 200 years later, on 02/08/1993, the Mistake’s fisherman, Jerry Murphy, hooked his net into an obstacle. When the crew hoisted the net of the trawler, they discovered small blackish discs: silver coins! The treasure was located about 100 meters underwater, 80 km south of New Orleans.
Naval historian Robert Stenuit, a specialist in 17th and 19th century Spanish and French wrecks, finally confirmed the identification of the ship in 1994, thanks to the coins found, the cannons and the bell of the ship. El Cazador had almost reached its destination when it sank 210 years earlier.
The treasure of El Cazador was kept for a long time in a safe in the bank of Grand Bay, Alabama. Until 2004 when the executors of the Reahard estate commissioned Jonathan Lerner of Scarsdale Coin to appraise the coins. This operation was completed in February 2005.
Coins from El Cazador:
The silver coins that spent so many years in contact with water, are in a very oxidized state at the time of their discovery.
The Reales of the treasure of El Cazador are no exception. Out of the ocean, the pieces are welded together and covered with a thick layer of chloride. They must receive an electrolytic treatment, in order not to disintegrate completely in the open air. This is the reason why the areas cleared of chloride plates gain this more or less “eaten” aspect, a characteristic of silver coins from shipwreck treasures.
The coins of El Cazador are all marked with the Spanish Mint of Mexico. They date mainly from 1783, the year before the voyage. Being of busto type, they are struck with the effigy of the Spanish sovereign, Carlos III, represented in bust and profile.
A “Pillar Dollar” Reale Coin
EL CAZADOR SHIPWRECK - 1783 MO FF 2R - Mexico 2 Reales Silver Coin NGC Certified
1777 8 Reale coin from the El Cazador Shipwreck graded by NGC.. .
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