Shipwrecks
El Cazador
Sank 1784 · found 1993 · Gulf of Mexico, off Louisiana
RecoveredThe prize. Spanish silver reales
Where. Gulf of Mexico, off Louisiana
Status. Recovered
Where. Gulf of Mexico, off Louisiana
Status. Recovered
The account
A Spanish brig carrying silver to prop up colonial Louisiana. A fishing trawler snagged the wreck in 1993.
Leads, where the trail points now
- A Spanish brig that sank in the Gulf of Mexico in 1784 carrying silver meant to shore up Spanish Louisiana; its loss helped push Spain to hand Louisiana back to France, which led to the Louisiana Purchase.
- The wreck was found by accident in 1993 when a fishing boat, fittingly named the Mistake, hauled up silver coins in its nets.
- The coins, 1783 Mexican reales, are documented and sold; the scatter site in the Gulf is the lead.
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