Columbus’s bell rings a million: What is happening to la Vizcaina?

by Warren White

Not until an old rotted-out bell, with a gaping hole, shows a potential for bringing 1.7 million dollars at a Madrid auction house does the Spanish government take an interest in it. Why is it any different now? Is it the money?

What happens now? The ownership will no doubt be contested in every court of two lands.

The bell in question, from all indications, is the bell that Christopher Columbus may very well have rung to herald “Land Ho” on October 12, 1492, in discovery of the New World. The spark that kindled the interest by Spanish and Portuguese authorities did not take hold, it seems, until they realized the potential for the sale of the bell bringing so much to so few. Since the discovery of the bell in 1994 on a sunken Spanish galleon, San Salvador, which sank in 1555 off the coast of Portugal, there hadn’t been any government interest --- until now.

Robert Mazzara found the artifact more than eight years ago. It would seem that precedence had already been set for the claim. Why a dispute now? What alternative recourse does the finder have? Courts, a great amount of expense, and a lot of spent time will now be the finder’s lot as big government tries to take over his claim.

Claim jumping is illegal as long as there is a fair and unbiased court to hear the claims. But these governments will spout words like, “For the good all,” or “It was ours in the first place.” They will be pretexts for confiscation.

Should Italy claim all Roman ships of antiquity because the City of Rome is in that country? For that matter, might Italian rights extend to all ships from any country that now occupies space that was once Rome’s?

Lebanon, perhaps, should make a claim to any Phoenician ship found prior the destruction of Carthage. This is ridiculous, of course, but why not?

While Spain attempts to make claim to all ships lost in antiquity why not then let Spain assume the liabilities as well? What liability? In the Dominican Republic’s Samana Bay in 1724, the Nuestra Senora de Tolosa and Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe sank with cargo holds loaded with mercury. Cartagena harbor has been found high in the same toxic metal and it has been determined to be due to Spanish ships of the colonial era.

Courts do work in both directions, at least they are supposed to. Perhaps this would be a great time to render these topics to a world court that would have the interest of all and would truly be unbiased. In all fairness, there should be an international court to protect all citizens and their rights, not only in matters of crime against humanity, but civil matters as well, where the costs should be borne by the initiating party. In this case after eight years, the governments of Portugal and Spain should bear the brunt of all legal costs now that a value (or at least a tentative value) has been established for what they are so eager to claim.

No person can prove or disprove this is the famous bell from the flagship Santa Maria. Research does, though, indicate that it is. It is to the degree that people are possibly willing to pay as much as $1.7 million for it while in other parts of the world governments tie up other finds so that they waste away and are lost to humanity entirely.

Panama has an ancient shipwreck thought to be “La Vizcaina,” a ship that was involved with Christopher Columbus on his fourth voyage of exploration. The site has been visited by outstanding marine archeologists like Dr. Donald Keith, underwater archaeologist affiliated with “Ships of Discovery,” and Dr. Smith representing Florida State University. These scientists have their doubts that the wreck is La Vizcaina. When pressed to certify that it is not this famous ship, they fail to do that either, saying there isn’t enough evidence one way or the other.

There is a place when logic will have to enter the picture and the wreck in Panama will no doubt be dubbed La Vizcaina. This all-important artifact lays unprotected. There are individuals interested in seeking out and moving foundations, scientists and other necessary individuals to come to Panama to undertake this task. But nothing can be done without permits from the Panamanian government.

Is there a better time? This is the 500th year since the ship was abandoned, as well as Panama’s centennial. Panama is also the location chosen for the Miss Universe pageant for 2003. It will be a shame if Panama fails to act in this year.

This shipwreck could be a tremendous impetus to tourism for Panama, attracting visitors to the wreck site as well as a new museum to see the recovered artifacts.

Just think about sailing this ship through the Panama Canal on a barge, safely held in a cradle. Wouldn’t it be great? Columbus would have finally found his passage between two oceans 

(Warren White, who lives on his boat in Cristobal, discovered the remains of the ship many believe to be La Vizcaina.)

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