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Shipwreck · Partially salvaged

Concepción of Saipan

Wrecked 1638 · worked 1987, Off Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands
RECOVERED
Evidence status: Historical tradition. no documented source (historical tradition); legal status unknown (manual verification recommended). This account is presented as historical tradition, not verified fact. Manual verification recommended. Repository evidence: 0 sources · 0 timeline events · 0 media items · legal unknown · view on the Map Evidence on file: historical tradition

Concepción of Saipan: still unexplained.

Manila-galleon gold & jewelry

The subject
developing the photograph…
The manifest
Manila-galleon gold & jewelry
Last known, where the trail went cold
A 1987 salvage raised gold chains and jewelry from the reef; the rest of one of the richest Pacific galleons is still in the coral.
The account

The Manila galleons were the richest ships that ever sailed, and the Concepción was lost in sight of land with a year of Asia's luxury aboard. Storm and reef scattered her for a mile. What the 1987 divers brought up made headlines; what they left is the quiet part.

Leads, where the trail points now
  • Where the trail goes cold: A 1987 salvage raised gold chains and jewelry from the reef; the rest of one of the richest Pacific galleons is still in the coral. That is where any serious search begins.
  • What you are chasing is Manila-galleon gold & jewelry. Work the documented record of Concepción of Saipan back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
  • Confirm who owns and governs Off Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands and get written permission before any search; treat protected or archaeological ground as off limits.
What the record holds

What remains open

  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
What we know, and what we don't
Established

No documentary claim is yet established. The account rests on tradition.

Still open
  • No period map of the site has surfaced.
  • No contemporary press coverage has been found.
The evidence room

No documentary or visual exhibits have been located yet. The trail below and the open leads are where this dossier grows next — every exhibit that enters here carries a source.

Where the trail points now
  • Where the trail goes cold: A 1987 salvage raised gold chains and jewelry from the reef; the rest of one of the richest Pacific galleons is still in the coral. That is where any serious search begins.
  • What you are chasing is Manila-galleon gold & jewelry. Work the documented record of Concepción of Saipan back to primary sources and separate what is attested from folklore.
  • Confirm who owns and governs Off Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands and get written permission before any search; treat protected or archaeological ground as off limits.
  • Search Library of Congress + DPLA (IIIF) for period cartography of the site.
  • Run Chronicling America for dated newspaper mentions.
  • Query NARA for archival records tied to the site.

Have a source, a map, or a clipping? Add a lead and it enters the record with its citation.

Start the hunt here
The first leads, so no one walks in cold.
Sources and the record
Related case files

The full hunt kit

Starting brief, what's known and disputed, evidence timeline, source list, map card, coordinate-confidence and legal-access summaries, and a field checklist, free with a Fellowship account.

Latest Word From the Newswire

Context, not proof. The dossier's own sources remain the evidence record.

Checking the wire…

Chart position 15.100°, 145.700° (approx.) View on the Map