Paper: San Diego Union-Tribune, The (CA)Title:
09/15/1988
In search of treasure off Oceanside Carlsbad man aims to salvage Spanish ship that many doubt existsDate: September 15, 1988 Treasure. It's the sweet siren that lures a man like Bill Warren to spend 13 years scouring the seas for a long-lost ship believed to be laden with wealth. If Warren's conviction is true -- that a Spanish caravel called the Trinidad sank off the Oceanside coast in the mid-1500s -- then history will need rewriting and the 37-year-old Carlsbad resident's time will have been well-spent. Warren has his believers: 16 investors, a 10-person crew to excavate the wreck and at least a few archaeologists who think the quest is not too far-fetched. He also has his skeptics, among them noted archaeologists, state officials and a heavyweight treasure hunter named Mel Fisher, who has agreed to help Warren find other California wrecks, but not the Trinidad. "I went and looked (for the Trinidad) about 40 years ago, but couldn't find anything," said Fisher, who made history in 1985 with his breathtaking find of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha, a 17th century Spanish galleon sunk by a hurricane in 1622 off the Florida coast. The discovery yielded more than $100 million in gold bars, silver and jewels. Warren's doubters agree there is something off Oceanside shores -- something under about 65 feet of water and 30 feet of sand. Some say there's no question it's a ship. Maritime archaeologist Don Knight of Diamond Bar said that sonarlike profiles of the site have traced irregularities below the ocean floor that could well be iron anchors, old cannons or other ship gear. Warren's search for the Trinidad started in 1975, after he stumbled onto a library book about shipwrecks. Three years ago, he forsook a singing career to devote himself full time to his passion. Warren claims to know precisely where the 35-ton caravel sits: about one mile south of Oceanside's Municipal Pier. And he claims to know what's aboard: about $10 million worth of artifacts, coins and jewels. What he doesn't know is where the money to salvage the ship will come from. Warren's search has cost him two salvage vessels destroyed in storms. He is six months behind in slip fees for The Tango, his newest boat, which is anchored at the old Commercial Pier on Harbor Island. Compounding those woes is a dispute with the state Lands Commission, which, according to the Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987, owns all wreckage sites off the California coast. Warren, who in 1976 got a permit from Oceanside to excavate the Trinidad, contends in a lawsuit that he owns 22 wrecks from Point Loma to the top of California. The Lands Commission deemed Warren's plans to excavate environmentally and archaeologically unacceptable. Commission officials are awaiting a new plan from Warren before they let him start his work. One problem, said commission attorney Peter Pelkofer, is Warren's proposal to blow the sand off the vessel. The process could destroy its historical value, Pelkofer said. "We submitted a very good archaeological plan -- item by item," Warren said. "We have marine biologists who can prove it. There's a bit of jealousy here and that's why a lot of state archaeologists don't like treasure hunters. They think we're trying to cheat the public." Generally, the state gets its choice of any artifacts found on an abandoned wreck, 25 percent of the first $25,000 of value and 50 percent of any value beyond that. State laws governing securities require Warren to have a permit to attract investors to his salvage company, Valentino Communications Inc. To skirt the permit process, which requires a thorough check of an applicant's finances, Warren got an exemption that forbids him from advertising for investors and limits stockholders to 35 people who must know him or be sophisticated business people. Archaeologist Knight has been in the ship-salvaging business for years. He said the Trinidad was a Spanish ship skippered by explorer Franciscode Ulloa, one of Aztec conqueror Hernan Cortes' right-hand men. "Most professional archaeologists doubt very seriously that the Trinidad exists off of Oceanside," Knight said. Early historians write that Ulloa and his crew sailed only to Baja California around 1540 before a storm forced them back, Knight said. According to some literature -- but more legend -- the Trinidad sailed beyond Baja and anchored off what is now Solana Beach, Knight said. As that story goes, most of the 24-member crew was stricken with dysentery and died ashore. The Trinidad floated north and sank during a storm off Oceanside. J.J. Markey, an Oceanside optometrist and novelist, lent dubious credibility to the story when three decades ago he discovered a cave between Encinitas and Solana Beach that he claimed held 2,000 coins and the skeletal remains of the Ulloa party. Markey said the University of Madrid confirmed that the bones dated to the era of the Spanish conquistadors. But there are holes in the tale, said Knight, not the least of which is the fact that Spanish archives indicate Ulloa attended a paternity hearing in Spain years after he supposedly perished in the Trinidad disaster. "We're very cautious about this in the archaeological community," Knight said. "There's too much scam that has been worked on the general public over the years pertaining to treasure hunts." Then there's John Ford, a San Diego archaeologist who has done field work in Panama, Central America and Mexico. His master's degree comes from Norway's University of Oslo. A solid body of research suggests Ulloa's entourage did travel up to Southern California, Ford said, making the belief that the ship lies near Oceanside "in the ballpark." "The probability is better than a 50 percent chance that (Warren) is correct," he said. But Kirk Walker, an environmentalist with the state Lands Commission, said people filing for salvage permits typically "neglect little things like facts." "There is a shipwreck (off Oceanside) and we would certainly be supportive of Warren or anyone to help solve the mystery," Walker said. "Unfortunately, what Warren wants to do is ... go blow everything off (the ship) and find a bunch of gold bars on the bottom. If there is a vessel of any historical importance, that will basically destroy it." Should Warren uncover the Trinidad, archaeologists say, the find would reshape history. It would indicate Ulloa was in California shortly before Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo, the Portuguese explorer credited with discovering California in 1543. "It's not entirely impossible," Walker said. "There's always a chance the historians are wrong."
san diego union trib
01/14/1996
The story of the lost treasure turned out to be a fabrication by an overly enthusiastic Oceanside eye doctor.
Ophthalmologist John J. Markey proclaimed in 1952 that he had solved the "mystery" of the lost treasure of Francisco de Ulloa. The Spanish explorer, Markey claimed, had sailed past San Diego in 1540, two years before Cabrillo's voyage of discovery, and lost one of his gold-laden galleons at the mouth of the San Luis Rey River.
In a speech to the historical society, he said he found the remains of Ulloa and 21 of his crew in a cave in the San Luis Rey Valley.
"The public and news media greeted the story with enthusiasm," Crawford said. "Trumpeted by Markey, the story reached a wide audience."
But skeptics, including Museum of Man curator Spencer L. Rogers, poked holes in Markey's theory and demanded further evidence that the doctor did not produce. One researcher found court documents placing Ulloa in Spain in 1542.
Over the years, treasure hunters combed the ocean floor for signs of Ulloa's vessel. Nightclub singer and swimming pool salesman Bill Warren claimed to have found two cannons with a metal detector.
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