Sunken Spanish Treasure Ship El Infante
Here is a little history on our first dive location for our Sunken Treasure Workshop. The original name of the El Infante was Nuestra Señora de Balvaneda and she was an armed galleon in the Flota that belonged to King Philip V.
Built in 1724, she had a capacity of 400 ton and was one of the Flota's largest ships carrying 60 cannon for protection. She is also occasionally referred to as refuerzo as she had been constructed with sacrificial planking to help keep ship worms from consuming her structure. The ships in these Flotas carried an immense volume of Spanish treasure including gold bullion and silver. As such, they're often referred to as the Plate Fleet or Silver Plate Fleet since the Spanish word for silver is plato. This particular vessel carried one of the more precious cargos which included the pillar which was the newly minted coin from the Americas. Also on board was gold bullion, silver, brazilwood, cochineal, Guadelajara ware, Chinese porcelain, leather hides, indigo, vanilla, and citrus, as well as 186 boxes of silver coins.
The El Infante is also one of the more interesting wrecks from the 1733 Treasure Fleet. Plus there's the added possibility of making a huge historic discovery which adds to the site's value. After all she was one of the treasure ships that was carrying extremely valuable cargo. Even though people have searched the remains of El Infante and the surrounding area for years, important wealth is still missing today! Come join us at our Sunken Treasure Workshop with world famous treasure hunters!