Sunken Gold Off Virginia

Ever since the first gold placers were opened there in 1570, Brazil has been recognized as a remarkably rich gold-bearing region. The mines were aggressively worked from the beginning, sending dozens of gold-laden Portuguese galleon fleets across the Atlantic to Lisbon throughout the 1600's and beyond.
F
rom these mines have poured hundreds of millions of dollars in
gold and silver, much of it winding up on the bottom of the sea, ripe for salvaging. One such treasure, over $1 million in Brazilian gold, may still lie off the coast of Virginia in the Atlantic Ocean beneath 23 fathoms of water.

In 1908, overseas attention once again focused on the gold fields of Brazil. A number of European businessmen joined together to form the Middle Atlantic Mining Consortium to finance the exploration of a series of adjacent mine properties somewhere in the Mina Gerais region in southeastern Brazil.

The new con-sortium introduced capital, geologists and administrative manpower to begin operation of the mines. Their investment began to pay off when high-grade, wire-like gold was found in three of the holdings.

For reasons not entirely clear, bickering broke out among the members of the consortium shortly after the gold was found. All were anxious to physically remove the gold from South America, but few agreed on where it should be shipped and stored, even temporarily. The French, who supplied much of the technical expertise, wanted the gold stored in France. The English, who had supplied much of the investment capital, wanted the gold stored in England. The Swiss, who eventually were to have permanent storage of the gold anyway, sided with the French since the precious commodity could then easily be transported by railway to their vaults in Geneva.

The representatives from Belgium finally broke the deadlock by suggesting that the gold be held and prevented from entering the economy in a non-member country until the matter was resolved. This dubious honor was granted to the United States.

In August of 1908, over $1 million of nearly-pure gold was loaded aboard the deep-draft, four-masted schooner "Edewijk." Original-ly designed as an ore carrier, the wide ship was independently owned and registered in the Netherlands. The consortium had chosen wisely. Owned and operated by the Dutch, this was a neutral ship now sailing with the gold to a neutral country.

Heavily loaded, the ship left Rio de Janiero and wallowed, rather than sailed, north along the coast, rounding Brazil's vast land spur. From there, the Edewijk struck northwest into the Guiana Basin, then still further north around the West Indies. The ship reached the Florida coast without incident. But, far to the north, storms were brewing or already in progress and the Dutch captain wasn't aware of this at the time.

Not familiar with the American coastline's geography, the Dutch-man stood well to sea while still maintaining the land mass in sight. Rounding Cape Hatteras off North Carolina, the Edewijk encountered the first rain squalls of the storm front. Visibility was drastically reduced, so the captain pulled much closer to the shoreline.

The storm grew in severity, but the captain was reluctant to seek shelter among the jumble of coastal inlets, islets and shoals for fear of running aground.

Oddly enough, the Edwijk was fitted with radio gear and, after passing False Cape, the captain radioed his presence and direction to receivers in Norfolk, Virginia. The captain reported a considerable amount of swamping and said he was having difficulty making headway. Only 15 minutes later, the captain announced his ship was sinking and requested urgent assistance.

The storm had progressed to near-gale proportions and no assistance would be forthcoming until the afternoon of the following day. Then no survivors or trace of the Edewijk would be found.

The consortium neglected any salvage attempt, content with the rich gold still being mined in Brazil, and the precious South American fortune must still lie submerged somewhere between False Cape and Cape Henry, Virginia.