Rare Gold

By Ashton Lackey

"The gold, silver, jewels, bucklers, and garments which we are sending to Your Royal Highness with these representatives, over and above the one-fifth which belong to Your Majesty, Hernando Cortes and the council of this town offer in Your services and are sending together with a list ..." Fernando Cortez wrote in 1519. Following the first fabulous shipment, the Conquistadors looted the treasures of Montezuma until only one hoard remained. Teudile, servant of Montezuma, secretly tried to ship the hoard to Spain, but the caravels were lost at sea. The location of the treasure was an unsolvable mystery. Unsolvable, that is, until Tony Carter found Teudile's diary, charting where the ships went down. However, he was not the only one with an interest in finding the last of the Aztec gold...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ashton Lackey
• Release date: Apr 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215600153

Ashton Lackey

Ashton Lackey (Harrington A. Lackey) has been a Spanish instructor, translator, tutor and writer for the past 30 years. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Spanish and Anthropology from Eckerd College, a Master of Arts degree in Hispanic Literature from Auburn University, PhD candidate in Hispanic Literature at the University of Kentucky, and an Associate of Science degree in Computer Information Systems from Nashville State Technical Institute. Ashton has taught Spanish classes at Auburn University, Louisiana State University, University of Kentucky, Columbia State Community College, and Belmont University. He started a successful tutoring business- "Learning Strategies," but is now retired.Ashton has completed 10 years of studying French from grammar school to high school. Also, he completed a semester of advanced French in Angers, France at the l’Université Catholique de l’Ouest.He has written three novels, based on historical fiction: "Rare Gold," "Disciple's Curse," and "The Admiral's Signature." He has also published over 150 articles on various subjects and short stories. Ashton is now retired and currently lives in Bluffton, SC with his wife, Diana, and one furry daughter.Ashton has translated over 10 novels from Spanish to English, ("La Celestina", "Lazarillo de Tormes") and from English to Spanish: ("The Healing Of Gala"). I have recently been translating into English: "La Primera Catedral", "Surreal (Y otros relatos), and "MainCastle: La leyenda del caballero blanco".His hobbies are: collecting coins, comic books, books and metal detecting.

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Introduction

A part of Hernando Cortés’ First Letter to Charles V of Spain upon his arrival in Mexico:

…..We shall endeavor to see and learn the secret of this and many other things of which we have heard so that we may render Your Royal Highness a true account as of the wealth in gold and silver and precious stones which Your Majesty may judge according to the samples we are sending. In our view it cannot be doubted that there must be in this land as much as in that form which Solomon is said to have taken the gold for the temple. But so little time has passed since we first landed that we have been unable to explore more than five leagues inland and some ten or twelve leagues along the coast on either side of the place where we landed, although from the sea there appears to be much more, and indeed we are more while sailing hither

The gold, silver, jewels, bucklers and garments which we are sending to Your Royal Highness with these representatives, over and above the one-fifth which belong to Your Majesty, Fernando Cortés and the council of this town offer in Your services and are sending together with a list signed by the same representatives as Your Royal Highness may observe. From the Rica Villa de la Vera Cruz, the tenth day of July, 1519."……

-Hernando Cortés

Primera Carta de Relación

Cortes’ inventory of looted small and large treasure:

(From on 1st Letter) July 10, 1519

1.A large gold wheel worth 3,800 pesos* of gold.

2.Necklace with 8 strings of 232 red jewels and 163 green jewels. Hanging from the necklace border are 27 small gold bells.

3.Another necklace with 4 strings of 102 red jewels and 172 green jewels. Around them are 26 small gold bells.

4.4 pair of screen leggings One has 2 pieces of gold leaf with yellow deerskin trimmings. The other has 2 pieces of silver leaf with 16 gold bells hanging from it.

5.100 pesos of gold are sent for smelting, so that the King can see how gold is extracted from Mexico’s mines.

6. Gold disks weighing 50 pesos of gold which are centerpieces for elaborate feather works.

7. 37 rods made of gold with elaborate feather work.

8. A large piece of feather work worn on the head with 68 pieces of gold all around it. Beneath are 20 little gold towers.

9. 2 large alligator heads made of gold.

10. Many ornate pieces of animals with gold for eyes, beaks, feet, arms, ears.

Summary of items:

A lot of feather work, mixed with rare gems (red, green and blue). Many parts embellished.

gold pieces.

This account is from: Hernan Cortés’ Letters from Mexico Translated by Anthony Pagden, Yale University Press, 1986, pp.39-46.

*A peso was worth about a half a pound in 1519.

Prologue

Vera Cruz, Mexico May 22, 1522

Hernando Cortés gazed out at the light blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico through a window in one of his many palaces, scattered throughout Mexico. Three small caravels were being loaded with several tons of gold and other treasure, mostly stolen from the temples in Tenochtitlan, the capital of Mexico.

He had been Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar in two previous lives, he thought arrogantly, as he scrutinized his appearance in a large mirror. Cortés had done the impossible: he had conquered an entire nation of people called the Mexica, better known as Aztecs, who were ruled by a great king, called Montezuma.

Cortés remembered defying the Cuban governor, Diego de Velasquez, whose orders prohibited anyone from mounting an expedition to Mexico. He smiled haughtily as he remembered leading a small expedition of conquerors to this unexplored territory called New Spain. The arrogant Captain set sail with eight caravels, carrying roughly five hundred Spanish soldiers, a dozen horses, and a few weapons. Cortés ordered the sinking of all eight caravels, so that none of his soldiers could return to Cuba.

He and his army encountered indigenous tribes, who were Montezuma’s enemies. Since the tribes owned a lot of gold, Cortés was encouraged that the land held vast wealth. He ordered his soldiers to march to Montezuma’s capital, Tenochtitlan, where he met the Aztec ruler. Cortés and his men remained in the city, after a year of peaceful occupation.

Then impending violence erupted between the Spaniards and the Aztecs. The Spanish army lost many lives in a bloody battle called The Night of Sorrow. Greedy soldiers carried off as much treasure as they could. However, the gold only weighted them down, as deadly arrows, and shots from their own firearms struck them.

Almost all of the looted treasure was lost in the lake, surrounding the city. Cortes and a handful of Spaniards and Indian allies managed to stay alive after fighting the ferocious Aztecs.

Several months had passed before Cortés returned to Tenochtitlan with a much larger and more resilient army. They defeated the Aztecs and devastated their city. Harsh measures were used to subjugate the nation under Spanish rule. Many Aztecs were forced into slavery, digging their own land for gold and silver. The lucrative proof of Cortés’ triumph over the Aztecs came down to this day. Soon, the largest shipment of gold was going to be sent across the Atlantic Ocean to Spain.

The weather seemed quiet to the East of Mexico’s Gulf. The sea was calm. There were no signs of other ships on the horizon that might attack their small caravels. Their primary mission was to guard New Spain’s gold and other precious Aztec treasures AT ALL COSTS.

Cortés planned for the gold and silver to be melted into bars. When the bars reached Spain, they would be melted again to be used to decorate many of Spain’s greatest monuments: a testament to the Spanish leader’s hard-fought conquest and status as Spain’s first ruler on the new American continent.

Antonio de Quiñones, captain of one of the vessels, stood staring at the eastern horizon. He slipped a finger in his mouth, pulled it out and held it up, testing wind conditions for possible bad weather. The other Captains also checked the wind for possible hurricanes that might arise in the next few days. Although they forecast clear weather, dark clouds were forming three hundred miles to the East, moving due West towards the Gulf.

When the vessels had been completely stocked, they sailed out of the harbor. No sign of danger occurred during the first day of the voyage. However, the black clouds became visible fifteen miles to the East, moving twenty knots towards them. Most of the sailors were young. They remembered their parents’ hair-raising stories about ships being destroyed by storms to scare them from becoming sailors. Now, they wished they had heeded their parents’ warnings.

One brave youth raised his spyglass and saw the impending storm forming many miles to their East. He ran below deck to Captain Avila’s quarters and told him of the rapidly approaching danger. Alonso de Avila’s eyes quickly opened wide. He slowly rose from his chair, so as not to indicate panic.

Captain Avila walked up the small flight of stairs to the deck. He quickly called his sailors to prepare themselves for the impending storm. The other ships’ Captains were immediately alerted. However, the storm came so swiftly that all three ships were surrounded in darkness in a matter of minutes.

Streaks of lightning appeared like fiery tentacles reaching across the black sky. Waves churned violently around the ships. All Captains knew their ships were doomed, and the consequences to the Empire would be catastrophic. Yet the ships survived the storm.

They sailed to Isla Fernandina (Cuba) to rest and replenish their sup- plies. All crew members took precautions to guard the treasure for fear that news of their precious metal would quickly spread to the island’s greedy inhabitants. All treasure had been locked into wooden crates, hidden with- in the ships’ cargo hold. After a brief stay in Fernandina, they headed towards the Caribbean Islands, which looked like a blue-green desert that spread infinitely before them.

Although the Caribbean Islands had previously been charted, navigating through them in mostly shallow water and treacherous sand bars, required the utmost skilled navigator. Yet the group of vessels survived the Caribbean odyssey and hopes were raised for a smooth voyage back to Spain.

Fortune seemed to favor a smooth voyage to Spain. Unfortunately, fate had not dealt with them. When the vessels approached the Azores islands, two jaguars broke out of their cages, killing several members of the crew. Another ship erupted into mutiny after its captain had been apparently poisoned. One crewman was tragically stabbed by another when it was learned the victim had been courting the murderer’s wife.

Yet, their problems seemed resolved as they approached Spain. Almost four months after leaving Vera Cruz, the crew members of each boat cheered, knowing Spain was only a few miles ahead.

Suddenly, the boom of a cannon whizzed past the starboard bow of the nearest caravel. The remaining Captains quickly took the spyglasses out of their pockets, pushed them open, and peered to the left of their ships.

A small armada of French war galleons was approaching from the North. They were led by a rogue pirate, known as Jean Fleur or Florin, who had been stalking the Iberian Peninsula’s coastline for roughly two years.

Joy faded from the Spaniards’ spirits at the irony of traveling thousands of miles, only to be defeated just several miles from their native country; the thought of reaching Spain seemed just as impossible as it was when they left Vera Cruz.

Jean Fleur glared at the small Spanish crafts with one dark blue eye, which squinted with hate; his other eye was covered by a black patch.

He yelled, Fire another cannon closer to the ships! Order the surrender of their vessels! The next cannon ball splintered the masts of two of the vessels like toothpicks.

The Spaniards hardly put up a fight. There was serious cost to sailors’ lives, as well as much of Spain’s financial future. Only the caravel, La Rábida was miraculously spared; no gold had been placed aboard it, only letters including the last of Cortés’ famous Letters to the King of Spain.

The French took gold, slaves, and the wrath of the Spanish Empire for many years to come. News had spread quickly throughout Europe about the exotic gold-filled lands the Spaniards had discovered. Although the Spanish government later executed Florin, other countries soon sponsored pirates to seize Spanish treasure.

It would be another five years before another voyage of this magnitude would be launched from Mexico….

Chapter One

March 13, 1992

Off of Grand Bahama Island, Jim Shell jolted from his chair beneath the deck of his salvage boat, the Tailwind. His telephone rang as he was trying to take a midmorning nap. He grabbed the phone’s receiver.

Shell speaking! he said.

How are you, chief? a raspy voice asked.

Shell didn’t answer, wondering who was bothering him at his break time.

After a few seconds of silence, the voice spoke: It’s Dan. Dan Cobb. Numismatist.

Jim was still processing Dan’s name as he was waking up. Then he remembered him; Dan was one of Florida’s most reputable dealers of sea-salvaged Spanish coins and artifacts.

Of course. What can I do for you?

Dan continued, Well, word spreads fast, especially when a lot of treasure is found.

You’re referring to the Maravillas treasure?

Right, Dan exclaimed, Aren’t you the new addition to the Maravillas treasure hunting team?"

Jim never thought of the idea in those terms. He and his wife were already an accomplished treasure-salvage team in Florida.

All I can say is that this wreck is the biggest I’ve seen so far, Jim proclaimed.

Obtaining more treasure from that shipwreck is an idea I’ve been entertaining for a long time.

Jim responded, "If it’s about the Maravillas wreck, you might as well talk to my