And one last thing to remember about the Concepcio

And one last thing to remember about the Concepcion that I swiped from treasurenet but have heard this comment about the 1715 fleet before:

"Remember that while some of the [1715 Fleet] ships did not have registered treasure, all of the ships had lots of unregistered treasure (contraband). The "annual" fleet had not sailed for 3 years. Spain was in dire financial straits. There were mountains of chests and cases piled up in Havana, for royalty, noblemen, the Catholic church, merchants, private individuals. Above and below decks, the ships were packed full. Items were hidden down in the ballast."