Outer Banks Shipwreck Author Will Be Autographing His Award Winning Books at the 3rd Annual Outer Banks Seafood Festival

    KITTY HAWK, NC, October 15, 2014 /24-7PressRelease/ -- In 1983, Amrhein located one of the ships of the fleet, a 56 six gun Spanish warship called La Galga, buried beneath Assateague Island, Virginia. In 2001, he began a ten year research project in the archives of Europe, the Caribbean, and the U.S. that resulted in publication of The Hidden Galleon in 2007 and Treasure Island: The Untold Story in 2011. Both books have won awards in history.

The Outer Banks is proud to claim its unique role in the true story of buried treasure which inspired Robert Louis Stevenson when he wrote Treasure Island.

The hurricane which drove La Galga ashore on Assateague also disabled the treasure galleon, Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe, at Ocracoke Inlet on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The Guadalupe was unable to sail on to Spain so her captain, a bungling Spaniard named Juan Manuel Bonilla, hired two sloops to carry the treasure to Norfolk, Virginia, for shipment to Spain. While Bonilla was meeting with the governor in Newbern, the two sloops under the command of Owen Lloyd and his peg-legged brother, John, sailed away with over a hundred chests of silver pieces of eight. Unfortunately, John Lloyd ran aground and was captured. Owen and his crew made it to the Virgin Islands and buried most of the loot on Norman Island in the British Virgin Islands. Owen was later captured and the locals of Tortola discovered the buried treasure. What is left today is not gold and silver but an incredible story that resulted in most famous treasure map in the world. Stevenson's book contains a map that gives directions to recover a treasure buried in 1750 by Captain James Flint. In real life, it was Captain Owen Lloyd from Flintshire, Wales who gets the credit. "This is hardly a coincidence" says the Outer Banks author, "there was very little piracy in 1750. But then this true story has many other 'coincidences' with Robert Louis Stevenson who was an unknown before he wrote Treasure Island."

This Saturday, October 18, is the Outer Banks Seafood Festival. Come meet the author at booth #38 and hear for yourself his amazing adventures on the high seas and the archives of the world.

New Maritima Press is publisher of maritime history located in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina email: [email protected].

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