History Hunting
Carl Allen and his wife Gigi own a fleet of yachts that includes AXIS, his hard-working Yacht Support 5009, GIGI, their comfortable Westport 164, FRIGATE, his brand-new Viking 80 sportfish, and a host of other water and aircraft that he keeps in his new, state-of-the-art marina on Walker’s Cay in the northern Bahamas.
BY BILL SPRINGER
The impressive work of Carl Allen and his family is a well-documented story. However, what many people don’t know is, that in addition to all the work, investment and philanthropy the Allen family have dedicated to rebuilding Walker’s Cay, and helping surrounding islands in the Abacos, he’s been searching for the Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas – a legendary Spanish ship that sank in a storm in the area in 1656.
In fact, he’s done more than just search. He and his AllenX team have found numerous artifacts from the Maravillas including gold and silver coins, jewellery, loose gemstones, weapons, pottery etc., that will be displayed in a museum he’s just opened in Freeport.
“I’ve been in love with diving and looking for stuff underwater my whole life,” he says on the deck of the AXIS after diving on the site he and his team found. “The area is loaded with wrecks because the Spanish fleets had to clear the Bahamas on their way back to Spain from South America. Lots of ships sank in the area back then because the water gets shallow quickly, navigation was not very precise, and there was no such thing as weather forecasts so powerful storms could drive ships on to the shoals. And some went down with their holds filled with gold, silver and jewels that were being brought back to the King of Spain.”
Most of the artifacts that are recovered will be preserved and displayed in the Allen X museum in Freeport.
He’s a romantic when he talks about the myth of the Maravillas that’s occupied his imagination since he was young. And he’s a total history buff when he starts talking about what life on board the ship must have been like in 1656. In fact, he can talk for hours—from memory—about all the historical documents that the archeologists he works with have found (and translated from 17th century Spanish) that paint a detailed picture of how the ship was built, who the crew and passengers were, as well as list the large number of priceless artifacts it was carrying when it sank.
"Finding and preserving these artifacts is way bigger than just Gigi and me."
“It's definitely been a childhood dream to be doing what I'm doing now,” he adds. “But Gigi and I started with our love of the Bahamas. We’ve helped out after the hurricanes hit and during the pandemic too. Finding and preserving these artifacts is way bigger than just Gigi and me. We’ve been building our operation for years. We’ve got the right people that are doing it the right way. And we're doing some of the best archeological data recording that's ever been done.”
Allen (pictured below in the yellow gloves) is an avid diver. But it was one of his team that found this 17th century emerald brooch.
They started finding coins and other artifacts almost immediately the first year. “The weather was good and we had lots of time on the site,” he says. “But it really wasn't until the second year, when the weather was horrible, that I realised we were getting better. We found twice as many artifacts in half the time. That's exciting.”
And Allen’s team is finding truly priceless items that will be displayed in the museum. “Last year we found some amazing stuff including a flawless 20-karat emerald brooch embedded in gold and surrounded by 12, two-karat emeralds on each side of a knights of Santiago cross,” I asked him, “What does it feel like to be the diver who actually finds a historically significant artifact like that brooch on the wreck site?”
“I've been a diver my whole life. And I’ve found a half a dozen coins, a couple of emeralds, pottery, and things like that. But, I never find the big stuff. Or at least I haven’t yet. Gigi loves to dive and has found some things too." The beauty is AllenX is always a team effort.
“But, I can tell you what it was like when two members of the team found that emerald brooch and a massive, solid gold chain on the same day,” he says. “We only had two guys in the water that day. Andy who works on AXIS as one of the mates had just dropped down into the water when he saw something shimmer out of the corner of his eye. It was a little piece of gold sticking out of the sand that ended up being that amazing emerald broach when he pulled it out. He told me both he and his dive buddy Kenton were in a state shock when he found it.”
“Shortly after they brought the brooch up to the surface, they went back down on the same spot. That’s when they saw that four-pound gold chain that was just sparkling in the sun on the bottom. Can you imagine these two guys out there in the middle of the ocean finding those amazing artifacts so close together?” he says with a smile. “It really pumped everybody up in the whole organisation.”
Gigi Allen prepares to dive with the Yacht Support 5009 AXIS in the background.
What do you think it would be like if Allen and AllenX actually find the mythical “Golden Madonna?” Stay tuned to find out…
Check out www.walkerscay.com and allenexploration.com for more information.
