Contraband Ingots: A Colonial Expedient

Throughout the history of the Spanish exploitation of the New World there was the great temptation of “salting away a little something” for oneself. “Saving for a rainy day” as it were. As shipwrecks of the period are uncovered and studied, some very ingenious methods of hiding contraband on board these returning vessels come to light. Thick, one-ounce, 1-1/2-inch long wood screws of silver were found in the wreckage of the 1733 Spanish treasure fleet in the Florida Keys; a six-inch nail of high-karat gold was recovered from the treasure fleet of 1715 off Florida’s east coast. And we have seen 7- to 8-inch spikes made of solid silver and having “arrowhead-shaped” points reportedly having come from these wrecks. All would have been screwed or pounded into some plank or beam on the ship, where they could be retrieved by the owner upon arrival in Spain. And all would have been painted over with tar or black paint to hide their true identities. Smuggling, hiding contraband materials to avoid paying taxes (even at the risk of prison or death), was a fact of life in all colonies of all nations, and the way of all ships and men at sea.

Ingots —silver bars and gold bars— were more difficult to hide from the prying eyes of customs officials (many of whom would look the other way for a small consideration!) A ten-inch bar of nearly pure gold weighing three or four pounds could easily be stashed on one’s person or in one’s baggage —but, if found by inspectors… Perhaps a couple dozen slice-of-pie shaped silver ingots were retrieved from a ship of the 1715 plate fleet. Being “wedge” shaped, they gave the name to the “Wedge Wreck” just north of Ft. Pierce Inlet. When assembled as a pie (6 or 8 wedges point to point), they could have been concealed in the bottom of a keg of, perhaps, tar or rum and hidden from view on the trip to Spain. Ponderous bricks of silver bullion, as shipped aboard the Atocha (sunk in 1622), the “Capitana” (sunk in 1654), and Las Maravillas (sunk in 1656) were larger than breadloaves and weighed 70-90 pounds each, a little too bulky to be carried in milady’s handbag.

The logistics of shipping and landing this private wealth was eased by paying the king’s tax, the shipper’s fees, and all the various other taxes levied on each ingot … all the way back to Spain, but who wanted to diminish his own wealth by paying all these fees (the king alone got 20% of the value)!!?? Again, from the wreckage of galleons comes the (not-so) surprising answer that not all of these large ingots had been taxed by the king’s appointed officials in the Americas. Many were found without his tax stamp, many bore only marks of the shipper and the intended receiver, and some were not marked at all. …The plot thickens… It is obvious from examining the over 1,000 silver ingots recovered from Nuestra Señora de Atocha that many, many bars, smaller and more manageable in size and weight —all without the prescribed markings— were also cargo on the homebound galleons.

The 1-1/2-pound contraband silver ingot shown here went to the bottom of the Bay of Guayaquíl, Ecuador in 1654. Perhaps in the pocket of a passenger, it was traveling aboard the capitana of the South Seas Armada of that year, Jesús María de la Límpia Concepción, when the overladen galleon sank. At 4-1/4 inches in length, 2-1/10 inches in width, and 3/4 of an inch thick, the ingot is hardly larger than a bar of bath soap, but its value was equivalent to about 24 silver pieces-of-eight (at $200 each, colonial purchasing power) or 1.5 gold 8-escudo doubloons!

Written and published with permission of Mr. Ernie "SeaScribe" Richards, EN RADA Publications
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