The Virginian-Pilot
©
John Amrhein wants to hunt on Assateague Island for a Spanish ship lost in 1750, but government stands in his way, both here and abroad.
It's a complicated matter, wrapped up in a lawsuit that awarded Spain ownership of two wrecks - Juno and La Galga - off the island's coast. But Amrhein believes La Galga is actually buried on the island and that he should be granted a permit to explore a marsh on the national wildlife refuge.
Amrhein has been pursuing the cause since the early 1980s, and he's not about to give up now. He recently presented a scale model of La Galga to the refuge visitor center, and he took a small group that included U.S. Rep. Glenn Nye, D-Norfolk, to visit the marsh.
"I think we're going to make progress this year," Amrhein said afterward. "I'm not a bad guy. We're just trying to get to the truth."
The Kill Devil Hills resident said that an archaeological firm working with him applied more than a year ago for a federal permit to explore the marsh but has heard nothing.
"If the government really thought that I was wrong, they'd have given me a permit," he said. "I think they know there's a lot of merit to what I've said."
Amrhein laid out his case in a book titled "The Hidden Galleon, " which cites research in the Spanish archives and other locations that led him to the conclusion that La Galga stranded in a small inlet on Assateague, causing sand to build up around the ship. Amrhein says the shoreline has changed over the centuries, surrounding the ship and burying it in what is now a marsh.
His book further claims that the wild ponies on Assateague originally came from La Galga. He said that magnetometer readings - and a psychic - indicate something buried in the marsh. La Galga was supposedly carrying a cargo of mahogany, not treasure.
"This is not a treasure hunt," Amrhein said. "We're looking for history."
Spain claimed that it had never abandoned its shipwrecks, and the court ruled that no salvage can take place without that country's consent. Amrhein says that La Galga is on American soil, and that the wrecks awarded to Spain were misidentified.
Diane Tennant, (757) 446-2478, diane.tennant@pilotonline.com
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La Galga update
The Wreck Diving Magazine article is at www.thehiddengalleon.com/lagalgaashostage.pdf
La Galga update
First, to address the subject of peer review. It has been two years since a permit was applied for by Gray & Pape cultural resource managers. All that was asked is to allow a non-intrusive magnetometer survey for the purpose of getting the site verified and put on the National Register. After that, a museum could be built to display the remains and share the amazing history with the public. To date, the federal government has refused to deny the permit, refused to grant the permit, and refuses to talk about it. Spain has interjected itself into that process with the intent of blocking verification that the site is La Galga. They were awarded an unidentified wreck in 2000 which lies in in the ocean two miles from the land site. The site under investigation is on land and clearly on U.S. soil. Why is this happenning? Because the U.S. has recently sided with Spain in the battle over the 17 tons of Spanish treasure found by Odyssey Marine in 2007. Spain has been flaunting the award of La Galga in court as a legal precedent to defeat Odyssey's claims.
There is much more to this. A recent article from Wreck Diving Magazine supplied with permission can be viewd here. www.thehiddengalleo
La Galga
Concerning iron on board. The Iron Act of 1750 forbade production of finished iron products in the colonies, they had to come from England, but if they came via a Spanish wreck all the better for the colonists.
Iron ship's stoves were not common in 1750, most were brick with maybe iron liners. Locals would have taken them. Spain's main natural resource was iron, therefore would not be importing it. Amhrein states that in 1748 manifest of LaGalga going TO Veracruz had iron. Oddly, he does not give the full 1750 returning manifest. Perhaps no horses, feed for horses, or iron. The ballast cannon on LaGalga were from 1736. Are you sure the ship's cannon were not bronze. Most of that era were. In the 1780's in Belize mahogany was used as return ballast.
Other ships: Amhrein tells us of Bonnilla's funeral (Capt of the Guadalupe stranded at Ocracoke), but fails to tell us this is the ONLY ship to make it back to Spain. Odd. It took over two years but she was escorted by the HMS Tryton in Dec. 1752, arriving at Cadiz in 1753.
La Galga's location
If La Galga is not buried under Assateague in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, then why would Spain deny the permit application to Gray & Pape cultural resource managers to survey the site with a magnetometer? That is exactly what the Spanish Embassy did on September 30, 2008. Even though the site is on United States soil Spain says "NO SURVEY"
La Galga
Okay … now I have your book. Fantastic research, not so much with the conclusions (theories) being passed off as “the true story.” Here is Part One of my review.
When I research I look for what is NOT written as much as what IS written.
Nowhere in your 1750 research narratives is the words “inlet” used. I find this odd. Surely the officials of Virginia and Maryland would be surprised to see a Spanish galleon sitting in a “new inlet.” Huony’s letter says “wrecked upon the Island of Assateague”; all references seem to be “on the beach”. “Attention was now totally focused on the beach as they could see sand dunes and cedar trees.” No inlet mentioned. Would an inlet have enough room for two wrecks? You relate that there was another vessel ashore.
La Galga
"about" latitude 38 degrees? Not exactly a precise calculation. As I have said, anyone searching for this wreck would be inclusive of an area beyond any 1750 line ... on either side.
May I introduce another legend: San Francisco Bulletin, 10/10/1873. WHERE WILD PONIES GROW ... "the oldest inhabitant remembers his grandfather say that they were on the island when he was a boy. There is a tradition that some great Virginia gentleman, of two hundred years ago, was bringing a pair of ponies from England, and that when the ship wrecked off Assateague beach, the ponies were washed ashore ..."
A 11/09/1875 account in the Georgia Weekly Telegraph has the legend that they were from a shipwreck in the 17th Century while on their way to Jamestown.
I don’t have enough room to mention too much about William Whittington being granted most of Assateague Island between 1702 and 1711 line … for grazing ..
La Galga
Soley? Not so. Cook also used Commissioner's Reports with verbal description. What would be the difference in the 1868 and 1883 reports to anyone checking out the entire defined area? The overlap would not be much. Can you tell me how many wrecks have occurred in the general area Spanish, English, etc. over the centuries that could account for your "theoretical" find in the marshes? As far as ships being covered over, here is example of one on a beach (as opposed to in an inlet)Jan. 1853, James C. Fisher struck on Seven Mile Beach. She buried so deeply in the sand that not even her masts had been visible. April 1892 the buried schooner was unearthed by nature. Example of legends ... I searched for three years for Capt. Carhart's Ocean Bird bringing immigrants and wrecking at Ocean City, Md. in 1799. Fact: His ship was the Hawk from Havanna with Coffee. Go figure.
La Galga
Cook relied solely on the map drawn by John de la Camp in 1868 without understanding the boundary line on the map. De la Camp had returned to the Eastern Shore in 1867 to finish running an experimental line across the shore. That work began in 1858 but was interrupted by the Civil War. The experimental line was not in effect for Assateague in 1868. The Toby Islands that lie behind Assateague and just south of the 1868 experimental line were patented by Maryland in 1864, thus proving that the 1868 line was not operative. Maryland issued another patent in 1864 on Pope Island south of the 1868 experimental line. In 1883 the line was finally monumented. At that time it was said that the line across Assateague was moved a mile north.
The line on Assateague was different than that on the mainland. This is clearly documented in Samuel Mitchell’s map of 1846. That map showed the line on the mainland the same as it is today. On Assateague it is shown as latitude 38 degrees, about two miles south of the present line. In 1687, Maryland and Virginia issued their first patents for land on Assateague. Maryland granted all of Pope Island describing the southern boundary of the patent as a
La Galga
Hmmm, Cook and Karl were well aware of the movement of the Maryland/Virginia line. I was at the Maryland Hall of Records checking it out. Cook's and Karl's location is spot on.
There are artifacts that match the time period as confirmed by reliable professionals in the Alpha Quest compilation that has been accepted by the Mariners' Museum and Library of Congress. (Please note, I realize this does not prove of disprove the ship being found any more than your current book)
I will not comment on your unnessessary last statements. They have nothing to do with La Galga and where its location might be. I was not involved with it.
La Galga
Any one who reads The Hidden Galleon will see that the clue to the location of the shipwreck is locating the colonial boundary line between Maryland and Virginia. Documentation found in government surveys contradicts the location suggested by Alpha Quest. Alpha Quest merely revisited a wreck found by Alan Riebe in 1981. The Commonwealth of Virginia returned to the site in 1983. Virginia refuses to recognize that site as La Galga. No surprise there. Spanish documents said the wreck was covered with sand within three days. Maryland archival documents said that there was concern that the wreck would "sink into the land." There are other wrecks documented as being lost at the Alpha Qeest location. As for digging up a marsh, that has not been suggested yet. The government has refused to grant a permit to do a non-intrusive magnetometer survey of the area. Nothing gets disturbed. If nothing is there then what possible reason would the federal government object to the survey? As for Alpha Quest, it must be remenbered that they insisted on pursuing the fraudulent and fictitious San Lorenzo, even after they had been appraised if the truth. Their investors paid the price for that.