Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1914-10-15
The Santa Maria
Derelict
By M. QUAD
Copyright. 1914, by Associated Lit
erary Press

/ of few to equal what took place aboard
one of the Spanish merchantmen, the
Santa Maria. In the year 1862. 1t was
published in the papers at the time.
| but only a partial account, and as we
had war and excitement at home the
incident was soon forgotten.
One of the oldest business houses In
Mexico up to the date above named
was that Of the Spanish house of Ga
lera & Co., founded Seventy-fve years
previously The business of the house
was banking. mining, merchandising
and cattle raising. 1t had a dozen
branches in Mexico. and it had deal
ings with half dozen countries. In
a financial sense it was stronger than
the government, and its yearly profits
footed up an enormous sum. A son
of the founder had succeeded to the
management, and when old age came
he turned over the active work to
cousin named Alvarez. The new man
ager was q young man of twenty-five,
born in Spain Of q fine family and had
been educated for the priesthood. He
was a man without vice. Such was
his probity that he was called Holy
Alvarez" even in his youth. At an
enormous salary and with autocratic
powers young Alvarez took over the
management Of affairs in Mexico, and
almost as soon as he stepped foot on
North American soil a change took
place in his character. He began to
drink. gamble and play fast and loose.
or course there was gossip about the
new manager. and there were those
who predicted that his extravagances
would ultimately bring ruin to the old
house, but there were no official COM
plants. He knew little or nothing Of
business, but be did know how to
spend money royalty, and in a year
he had people guessing how much
longer it would take him to bankrupt
the house. 1t was after the balance
sheets had proved to him that he was
spending more than the profits of the
house and was a debtor to an enor-
nous amount that he set about prepar-
ing a grand coup The Spanish mer
CHunIIudu WAS lOducu Will u Noho1Sh'
ment of gold. silver copper. furs and
dyestuffs for Spain and the cargo in
sured to the last cent Alvarez took
into his confidence a young man named
Prado. and when the Santa Maria sail
ed his confederate went with her as
supercargo.
The ship was manned by crew OF
fourteen men. all Spaniards, Thirty
days after her sailing to the southwark
the American bark Homeward left the
port of Valparaiso homeward bound.
We had been out three days when we
ran into a dead calm. with the weather
so terribly hot that the deck planks
smoked In the sun. AS we lay heaVlnS
on the ground swell 81 small boat drift
ed into view. 1t seemed to be empty.
and 1t had been in sight for two hours
and was not over half mile away
when the captain decided to pick it up
A boat was sent off. and when she re-
turned with the stranger we had sad
spectacle under our eyes. There was
dead man lying at full length under the
thwarts.
About two days later we came up
with n derelct from which the man iii
the boat had no doubt escaped. On
board horrible sight met us-the bod
les Of fourteen dead men.
The derelict was great find to us.
Her manifest showed cargo valued ut
over 100000, and the ship was all
right above deck.
AS the man got away alone and had
provisioned the boat it must have been
after the others were dead. He it WAS,
then. who had brought about the
wholesale death of the crew. and he
must have had Il strong motive. That
motive was discovered when some of
the boxes of treasure were hoisted ont
OF the laZaret and broken open Aside
from one or two boxes. the whole
treasure business was fake. Lead
had been substituted for silver and
gold The furs were Il cheat and
fraud. and the value OF the dyeStutfS
was not quarter of the sum they
were insured for. A second and closer
search of the stateroom evidently oc-
cupied by the supercargo gave US the
key to unlock the whole mystery. He
had left behind letter of instruction
signed by Alvarez at the City of MeN-
co. and in that we learned that the
name of the dead man was Prado.
With the auger hole plugged and
part OF our crew on board the Santa
Maria, we laid our course for the port
of Valdivia. and ia due time both
craft arrived there in good shape. The
dead had been given burial. of course.
but there was no lack of other proofs,
AS soon as she plot was anraveled
steps were taken for the arrest of Al
varez In Mexico. and our claim for sal
wage was filed. Governments move
slowly in international matters. 1t
was months before tkey got ready to
arrest the man who had plotted this
sea tragedy He had meanwhile con