Shipwreck: A Saga of Sea Tragedy and Sunken Treasure

In 1654, Padre Diego Rivadeneira watched the immense Spanish galleon Capitana, "Queen of the South Seas," as she sank off Ecuador carrying treasures worth 10 million pesos. Later he was among 45 survivors when the 900-ton Maravillas sank on the wild shoals of Los Mimbres, Bahamas, burying 600 people as well as 5 million pesos in silver and gold.

Three hundred years later, diver and maritime historian Dave Horner discovered Padre Diego's diary in the Archivo General de Indias, Seville. Twenty-five years of subsequent research led to the discovery and salvage of the Capitana, as well as a diving expedition on the Maravillas shipwreck site. Moreover, Horner has painstakingly forged an authentic historical context for the padre's singular story. The result is an unparalleled account of real-life adventure on the high seas, and a stirring portrait of the riches that drove men across uncharted oceans to a new world, as men are still yet driven in search of treasures long lost at the bottom of the sea.