HOW MANY of us have heard of the Amelia Cazalet Shoal near Duncan Town Ragged Island?

It is 33 nautical miles from Cochinos Banks and 60 from Mucaras Reef. But whence it’s name, which originates in France in the 1500s and the UK in the 1700s?

In 1847 the Boston Daily Advertiser states that “….Cazalet’s 1st Cordage….” or ship’s ropes are for sale at Ames Ingersoll & Co. on Central Wharf. An Irish woman named Marianne Amelia Cazalet was born in 1820 and lived for 27 years, being buried in Wicklow Church. James Cazalet, possibly her father, lived from 1782 to 1855.

Still, we don’t know how the reef got it’s name, whether from a person or a ship named after a person. 

In the spring of 2008, a team under permit by the Antiquities, Monuments and Museums Commission (AMMC) “conducted an archaeological reconnaissance of three cays in the chain of small islands known as the Jumentos Cays or Ragged Island Range.” Their goals were to find a Spanish shipwreck survivors’ campsite from about 1550 based on leads found in archives of the Archivo General de Indias of Seville. On  their visit, they also located evidence that Lucayans visited, with “six or seven small and ephemeral sites were identified.” As for a Spanish shipwreck, that is quite a tale, which goes like this:

“In 1554, two survivors of a shipwreck; a black slave woman and a young Spanish deck boy, reached north Cuba, …unable to identify where they had been stranded, but told Spanish authorities an intriguing tale. Having drifted on a crude [raft] ….they arrived on a small sandy island that was part of [the Bahamas]. To their great surprise they discovered two makeshift enclosures made of [coral] stones on top of a sand bluff. These contained two separate treasures in the form of silver bars, gold in various forms (ingots, jewelry), silver coins in great quantity and precious stones. There was also no one else on the island. ….officers in Cuba were unable to …identify …the small sandy island [and] the story was eventually forgotten.”

Let us look closer at what these shipwreck survivors found after a week of hopping from cay to cay southwards towards Cuba. According to another account, there were  three fishermen not a slave woman, “as reported by Hernándo del Castillo to the Crown on 29 December 1597,” his [male] companion was Andrés de Samaniega. Del Castillo said “they landed on an island that was much longer with a rather high bluff and much more vegetation than the previous islets they had visited. ….the last stop before their long crossing to Cuba. Having reached shore and climbed above the high bluff, they noticed in the distance a curious formation that appeared to be man-made. …they realized it was a sort of enclosure made of cut blocks of coral and ballast stones. Upon entering, they found a large number of silver bars neatly stacked, and on top of the stacks were weathered and worn burlap bags from which silver coins, jewelry, small gold ingots – some elongated, some in the shape of a disk – large gold chains and other gold artifacts were spilling out.”

Understandably, “the temptation was great for the three fishermen, and they began looting precious objects, but decided to take only a few items so as not to arouse suspicion.” They then stayed there three days,  then “…they discovered numerous objects visible beneath the water’s surface and realized they had found several shipwrecks. There was artillery clearly visible from the surface.” Then “they boarded their launch and rowed west , and in 36 hours saw the Cuban highlands.” In landing on Cayo Romano, “one of the three fishermen, …drowned. During the accident, all but a few items were lost. Only a large gold chain and a few coins survived. …de Samaniega lost everything.” They then walked to Havana.

Another historian tells the story of the original treasure ships thus: “The original wreck survivors reportedly got off the grounded ships, unloaded the vessels of all their cargoes, including precious and utilitarian items, and partially dismantled the wrecked ships to build a vessel of fortune. This could have only been possible if the ships had not encountered any major barrier reef.” A cartographic study by the Caribbean Geography Society, citing Paret and de Bry 2006 “suggest that Water Cay is the best candidate.” Located in the  Jumentos, or Raggeds, Water Cay is “a long and narrow islet solidly anchored on a limestone platform, …so called for its brackish spring. In stark contrast to all the rocky islands of this region, most of Water Cay is sandy and powder-soft. Twelve-meter bluffs run the island's length.” Having sailed past it, I attest that this is desolate and stunning.

The accounts are supported by the Royal Spanish Court as well as the Treasury, who record that “some 40 years ago two galleons loaded with silver were wrecked upon a small island in the Old Bahama Canal while trying to evade a violent storm [in or near Cayo Santo Domingo], …the survivors having set foot on the said island, had saved the silver and placed it inside a corral they had made of stones. This corral was split in the middle by another small wall of stones in order to separate the cargoes from the two wrecked ships. ….they built a small ship made of parts, and that with this ship of fortune they had attempted to reach …Cuba, … were wrecked on Cayo Romano, where all were drowned with the exception of a sailor and a black female slave;” Andrés de Samaniega seems to have forgiven being described in that way, or she as him. The island being “miniscule,” they concluded, no one has been able to find it. The treasure was said to be 50,000 ducats, with two thirds offered to the finder, valid for eight years from July 6, 1592, as signed by The King, Juan de Ibarra.

These were of course not the only wrecks in the region. In July of 1885 the Maine ship San Cheta struck Pears Reef (not Piers Cay near Harbour Island), and 11 years later the Tapia Tapon hit Mucaras Reef in June. The eight crew from the American barque sailed 160 miles to Nassau under Captain H. R. Coombs. They had been bound from New England to New Orleans in their ship which was built in Salem in 1870 of 600 tons. No doubt the cargo of jetty stones are still at Mucaras, east of Cay Lobos and Labandaras. Though not well known to most of us, these small and widespread islands have rich histories to share, and for many mariners in days of yore, they hid evidence of tragic tales as well.on Southern Reefs: Amelia Cazalet, &  Magallanes Bank.