There is no doubt that the most famous shipwreck in the region is the ” Tobermory Galleon.” The story of the ship, its arrival in Tobermory, its loss and subsequent attempts to salvage her “treasure” have become almost legend, to the extent that it is sometimes difficult to ascertain what is fact and what is fiction. Even the actual name of the ship now lying deep in the mud in Tobermory Bay is subject to speculation and to this day has never been definitively established.
The story of the wreck begins with the English rout of the Spanish Armada in the English Channel in 1588. After the battle the fleet was scattered and many of them chose to sail for home round the north of Scotland, rather than risk returning through the Channel. The sailors and the defeated soldiers of King Philip’s army had to suffer a horrendous voyage through the stormy winter seas round Scotland and the west of Ireland before reaching their homeland. Around the rugged coastline along the route lie the wrecks of many of the ships which didn’t make it home at all.
One of the Spanish ships arrived at Tobermory in late September or early October 1588 to renew her sails which had been reduced to tatters as a result of the attentions of both the English warships and the wild Scottish weather. The local landowner, McLean of Duart, promised the Spaniards help in return for their assistance in his fight with his rival, McDonald of Islay. This resulted in a series of successful and bloody raids on McDonald’s properties on Canna, Rhum, Eigg, Muck and Ardnamuchan. Later McLean was declared a rebel for these attacks in which many McDonalds were massacred at the hands of the Spanish soldiers under his command.
In November 1588 the ship was still lying anchored in the Bay. The cause of the explosion that destroyed the ship and most of its crew is again subject to much speculation but there is no doubt that the gunpowder aboard ignited and the ship blew up, caught fire and sank in the middle of Tobermory Bay leaving only fifty to sixty Spaniards alive. Potential causes of the explosion range from simple accident to sabotage either by McLean himself or by English secret agents and even include a local legend that the gunpowder was ignited by sparks from the fur of a fairy cat sent to terrorise the Spaniards by a witch from Lochaber.
From the day the ship went down the legend of the Tobermory Treasure began. There have been dozens of attempts to salvage the wreck in the four hundred years since she sank but few have even found the remains and none have had much success in locating anything of value. Records of early explorations are scant but the first serious attempt seems to have been by Archibald Miller between 1680 and 1683. He reports seeing bells, anchors, plates and one “great gun” which he describes in some detail as well as a number of smaller guns many of which were brought to the surface despite the very crude equipment available to these early salvors. The next serious expedition was a two year effort by Captain Jacob Rowe between 1729 and 1731 but, although he cleared a lot of wreckage in the stern section area of the ship, he found nothing of value. The names of the people who have attempted to find the treasure over the years read like a ” Who’s who” of diving – James Gush from Greenock – he failed to find anything although his son did manage one gold coin on a later attempt – Commander Crabb in 1950 – Wharton Williams of HMS Edinburgh fame – all to no avail. In fact, the actual location of anything that has survived the years of salvage and lies buried deep in the mud of the Bay, is now completely lost.
As to the name of the ship there have been many suggestions – for many years Admiralta de Florencia was the most likely – but latest evidence is more or less conclusive and indicates that the ship was the Santa Maria de Gracia y San Juan Bautista – an 800 ton ship built in Ragusa ( Dubrovnic ) commanded by Don Diego Tellez Henriquez.
The position shown on the chart is approximate as exact location of wreckage has been lost over the years.