salvaged aztec treasure from cortez Padre island wrecks ever make it home?

RELICDUDE07

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salvaged aztec treasure from cortez Padre island wrecks ever make it home?

I was looking over some books and saw where cortez did salvage 60% of the treasure from one of the ships at the padre island wrecks . I think another storm may have come and hit the ship with the salvaged treasure, on its mission home.Does anyone have any info?Thanks for the help!
 

Re: salvaged aztec treasure from cortez Padre island wrecks ever make it home?

relicdude07,

Can you give me the reference to the information you found about this?

Thanks,

Mariner
 

Re: salvaged aztec treasure from cortez Padre island wrecks ever make it home?

RelicDude07,

Thanks. I have read Prescott's great work, but couldn't recall that particular incident. I will have another look. Don't worry about finding another reference.

Mariner
 

Re: salvaged aztec treasure from cortez Padre island wrecks ever make it home?

His letter was transported in April 1554 on the ship San Andrés, the only ship of the four sailing at that time to make port. The other three ships were wrecked by a hurricane (1554) [2] along the coast of Padre Island, in future Texas. In early June, when word of the disaster reached Mexico City, the viceroy requested a rescue fleet and immediately sent Villafañe marching overland to find the treasure-laden vessels.

Villafañe traveled to Pánuco and hired a ship to transport him to the site, which had already been visited from that community. He arrived in time to greet García de Escalante Alvarado (a nephew of Pedro de Alvarado), commander of the salvage operation, when Alvarado arrived by sea on July 22, 1554. The team labored until September 12 to salvage the Padre Island treasure.


Don Pedro de Alvarado.This loss, in combination with other ship disasters around the Gulf of Mexico, gave rise to a plan for establishing a settlement on the northern Gulf Coast to protect shipping and more quickly rescue castaways.----------------------------------------------------------------- Over a year later, when Luna proved incapable of managing the settlements at Florida and Santa Elena, Viceroy Velasco then sent Villafañe to replace him.
 

Re: salvaged aztec treasure from cortez Padre island wrecks ever make it home?

Relic,

Been trying to locate something on this, and am having no luck. Being from Texas this has always been one of my favorite fleets...even worked a year with Billy Keenon (the original finder). I knew about the salvage, but have never found anything about the salvage ship makingit back to Spain...nor about it wrecking. I've camped at Alvarado's salvage camp, anddetected the beaches heavily just south of Mansfield cut. I have an old map that details where coins and shipwreck artifacts were found on the beach too. I know you are talking about the salvage ship, but there is a lot to be said still for the original wrecksites as well. I found some native indian stuff (native to Texas) and some Spanish relics as well, but nothing from the Aztecs unfortunately.

Keep up the search, that would be a heck of a wreck to find!

Jason
 

Re: salvaged aztec treasure from cortez Padre island wrecks ever make it home?

relicdud07,

These wrecks are very interesting, but I am struggling to find any connection with Cortes. Cortes left Mexico for Spain in 1540 and never returned, dying in 1545.

I can't find any suggestion that Cortes' son, Martin, who took over from his father, was involved either.

When you refer to "the ship was carrying his letter", are you referring perhaps to the ship that Cortes sent to Spain about 1519 and which was intercepted by French corsairs, and mixing this up with the Padre Island wrecks?

Mariner
 

Re: salvaged aztec treasure from cortez Padre island wrecks ever make it home?

Thanks guys for your input ,im starting to wonder why they picked pensacola for the camp and rescue settlement area in 1558? They did find some aztec pottery on one of the wrecks in pensacola bay .( Quote "We recovered three pieces of Aztec pottery and a group of obsidian cutting blades," says Bratten. The artifacts would have belonged to Aztec warriors who accompanied the expedition.) Now i guess my question is would they have had aztec warriors on this expedition in 1559 with de luna? or were they more like slaves or could this be some of the salvage loot on its way back home from texas?
 

Re: salvaged aztec treasure from cortez Padre island wrecks ever make it home?

relicdude,

I think that the Spanish used native people to make up crew numbers and perform some of the more menial tasks on their early voyages, so that they made optimum use of the limited number trained soldiers and sailors that they had available.

I am pretty sure that this was the case with an early Cortes voyage I have been researching for a couple of years, but I only have second-hand information about some Axtec/Mayan artifacts that were found in the area where I think the Spanish ships landed.

Mariner
 

Re: salvaged aztec treasure from cortez Padre island wrecks ever make it home?

http://books.google.com/books?id=KO...rrCFBw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6 Have any of you seen this book? Im looking into the info about them useing the river/ land route to maybe take treasure up the rivers and across land to avoid the bad weather/and pirates in the gulf to reach the atlantic side of florida... Is this writer trust worthy?
 

Re: salvaged aztec treasure from cortez Padre island wrecks ever make it home?

Mariner i think your right and i may have a mix up on the wrecks.I think the aztec goods found in texas and in pensacola is why i thought cortes... Luna y Arellano, Tristán de - expedition commander, governor
for Florida once conquered.
From: Borobia, Spain. Cousin of Juana de Zúñiga, wife of Hernando
Cortes. Came to Mexico in 1530.
Biography of Tristán de Luna y Arellano
 

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