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Spanish Pirate Shipwreck 8" Brass Spike 1816 Artifact
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Spanish Pirate Shipwreck 8" Brass Spike 1816 Artifact
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For yourself or as a unique gift for your nautical other, young or old Pirate, seafarer, Captain or salty dog of the sea! Own a part of history! This auction is for a genuine solid brass ship spike (approx. 8" long, used to secure hull planking) that was salvaged from the debris field of the Spanish Pirate Schooner Diamond, which was wrecked off the coast of South Carolina in 1816, under suspicious circumstances. This impressive heavy brass spike has been lightly cleaned to show it's original brilliant finish, urethane sealed to help prevent tarnish, and is mounted in a ready to show 8" x 10" display case. You'll also receive a Certificate of Authenticity. Caribbean Explorer LLC, is proud to be currently working with world renowned shipwreck expert Dr E Lee Spence, within his Admiralty claim area that he originally filed over 20 years ago. Spence's official Admiralty claim area is entirely outside of South Carolina's three mile jurisdiction area and includes wreckage from a number of ships that were lost over the centuries. One of those ships was the Spanish pirate schooner Diamond. Spence's Admiralty claim was made under the Law of Finds and the Law of Salvage, both as discoverer and salvor in possession. Caribbean Explorer LLC is providing the vessel(s), search and recovery equipment, crew, divers and funding for this mission. Piracy, which had its heyday in the early 1700s, saw a resurgence around the time of the American Revolutionary War, was rampant throughout the War of 1812 and continued even later due to the wave of freebooters, privateers and corsairs coming out of Central & South America as Spain's colonies revolted and gained their independence. Revolution spread not only democracy but piracy. Pirates, filibusters, buccaneers, smugglers and other unsavory characters of the sea, were found throughout the Caribbean and along the American coasts up through, and even after, the Civil War. According to Spence, and in his book Shipwrecks, Pirates & Privateers (Narwhal Press, 1995), the Spanish schooner Diamante (or Diamond ), Captain Christoval Soler, was wrecked on August 29, 1816. She reported herself as a "slaver", bound from Havana, Cuba, to the coast of Africa. But, her armament and the large number of men and officers (51 total) immediately suggests an illegal and more belligerent character. If she had been a slaver or an honest merchant ship, it is extremely doubtful that her crew would have exceeded much more than a dozen men. Such large numbers of men were only needed on vessels expecting to fight.She was allegedly fitted out at Havana for a voyage to the coast of Africa and left that port about the 28th of July, in company with another vessel. The Diamond had onboard 40 men before the mast, besides officers, in all 51. Soon after sailing she parted company with her consort, and about 15 days later encountered a gale of wind, in which she was dismasted. Having erected jury masts they made for the American coast where they brought too the schooner Hornet , which had been bound from Philadelphia to Charleston. Claiming to be in distress, the Spanish captain insisted that the commander of the Hornet should send on board a pilot to take charge of the Diamond to safely guide her into Charleston Harbour for repairs. Captain Gardner, of Philadelphia, who was a passenger onboard the Hornet was effectively forced into that duty. Unfortunately for the Diamond , the man they pressed into service as a coast pilot wasn't a coast pilot at all, but rather another sea captain, and either unintentionally or intentionally (with the hope of escaping) he ran the schooner aground on a shoal. Once it became obvious that the Diamond would be lost, her crew made plans to board the Hornet , with the expressed purpose of dumping overboard the Hornet's cargo to make room for the Diamond's "valuable" cargo. This act, by and of itself, most certainly would have been considered an act of piracy. But the plans were made too late and the Diamond sank before her car... 
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