Here is some info that is "floating around" and attached a pic of the anchors
G. The "ElDorado"
Although there are many potential areas for treasure salvage and recovery and many documented 16th, 17th and 18th century vessels that have sunk in such areas, the prime objective of the Partnership is the location and recovery of the "EIDorado." The EIDorado is a Spanish galleon believed to have sunk during a storm at sea off the northern coast of Bimini in 1551.
In July of 1986, Shipwrecks, Inc. obtained the research on the "San Anton de Brazil," nicknamed the "EIDorado," from a marine archaeologist and highly respected researcher, Mr. Robert Marx, born in 1936 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mr. Marx has been responsible for the location and recovery of numerous ships since 1953. His underwater exploration and research work has taken him to 45 countries and he has been associated with various governments and institutions, including UNESCO, the National Geographic Society, and the Smithsonian Institute. In addition he has authored some thirty books on marine archaeology and treasure salvage. From 1965-1968, he directed the operations to excavate the Sunken City of Port Royal, Jamaica. In 1968 he discovered two of Christopher Columbus' shipwrecks in St. Anne's Bay, Jamaica.
The General Partners have been able to confirm some of the information provided to them by Mr. Marx. One of the General Partners' researchers, Betty Simon, has established that the "San Anton del Brazil" was in fact lost at sea with all of its cargo. Additional research is being conducted for the General Partners by Mrs. Leontine Metz in the Spanish Archives in Seville, Spain.
Such research has shown that the EIDorado initially sailed from Spain to Nombre de Dios, Panama, with a general cargo. While in Panama, the ship picked up a cargo of "mainly gold ornaments and idols from Peru, to the value of 780,000 castellanos." A castellano was an early Spanish gold unit of weight, the exact amount of which is subject to debate. One interpretation given is that four castellanos equate to a pound. Another is that a castellano is the equivalent of one and one-eighth ounces, and a third is that it is equivalent to a peso de oro, or one-sixteenth of an ounce. The gold idols were believed to have been discovered by the Spanish in Inca tombs near Cusco, Peru, and would have a priceless archaeological value today.
After leaving Panama, the EIDorado sailed to Cartagena, Columbia and picked up "pearls from Margarita Island [off the coast of Venezuela] and gold and emeralds from Bogata." The value of this treasure has not been specified in any of the documents. The ship then sailed to Santo Domingo and picked up an additional cargo of gold. The EIDorado then sailed along the north coasts of Hispaniola and Cuba and entered the Bahama channel. On December 16, 1551, the ship was struck by "a fierce storm and ground her bottom on shallows 2 leagues north of Bimini." Within six hours the ship broke up, and the captain, pilot and six others were able to reach the safety of the island and eventually make their way to Cuba. Because of the enormous value of the EIDorado's cargo, the Spanish government financed separate expeditions for three consecutive years to find the shipwreck, with no success.
Acting on this information, the General Partners have located three anchors approximately eight miles off the northern coast of Bimini in the shallow area called "EIDorado Shoals" on marine charts. recently sent one of the anchor ropes to the Applied Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh for radiocarbon dating analysis. The result of this analysis was to date the anchor rope at 1490 plus or minus forty years. The General Partners believe this to be an appropriate and likely dating for rope from a 1551 shipwreck.
In addition to the EIDorado, other 16th, 17th 18th and 19th century sunken vessels are located in and about the Bahamian lease area.
A list of other potential targets includes the following: .
1. The Spanish ship "Santa Maria de la Concepcion", weighing 110 tons, was "lost north of Bimini" while returning to Spain in 1528 with an unspecified amount of plunder which Cortez seized from Mexico.
2. Another Spanish ship, the Santa Maria de los Remedios" was lost in 1559 somewhere on the northwest corner of the Great Bahama Bank while returning to Spain carrying 768,110 pesos in silver and gold.