I have been watching occasional episodes of “Cooper’s Treasure” and following treasure hunter Darrell Miklos’s search for shipwreck treasures. Although treasure hunting is frowned upon by maritime archaeologists, I do love to watch the discovery of shipwreck artefacts.
(I recently shared some details about Cooper’s Treasure on Facebook and that received some a negative comment.)
According to the web page found at https://www.monstersandcritics.com/tv/anchor-found-in-hunt-for-christopher-columbus-vessel-on-coopers-treasure/ , “Cooper’s Treasure, treasure hunter Darrell Miklos ….. uncovers an anchor believed to belong to one of Christopher Columbus’s vessels. ….. analysis reportedly shows that the anchor the team finds dates from 1492 to 1550.” (Season 1, Episode 8?)
(I recently posted a blog about this topic at https://stevereynolds.wixsite.com/website/post/discovery-recovery-of-columbus-fleet-anchor. The raising of the anchor by Miklos and his team can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c2Kl9DyUPs .)
The anchor discovered off the Turks and Caicos Islands ("Cooper's Treasure"/Discovery Communications)
According to the web page found at https://www.monstersandcritics.com/tv/coopers-treasure-season-2-finds-premiere/ , in the Season 2 premiere “Miklos was boarded by police in the Turks & Caicos islands and ordered to surrender the Columbus-era ship anchor he found in Season 1.” Miklos was ordered to return the anchor back to the seabed where it had been found.
According to Copilot, “Darrell Miklos had to return the Columbus anchor to the seabed because it was part of a protected underwater archaeological site. Once the anchor was retrieved, it was confirmed to be from Columbus's era, making it a significant historical artifact. However, to comply with archaeological preservation laws and regulations, the anchor had to be reburied to ensure its protection and to maintain the integrity of the site.”
When asked if the anchor is still at the site now, Copilot replied, “Yes, that's correct. The anchor from Christopher Columbus's era, discovered by Darrell Miklos, was returned to its original underwater site to comply with archaeological preservation laws and to protect the site's integrity. This ensures that the artifact remains in its historical context and is preserved for future generations.”
After watching the premiere of Season 2 of Cooper’s Treasure, I searched for any references to Columbus in my shipwreck books. I found some details in “The Search for Sunken Treasure” by Robert E. Marx & Jennifer Mark:
“A shipwreck found in 1977 may be Columbus’s famous Pinta. According to documents, the Pinta and another caravel under the command of Vicente Yanez Pinzon were lost in 1500 “somewhere in the Caribbean during a hurricane.” Caribbean Ventures, a Florida treasure-hunting firm found a shipwreck dating from this period on Molasses Reef in the Turks and Caicos, a group of islands east of the Bahamas. Divers bought up six breech-loaded cannon called bombardetas and three swivel guns called versos but kept their find a secret while they chased after more lucrative treasure-bearing shipwrecks.”
Returning to the Turks & Caicos islands later, Miklos found a large grappling hook. According to the web page found at https://www.monstersandcritics.com/tv/huge-discovery-on-coopers-treasure-as-deep-dives-put-team-in-peril/ , “Darrell and recovery expert Eric Schmitt find two well-preserved iron grappling hooks on the seabed — which they date to the Columbus era.
“They are overjoyed at their find, as they know anyone using grappling hooks would have been looking to try and recover something valuable from the sea floor — pointing at one of Columbus’s ships being in the near vicinity.
“Miklos says: “They’ve been using grappling hooks as long as ships have been sailing. All the way back to the Pinzón brothers, all the way back to the 1500s — and the grappling hooks that we’ve found out here are of that period.
“The reason we’re so excited to find these grappling hooks is we know the people who are utilizing grappling hooks are trying to retrieve very valuable cargo.
“And we have tons of artifacts in this area which we believe are going to be directly related to the Columbus fleet.”
Just recapping some of the details that I posted at https://stevereynolds.wixsite.com/website/post/discovery-recovery-of-columbus-fleet-anchor: -
It was a large bower anchor discovered by Miklos in the Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean.
“According to https://www.foxnews.com/tech/experts-discover-christopher-columbus-anchor-at-caribbean-shipwreck-site “The overall size of the anchor and its estimated weight of between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds (545-680kg) indicates that it was a “bower” anchor from a 300-ton vessel, the typical size of a Columbus-era ship.”
According to https://www.foxnews.com/tech/experts-discover-christopher-columbus-anchor-at-caribbean-shipwreck-site “The Turks and Caicos discovery is believed to be linked to Vicente Yanez Pinzon -- a Spanish sailor, who, along with his brother Martin Alonso Pinzon, was part of the Columbus expeditions.
“Martin and Vicente were captains, respectively, of the Pinta and Nina on Columbus’ first voyage in 1492. Six years later, around the time of Columbus’ third voyage, Vicente Pinzon set off from Spain with four Caravels, or small sailing ships, including the Pinta, in what is known as one of the expedition’s “Minor Voyages.”
“In 1499 and 1500, Vicente Pinzon discovered Brazil and the Amazon River. In the spring of 1500, the captain met with Columbus in Haiti to discuss the Brazilian discovery before leading his four ships back to Spain. However, in July of that year Vicente Pinzon’s fleet was caught in a hurricane while anchored near the Turks and Caicos Islands and two of his ships were wrecked. In 1502, Vicente Pinzon returned to the area in an attempt to salvage cargo from the two vessels.”
According to the video footage of the raising of the anchor (in 2017?) by Miklos and his team at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbgl8_MHSYY , the anchor is some 12’ long (3.6576m) and about 6’wide (1.8288m). It is said to have been hand-forged and somewhat irregular in size. An ‘outside diameter’ of 22” (55.88cm) was mentioned, plus 6” and 5&3/4 “ (15.24 & 14.605cm) diameter arms either side of the crown.”
Here are some stills showing the anchor being cleaned and measured on the boat deck: -
In summary:
The hand-forged bower anchor weighed an estimated 545-680kg, indicating that it was from a 300-ton vessel. It is about 3.6576m long and about 1.8288m wide. It is somewhat irregular in size. (An ‘outside diameter’ of 55.88cm was mentioned, plus 15.24 & 14.605cm diameter arms either side of the crown.)
(All of the images shown here have been sourced from the above-mentioned web pages.)
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