Shipwreck and real sea adventures

Shipwreck can provide historic information on a given period:

coins and other artifacts have forever been subjects of many romantic

stories.

Shipwreck books tell about real sea adventures and sunken treasures;

about the life of other times.

Due to severe competition between Spain and England in the 17th

century, English buccaneers attacked the Spanish settlements on the

Pacific coast.

Pirates hunted for ships, often with the approval of their rulers, and many

Spanish galleons were attacked in the South Pacific Waters. In the past,

the Galapagos served as hideout for pirates: the Islands provided water

and meat, especially the giant turtles.

During your Galapagos scuba diving adventure you could discover

a real treasure that has been hidden under water for centuries!

Books about shipwrecks and pirates, often with descriptions of the life

during the époque:

1. “A New Voyage Around the World” by William Dampier, first

published in 1697

2. Sieur Raveneau de Lussan, a French buccaneer “working” at the

Pacific coast of South America:

“Histoire des Flibustiers de la mer de Sud” published in 1689.

English version: « Journal of a Voyage into the South Seas in 1684 and the

following years with the Flibusters ».

3. Basil Ringrose, an English buccaneer wrote about his expeditions

with Bartholomew Sharp across the Panama Isthmus in 1682.

4. Our Lady of Magdalena(The Nuestra Senora de la Magdalena) The

galleon sank in 1612 about a mile off the Jama River, off the Ecuador’s

north coast.

5. La Capitana” Spanish ship, sailing from Peru to Panama. Lost in

October of 1654, off Guayaquil Ecuador; the treasure has been recovered.

6. Santa Clara Island which is Ecuador’s largest refuge for sea birds,

holds a mystery:

Consolación (“Isla de Muerto shipwreck”). Spanish galleon sunk in

1681 off Santa Clara Island, Ecuador;

Even if pirates were prowling the waters of the Pacific, the captain of

Consolation was ordered to set sail.

Consolation was attacked by pirates, struck a reef and could not

move any more. The passengers of the galleon were able to get

safely to the Island of Santa Clara. But first, the captain ordered to

set the ship on fire so the treasure would not fall into the pirates’

hands.

The pirates didn’t like it; the result was that to these days the

Ecuadorians call the Island of Santa Clara “El Muerto” – the dead man.

In the 1990s the treasure from the galleon was discovered. By now, has all

of it been already taken out of the ocean?

Bartholomew Sharp: an English buccaneer whose account

of 1680-1682 buccaneering expedition is included in

“Buccaneers of America”, a book by Alexander Exquemelin.

7. Disaster 2001

Contamination of the Galapagos Islands ecosystems by the oil spill in 2001

has caused significant destruction to the area. As the result, many

iguanas have died as their food supply was destroyed. Galapagos birds and

sea lions have also been affected. Experts from many countries were sent

to Ecuador to help with the cleanup.

Contamination of Ecuador through oil exploitation caused degradation of

the country:

 crude oil spills into its rivers,

 waste pits on the once farming areas,

 water and soil contamination,

As long as there is a need to transport millions of gallons of fuel to the

islands, there can occur oil spills and thus endanger the natural habitat.

want. You can also make your own website.

* If you have read an interesting book about pirates, and would like to tell

others about it, let me know. I will gladly present the information on my

pages. Under these conditions:

a) The subject of the book (or: DVD) contains some of these keywords:

South Pacific, Ecuador, Galapagos.

b) The time in history is in the 16 – 19th century.

* If you have a website that deals with shipwreck, I'll be glad to have

your link on my page.

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