Spanish ship found off the coast of Peru.

[Pizarro]

We have found what appears to be a Spanish ship off the northern coast of Perù. I am at a loss as to what should be done next. This is not my area of expertise. The sensitive part of the situation is that if the Peruvian government finds out their Instituto Nacional de Cultura will claim it as their own. If the Spanish Embassy finds out about it they too will lay claim to it saying that it belongs to them. The ship is in roughly 15 meters of water. On a calm day when the water is clear you can actually see the wreck from above. Does anyone have any advice.

Pizarro

 

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[Dave N Japan]

You are a friend that dives needs to explore it

 

[G.I.B.]

How do you know it's not an already known wreck?

Wrecks known, but with no salvageable value, are usually left as is.

What makes you think it's Spanish?

 

[enrada]

If you want you can contact me. I have a permit for Chile and have equipment already there. I also do research and could possibly narrow down what the wreck is and it's value. I am planning a dive in Lake Titicaca sometime early next year which might be close to where you are at.
J

 

[Mackaydon]

IMO, you need to first create 'leverage' (value) for your position when dealing with any other entity. Proving that it is Colonial Spanish would be one degree of leverage. Being able to ID the vessel would give you much greater leverage. No doubt, you get the idea. This and other activity, I would do before exposing your find to others; including social media. In only 15 meters of clean water does not sound like much of a problem to keep doing what you can do before involving others.
Don...

 

[enrada]

Pizarro
Just for your information, I am not asking you to disclose the location of the wreck.

 

[seekerGH]

dive it and find something that could lead to the identity. Other ways to help ID are the length and width of the boat, method of construction, certainly any canon or golden if the bell.
Coins recovered will give you the date and if it is a Spanish ship, going to or coming from Europe.

No sense in going too far before you have a good idea what it is and have secured your 'finders fee'

 

[Jason in Enid]

loose lips sink ships. First, I would delete the original post. Too much info there already. Archies and govt rats read this forum. Good luck on your search!

 

[The Urban Prospector]

loose lips sink ships. First, I would delete the original post. Too much info there already. Archies and govt rats read this forum. Good luck on your search!

Exactly! First I would make certain that there is not an active claim on the wreck. Then I would dive it. If I found valuables on the first dive, I would stay nearby and continue to work the wreck. You just have to be careful who you tell and what you say. You really can't trust people about this sort of thing.

 

[H-2 CHARLIE]

Start salvaging the goods first

 

[Au_Dreamers]

Generally speaking...Let's put aside how you've identified it as a Spanish ship.
Are you saying that you've identified a "historical wooden vessel" that is Spanish?

So now are you saying there are artifacts that have an intrinsic value within this ship?

Wooden doesn't mean Spanish
Spanish doesn't mean treasure.

While I will say that a historical ship itself is treasure it doesn't mean that there are artifacts that would equate to a recovery of costs to salvage them.

That may or may not be your concern...

What I also will say is that you need to know the law of your seas and land at this point if you wish to continue.

Here in the State of Florida in the good old USA, you would want to immediately stop all activity and contact an Admiralty attorney to stay within the laws.

So now I guess it's a matter of how deep you want to get into this. Pun intended!

 

[seekerGH]

The sensitive part of the situation is that if the Peruvian government finds out their Instituto Nacional de Cultura will claim it as their own

I am at a loss as to what should be done next.

Seems like you already know the answer on what to do. If you do anything, such as dive and dash, chances are you will be caught, and they will take it and who knows what else.

 

[Salvor6]

Seems like you already know the answer on what to do. If you do anything, such as dive and dash, chances are you will be caught, and they will take it and who knows what else.

On the other hand, if the Instituto Nacional de Cultura find out about it, it will disappear forever in the pockets of their archaeologists and government officials.

 

[seekerGH]

On the other hand, if the Instituto Nacional de Cultura find out about it, it will disappear forever in the pockets of their archaeologists and government officials.

point being?

a bit of a stretch saying that Archaeologists pocket recoveries, no?

 

[huntsman53]

point being?

a bit of a stretch saying that Archaeologists pocket recoveries, no?

Salvor6 has a good point because there are a lot of officials in O.P.'s part of the world that love to line their' own pockets. Heck, Florida Archies and Politicians have long being doing it, so why not in Peru??!! My point being, the 3 cases of brand new and unused Brown Bess Rifles with the exception of one that I heard went to the Florida Museum, as well as the bullets and powder that disappeared from the bunker under a Pre and Civil War period Fort in Key West that were found after I noted a void in the long arched entrance to the Fort with my' White's 2000-D Metal Detector and told them they needed to excavate the spot.


Frank

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

SeekerGH, watch the insults and language per our rules.




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[Tommybuckets]

Get down there as subtly and quickly as you can lol. It would be rare for a ship to be lost so shallow and close to a civilized coast and not be salvaged immediately or at least have the cargo salvaged. Even back in the day they were quite adept at getting to cargo to the 50-60 ft depth. The treasure fleets that were lost from Florida to Maryland were the biggest exception as they were truly lost. Let us know what you find (a little). I wish I was still down there. When I was in Lima there was an offshore earthquake and the tide dropped 15ft. They kept us away from the water because they thought this was a precursor to a tsunami but the tide just came back in gently later that evening. I had my Excalibur and the whole bay was exposed high and dry for the afternoon. It was the stuff of dreams but my instinct for self preservation kept me up on the cliffs. I am sure your ship would have been almost exposed.

 

[seekerGH]

Even so, either way, you will have to give up the recovery, just depends if it includes the penalties or not.

 

[G.I.B.]

a bit of a stretch saying that Archaeologists pocket recoveries, no?

Some of the best private collections are held by Archeologists.

Why is that?