The Silver Madonna and Other Tales of America's Greatest Lost Treasures (2 page)

As far as anyone knows, the Silver Madonna has never been recovered, and most who have researched this tale are convinced it still lies at some location in the Israel River below the slope that leads to the rock shelter where the fleeing Rangers took refuge. Given an estimated weight of no less than one hundred and fifty pounds and the high specific gravity of silver, it is unlikely that the idol was carried downstream by the current for any significant distance from the point where it entered the river. As a result of several explorations into the region, there is reason to believe that the statue may have sunk a short distance into the soft mud of the bottom of the stream, or may have been covered over by gravel and silt carried by the river. The point where the Silver Madonna was pushed into the river is just downstream from the small New Hampshire settlement of Jefferson.

Today, the Silver Madonna is regarded as one of the most cherished artifacts from the French and Indian War. If recovered, the value of the silver at this writing is estimated to be around sixty to one hundred thousand dollars. The historical, antique, and collector value, however, would amount to several million dollars.

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The Lost Treasure Ship of the California Desert

As unlikely as it seems, a seventeenth-century Spanish sailing vessel lies somewhere in the rugged, arid environment of the Southern California desert. Within the dune-covered hull of this ship that became stranded during a flood over four centuries ago lies a quantity of wooden casks, each filled to the top with rare black pearls harvested from the waters of the Gulf of California. Over the years and during the times the ship has been exposed by the constant winds, it has been encountered by travelers and prospectors but none were aware of its contents. Researchers estimate that if found today the cargo of pearls would be worth several million dollars.

In spite of the fact that the state of California is among the most populated in the United States, there exists a great swath in the extreme southern part that remains virtually uninhabited, a vast arid region that stretches from the Arizona border westward for over one hundred miles and southward into Mexico.

This expanse of sere landscape is called the Colorado Desert and is generally avoided by living things: human, plant, and animal. In response to the constant and high winds, the ever-shifting sands allow little opportunity for vegetation to take hold. Should a stray seed manage to find a place of refuge and germinate, the paucity of water in this area will keep it from reaching maturity. In addition to the lack of moisture and the extremely high temperatures, this land remains, for the most part, uninhabitable. Save for the occasional rattlesnake, scorpion, buzzard, or prospector, the region is seldom visited.

Hikers, explorers, and rock hounds visit the Colorado Desert of California from time to time to pit their skills against the elements, most of them perceiving the desert a worthy challenge. Many return to civilization, but a startling number of them succumb to dehydration, exposure, or snakebite. Indeed, during the history of this nation’s westward expansion and settlement, Southern California’s Colorado Desert has claimed the lives of hundreds.

Following the discovery of gold in California in 1849, along with the interest in seeking new environments in which to settle, practice agriculture, and establish businesses following the Civil War, tens of thousands of people migrated from the northern and eastern parts of the United States to California. A number of them, lured by the tales of opportunities to be found in and near the great cities and ports along Southern California’s coast, elected to travel across this sere and forbidding landscape. Though warned of the dangers to be encountered in the Colorado Desert, many were convinced they would save time by selecting this route instead of traveling a safer road that circled many miles to the north.

Hundreds of the migrants selecting the more southern trace lost their lives, and for a time the desert floor was littered with the crosses of lonely graves along the way, markers that eventually succumbed to harsh desert winds and climate.

What may be even more remarkable, however, is that among those who managed to survive the perilous journey and reach the coast, there were some who related the strange tale of seeing an ancient masted sailing vessel partially buried in the sand dunes. On learning that the strange lost ship likely contained an uncountable fortune in exquisite pearls, some traveled back into the desert to search for it. Many were never seen again, and more returned with accounts of getting lost without food or water and not being able to relocate the ship.

In time, the complete story of the lost ship of the desert was revealed, causing hundreds more to enter the dunes to look for it. Some claimed to have found it but were never able to breach the protective cover of the desert sand. Others, travelers and prospectors, located it by accident over the years but were unaware of what was stored in the hold, only camped for the night and moved on.

Today, occasional reports of the lost treasure ship of the California desert continue to be received. Furthermore, it continues to be sought by professional treasure hunters as well as amateur searchers. At the end of the quest and deep inside the partially buried vessel are wooden casks of the rarest pearls in the history of the world.

In the year 1610, Spain’s King Philip III commanded Navy Captain Alvarez de Cordone to organize an expedition to search for pearls in Mexico’s Gulf of California, located between the west coast and the elongated peninsula of Baja California. During previous expeditions to the area, the Spanish learned that a rare large mollusk made its home in the shallow water along the coast and produced an exceptional pearl with a dark, nearly black, shiny, metallic surface. The Spanish explorers discovered that the local Indians harvested these fine pearls from the waters and used them to fashion necklaces and other jewelry. During this time, pearls were considered more valuable than gold. In addition to adding to the wealth of the Spanish treasury, King Philip knew well that the country’s upper class, as well as that of other European royalty, coveted the rare gems, and he wished to control the market for them.

At the time, Captain Cordone was headquartered in Mexico City. He was known to be intensely loyal to the government of Spain and to King Philip in particular. As was Spanish custom, the commander of an expedition sent to recover gold, silver, or any other kind of wealth received a generous share. Cordone entertained visions of becoming a wealthy man as well as a member of an elite Spanish society. He further imagined he would be rewarded with higher rank and perhaps an important political appointment. Cordone was anxious to carry out King Philip’s orders.

According to his instructions, Cordone was to oversee the design and construction of three ships. He was provided free rein relative to the organization and outfitting of the vessels in order to ensure the success of the expedition. Wasting little time, Cordone ordered the reassignment of two respected and trusted officers to assist him—Captains Juan de Iturbe and Pedro de Rosales. The three men, accompanied by an armed escort, traveled 250 miles south to the coastal city of Acapulco, where they supervised the construction of the ships and pursued preparations for the voyage. While work progressed on the vessels, Cordone requested sixty experienced pearl divers be recruited from the east coast of Africa and shipped to Acapulco.

The ships were finally completed during July 1612. Following two weeks of trials to test their seaworthiness, Cordone announced he was ready to lead the expedition. A few days later, he ordered the three ships into the blue waters of the Pacific Ocean and along a northwesterly course that paralleled Mexico’s shore.

As the three Spanish ships sailed through the calm coastal waters, occasional anchorings were ordered so that the divers could explore the rocky bottoms for promising oyster beds. Now and then some pearls were harvested, but Cordone knew from previous reports that the richest beds lay farther to the north and deeper into the Gulf of California. It was to this region he guided the expedition.

After several weeks of sailing, one of Cordone’s lookouts spotted an Indian village on a nearby shore. After observing the natives for a time, Cordone noted that the males appeared to be diving for pearls in the shallow waters. Considering that he might find a store of pearls among these indigenes, Cordone ordered the anchors dropped. The captain, accompanied by a contingent of crewmen as well as some soldiers in case of a hostile reception, landed ashore and requested to speak with the village headman.

According to the chief, Cordone and his men were the first Europeans to visit the village. To Cordone’s delight, the Indians proved to be friendly and the reception was warm. Communicating in signs, the chief invited the Spaniards to share the evening meal with the small tribe. Long into the night Cordone and the chief conversed about a variety of topics. By the time the sun rose, Cordone determined it was time to inquire about the pearls being harvested from the sea floor.

The chief told the Spaniard that the shellfish were harvested primarily for food and from time to time a pearl would be found. When this occurred, it was removed and stored with others that had accumulated. When one of the tribe wished to make a necklace or some other item of jewelry, they simply went to where the pearls were stored and retrieved any amount necessary. When Cordone asked if he could see the pearls, the chief escorted him to a nearby shelter and pointed to two clay pots, each filled to the top with black pearls. Cordone estimated it was a fortune large enough to satisfy a dozen kings.

When Cordone asked the chief if he would like to trade for some of the pearls, the Indian expressed interest in the clothes worn by the Spaniards. He told Cordone that he and members of his tribe would indeed look splendid garbed in such finery as that manifested by the officers and soldiers. Following several minutes of bartering the two men settled on an agreement and Cordone, along with his escort, returned to the ship.

The following morning, several bundles of clothing, neatly folded and tied, were loaded into a rowboat and transported to the shore by a handful of crewmen. Awaiting them were the chief and a half-dozen members of the tribe standing next to the two clay pots filled with pearls. After unloading the bundles of clothing, the crewmen placed the heavy pots into the boat and rowed back toward the ship. As the crewmen steered the rowboat toward the ships, the Indians opened the bundles and were surprised that they contained not the fine clothes worn by the Spanish officers and soldiers, but a motley collection of rags and discarded garments.

Screaming angry insults at the departing Spaniards, several of the Indians waded knee-deep into the water and loosed arrows toward the rowboat. Others, brandishing spears and bows and arrows, piled into nearby log canoes and made for the three ships.

On reaching the closest vessel, one commanded by Iturbe, the crewmen in the rowboat quickly loaded the pearls and scrambled aboard. Following shouted commands by Cordone, anchors were raised, sails were hoisted, and the vessels were soon under way. For several minutes, the canoes of the Indians kept pace with the departing ships. Now and then crewmen would dodge an arrow that was fired onto the decks.

Cordone, delighted with himself for swindling the gullible Indians out of a fortune in pearls, stood at the railing of his ship smiling down at the pursuers. He was about to order his soldiers to fire upon the Indians when he was struck in the chest by an arrow. He dropped to the deck.

The next day, Cordone, attended by the ship’s surgeon, suffered a high fever and experienced great pain. The surgeon suspected blood poisoning and recommended returning to Acapulco where the captain could be more effectively treated. Otherwise, said the doctor, Cordone would surely die.

At first, Cordone dismissed the diagnosis as an overreaction on the part of the surgeon, but eventually he accepted it. He instructed Iturbe and Rosales to continue up the coast into the Gulf of California in the remaining two ships and harvest more pearls. In the far northern reaches of the gulf, Cordone was convinced, lay the richest oyster beds.

Several days later, the ships commanded by Iturbe and Rosales entered the Gulf of California. True to Cordone’s prediction, they encountered a number of rich mollusk beds that yielded great quantities of the dark, gleaming pearls that were stored in the wooden kegs brought along for the specific purpose of transporting the fortune. As the black divers harvested the floor of the sea, the two captains determined to sail as far north as possible in hopes of finding more and larger oyster beds. The two officers, like Cordone, were convinced that if they returned to Mexico City with a great fortune in pearls, they would be rewarded with promotions and influential assignments. Their swelling lust for power and status was to prove their undoing.

Captain Iturbe agreed with Cordone that the richest oyster beds were to be found at the extreme northern part of the gulf where it receives the nutrient rich outflow of the Colorado River, and it was to this location the ships were directed. The ship under the command of Captain de Rosales rode quite low in the water as a result of the great weight of pearls it transported. One afternoon as the two ships sailed northward in the placid waters just off the coast of a small island named Isla Angel de Guardia, de Rosales’s vessel struck a reef and suffered a tear in the wooden hull. As the ship sank into the sea, crewmen worked frantically to transfer its cargo of pearls onto Iturbe’s vessel.

Moments after the final keg was loaded onto the ship, de Rosales’s boat slipped below the surface and settled onto the bottom sands several fathoms below. The cargo hold of the remaining ship was completely filled with casks of pearls and twice the normal contingent of crewmen and now it, too, floated dangerously low in the waters. In spite of this, the two officers determined to continue sailing northward in search of even more oyster beds and, they dreamed, greater wealth for the country of Spain and themselves.

Several more days passed, and finally Iturbe’s ship, aided by strong southerly winds, sailed into the estuarine waters where the Colorado River entered the gulf. During that time this river, unencumbered by the dams that regulate flow today, carried a much greater load of water. According to geologists, during periods of increased drainage, it was not unusual for the Colorado River to overflow its banks and contribute to the formation of large inland bodies of water such as the Salton Sea, a remnant of which is still found in Southern California. The geologists further explain that earthquakes, which are common in the region, can cause significant changes in the topography. The San Andreas Fault, one that is quite active, lies just beneath the sands of Southern California’s Colorado Desert. During a major quake, which occurred a short time prior to Iturbe’s visit, the channel of the Colorado River was shifted eastward as much as fifty or more miles to its present location, leaving behind a landlocked body of water.