San Miguel may refer to any of a number of

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

ships. The San Miguel which sank in the 1551 off

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 (Distrito Nacional) , websi ...

is believed to be one of the richest treasure galleons ever lost at sea, with a cargo of

Inca The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, (Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts", "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The admin ...

and

Aztec The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different Indigenous peoples of Mexico, ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those g ...

treasures looted by Spanish

conquistadors Conquistadors (, ) or conquistadores (, ; meaning 'conquerors') were the explorer-soldiers of the Spanish and Portuguese Empires of the 15th and 16th centuries. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, O ...

San Miguel (sank 1551)

A fleet of nine ships left

San Juan de Ulúa San Juan de Ulúa, also known as Castle of San Juan de Ulúa, is a large complex of fortresses, prisons and one former palace on an island of the same name in the Gulf of Mexico overlooking the seaport of Veracruz, Mexico. Juan de Grijalva's ...

, Mexico, on March 15, 1551. By April 29, the ''San Miguel'' had wrecked off the north coast of Santo Domingo, with no lives lost. Some of the registered treasure appears to have been salvaged in the following months and was sent to Spain. The ship was 200 ''tonelada''s, and was considered to be an excellent vessel, the best of the fleet. It would have been about 23 meters long, with a

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

of nearly 15 meters. Many people have searched for the remains of the ''San Miguel''. The search was mentioned in the final chapters of

Robert Kurson Robert A. Kurson (born April 18, 1963) is an American author, best known for his 2004 bestselling book, ''Shadow Divers'', the true story of two Americans who discover a World War II German U-boat sunk 60 miles off the coast of New Jersey. Caree ...

's " Pirate Hunters" (2015), a

New York Times Bestseller ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

,Kurson, Robert (2015). Pirate Hunters. Random House. . when

John Chatterton John Chatterton (born 1951) is an American wreck diving, wreck diver. Together with Richie Kohler, he was one of the co-hosts for the History (U.S. TV channel), History Channel’s ''Deep Sea Detectives'', for 57 episodes of the series. He is al ...

and

John Mattera John Joseph Mattera (born 1962) is a writer and American shipwreck explorer and the subject of the book '' Pirate Hunters'' by Robert Kurson. ''Pirate Hunters'' is the story of two US divers, John Chatterton and John Mattera, finding the lost ...

, the divers who found the pirate ship ''Golden Fleece'', were close on the trail of the ''San Miguel'', after a decade of searching. John Mattera is an archival historian who searched the

Archive of the Indies The Archivo General de Indias (, "General Archive of the Indies"), housed in the ancient merchants' exchange of Seville, Spain, the ''Casa Lonja de Mercaderes'', is the repository of extremely valuable archival documents illustrating the history ...

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

, Spain, as well as the historical records of Jack Haskins to locate the area the San Miguel sank. Chatterton and Mattera then spent the next years narrowing down the lost ship's location. The search is ongoing in the treacherous waters of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

.Marx Robert F., The Worlds Richest Shipwrecks (2009) Ram Books

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Miguel Galleons Age of Sail ships of Spain 16th-century maritime incidents Shipwrecks in the Caribbean Sea 16th-century ships

San Miguel (sank 1551)

See also

References