Thanks ckilmer.
Posted on 05/13/2015 6:44:07 PM PDT by ckilmer
In 2011 archaeologists happened upon a stunningly well-preserved shipwreck off the coast of Panama. The wreckage, a mere 40 feet underwater, was untouched by looters and still carrying a full load of tools and weapons.
Now, after years of work, scientists finally know the ship's story.
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
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I get a kick out of the finders saying that recovery of the cargo from ships is looting.
Like people should just of left valuable things under water so it could rot and rust away for someone to find hundreds of years later.
Road Trip? OB
Law of the sea provides for salvage rights on abandoned or sunken vessels.
Muy interesante. Muchisimas gracias.
This galleon story is one of many reported here at FreeRepublic. What they show is that about 1550 the Spanish developed a new technology (byo a Bavarian mining engineer) using Mercury to extract gold and silver from Mexico and the Andes. Over two centuries from 1550-1750 they extracted enormous wealth from the new world. When the gold and silver ran out—spain went into decline.
But in the meantime that new wealth in the early 1600’s was behind the shift in the culture that lay behind Cervantes tale. That wealth was what caused the first bubble economy in Holland with the tulip craze. Even as late as the 1750’s spanish pieces of eight were accepted currencies in American colonies.
But in the end —gold and silver—like oil or coal or iron are resources. Spain was a resource country. It did not learn to develop new industries after the 1750’s to create new value so the country went into relative decline compared to the rest of Europe.
These days of course Spain like everyone else is on a giant learning curve.
Thanks ckilmer.
Bloody Morgan’s?
ROFLOLOL!
*snort* I can’t stop laughing over this thread.
Well played, sir.
I think the article said they were on their way to the siege of Panama. Carrying swords and mule shoes among other things.
> Between 1521 and 1660, Spain imported more than 36 million pounds of silver and 400,000 pounds of gold from its colonies, according to one estimate.
And think of the percentage of ships they must have lost in that interval, including those in very deep water in the Atlantic...
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