Dog Lips,
In 1984 a guy from Coos Bay said he had found an old Spanish wreck along the Oregon coast. He had meeting after meeting with the State, who incorrectly claim all old wrecks along their coast, but they would not agree to the deal he was looking for. Indeed they were determined not to let him try to recover the wreck. They even suspended and then repealed the Treasure Trove statutes, and modified the archaeology statutes to include shipwrecks, in order to cut off his avenues. He had come across the wreck when fishing. He brought up something that made him suspect a wreck, probably a piece of ship's timbers, and then got somebody to dive on the wreck. He brought up something Spanish. I do not know what the artifact was, but it was enough to convince two maritime lawyers to work for him on a contingency basis. The State threatened that if he produced this artifact, they would charge him with violating the statutes.
When I found out about this about 2003, I told him to stop dealing with Oregon, who had no rights if it was a Spanish ship,and to contact the Government of Spain, who would own the wreck if it was a Spanish ship. I gave him the contacts, but he died before making anything but the preliminary contact. He hated archaeologists: thought they were all thieves, and swore that he would take the secret to his grave rather than get anything less than what he considered a fair deal. He did not tell anybody the location of the ship, as far as I know, not even his wife. I went to see her after I found out he had died, but she said she had no information,
I know the name of the lawyers to whom he showed the artifact, and have been meaning to go talk to them, just in case they have any info. I was interested in his project mainly in case the wreck he had found was that of the Content, one of Thomas Cavendish's ships from 1587, which came north looking for the North West Passage immediately after helping Cavendish to capture the Manila Galleon Santa Ana off Cabo St. Lucas. It would have had all sort of Spanish artifacts on board.
I also heard a story from another source about a fisherman pulling up some teak or mahogany timbers down towards Coos Bay, and the two stories may be connected. I know where this second incident supposedly happened. I have information that suggests the Content wrecked down near Gold Beach, not enough to pinpoint an exact spot, but good enough to suggest a fairly close area.
If you live on the Oregon coast, perhaps we could get together. I am not sure I have enough information to lead to anything yet, but you never know, and perhaps tomorrow is the day I will talk to the two lawyers to see if they know anything.
Can't do it today: As it is the 4th July, I have an appointment with a BBQ, even though I am a transplanted Brit, and they tell me that we lost that particular disagreement.
Mariner
