“Santa Maria de la Consolación.”

This was a ship flown under the Royal Spanish Flag which sank in 1681 off the Island of Santa Clara, (present day Ecuador.) It left the port of Callao (Peru) and was to join the South Seas Fleet in Panama.  Subsequently, it was to arrive in Havana and head towards the Iberian peninsula. 

She was heavily laden with silver bullion and coin.  Soon after leaving port, she was pursued by two pirate ships commanded by the famous pirate, Bartholomew Sharpe.  

To save the treasure from the pirates, the Spanish captain ran the ship aground on the rocks of Isla de Muerto (Island of Death,) Ecuador in July 1681.  The Spanish then burned the ship depriving the pirates of the valuable treasure.  Enraged, the pirates landed and slaughtered all 140 Spanish survivors.  

When salvage first began on this wreck in 1997, it was initially believed to be the Santa Cruz and later called El Salvador Y San José, sunk in August of 1680.  But the research  of Robert Marx after the main find in subsequent years confirmed its proper name and illuminated it’s fascinating history.  

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Intended to be part of the Spanish ”South Seas Fleet” of 1681, which left Lima’s port of  Callao, in April, The Consolación  apparently was delayed and ended traveling alone.  At the Gulf off Guayaquil, off modern day Ecuador, the Consolación encountered English pirates, led by Bartholomew Sharpe, who forced the Spanish galleon to sink on a reef of Santa Clara Island. (later nicknamed “Isla de Muerto,”  or Dead Man’s Island.)  Before the pirates could get to the ship, the Consolación crew set her afire and tried to escape to the nearby island without success.  Angered by the inability ti seize the valuable cargo, Sharpe’s men killed all the Spaniards and tried, in vain, to recover the treasure through the efforts of local fishermen.  Subsequent Spanish attempts were also fruitless, so the treasure of the Consolación  remained undisturbed until the present era. 

The coins recovered during the 1990’s were of the macuquina type (cobs) and all of them were minted in Potosi (known contemporaneously as “High Peru.”)  The vast majority of them were in a poor state of conservation and very damaged by the salt water marine environment. 

The wreck was not immediately identified, hence the treasure is also known as The Isla del Muerto Treasure.