A 1700's shipwreck that still creates news today!

books:


	• The Hidden Galleon: The true story of a lost Spanish ship and the legendary wild horses of Assateague Island John Amrhein Jr. New Maritima Press, 2007 - 523 pages average customer review:based on 4 reviews view larger image
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A 1700's shipwreck that still creates news today!

Mr. Powell, I respectfully disagree. It is a historical event that weaves itself into todays events. To understand that impact, you need the details the author lays out. Add the current case between Spain, Odyssey Marine (and now Peru), in which this case has been cited, and it brings to life the current ongoing drama. I can't believe what has happened in the court cases discussed in the book and how it may throw a monkey wrench in this current one - fascinating!

The Hunt for Treasure

The Hidden Galleon brings the thrill of many years of treasure hunting right into your own living room and makes you want to continue reading as you participate in the progression of the hunt. The final conclusions are rewarding and exciting.

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The Hidden Galleon

The book was way too long and overrun with facts that the average reader does not need. The title was what prompted me to buy the book as I am an Easten Shore native and have known about the horses for over 70 years. However, the book was MORE about the author and his problems than how the horses got to Assateague Island. I'm not sure that I would recommend it to someone who wanted to know about the horses....

Tom Powell

The Hidden Galleon

"The Hidden Galleon" is a magnet that will draw readers through its wonderful historic "connect the events" content......this beautifully illustrated adventure is detailed with archival maps and drawings and pictures that brings the reader into a fascinating adventure of the last days of the Spanish warship La Galga to its final resting place in Maryland's Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.
Author John Amrhein takes the reader on his lifelong journey to prove that the wreck of La Galga in a terrible hurricane in September, 1750 included the descendants of Chincoteague Island's pony population that attracts tens of thousands of tourists yearly to Maryland.
As a native of Baltimore, Maryland and a high school US History teacher here in Virginia with 40 years of classroom experience, I found that the book was impossible to put down and a delight to read. In truth, it brought back wonderful memories of the pony pennings that I loved so much to see whenever we traveled to Maryland's eastern shore in the 1950s.

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On the island of Assateague, along the seacoast of Maryland and Virginia, there is a breed of horses that has run wild for centuries. Legend says they originated from a long lost Spanish galleon. This centuries-old tradition is remembered every year when 50,000 tourists descend on the island of Chincoteague to witness the annual pony swim and auction. On September 5, 1750, a Spanish warship named La Galga drove ashore on Assateague and came to rest close to shore and partially submerged. Her captain described her location as within two ship lengths of the Maryland and Virginia boundary. These precise directions seduced many in the future who would choose to seek her remains. In 1947, Marguerite Henry, wrote Misty of Chincoteague, a fictional account of real people of Chincoteague and a beautiful young pony named Misty. Her story documents the shipwreck legend that she was told of during her stay on the island. In 1961, 20th Century Fox released the movie based on this book. In 1980, the author was convinced like others that he could easily locate the wreck of La Galga after researching American and Spanish archives. He made no connection with the legend of the wild horses and La Galga as they had been attributed to another ship called the San Lorenzo. But that ship was the invention of a convincing con man. Soon, the author found himself in a federal courthouse where the State of Maryland had laid claim to the fictitious wreck. Maryland s attorney general fought to keep the author s evidence of the fraud out of the public record. The make-believe ship was awarded to the state based solely on a fraudulent affidavit. Now, armed with knowledge of the shipwreck legend obtained from a descendant of an Assateague Indian and great nephew of a real life character in Misty of Chincoteague, the author's search for La Galga resumes, not in the ocean, but on the sands and marshes of Assateague where he discovers that the ship s remains are hidden in a forgotten inlet. After discovery, the author informed the public and the federal government about the wreck's location. Federal officials declined his offer to demonstrate the discovery made in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. In 1998, a treasure hunter claimed he had located La Galga in 20 feet of water just off the deserted beaches of Assateague. But at the end of the litigation, all parties had to admit that they did not know where the wreck really was. In spite of this, and at the insistence of the federal government, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia awarded La Galga to the Kingdom of Spain. Today, that case is being cited as precedent by the Kingdom of Spain in its attempt to lay claim to treasure from other Spanish shipwrecks. The Hidden Galleon at last documents nearly three decades of dramatic and bizarre events related to the real story of a lost Spanish warship and the wild ponies of Assateague Island. Named Finalist in the History/Historical Non-Fiction category AND The Hidden Galleon, was named a WINNER in the Regional Non-Fiction category of the 2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards!

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