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by John L. Amrhein (Author)
On the Island of Assateague on Virginia's Eastern Shore, there lives a unique breed of wild horses that are genetically tied to a Spanish breed. In 1947, Marguerite Henry, a popular children's author, wrote , a story about the wild ponies of Assateague Island and the people of neighboring Chincoteague Island. Chincoteague has celebrated the horses' roundup with a festival and auction for centuries. Millions have read the book, which was adapted into a 1962 movie. The lure for Mrs. Henry to write the story was the legend that says the forbears of these horses swam ashore from a wrecked Spanish galleon centuries ago.
In September of 1750, the Spanish warship La Galga ran ashore on Assateague Island, Virginia. The Captain, Don Daniel Huony, wrote a letter to the Governor of Maryland describing the galleon's location as "two ship lengths" north of the Maryland-Virginia border. Like so many others, the author believed it would be a piece of cake to find the wreck. But when he didn't, he was seduced by a con man who was looking for the galleon as well. The con man had other treasure ships in mind as well, but he baited potential investors with stories he had made up.Soon enough, the author exposed the con man and resumed his search for La Galga. Failing to located this easily discoverable shipwreck, the author located a survey in the county courthouse that had been prepared for the federal government for its planned takeover of Assateague Island in 1943. This survey proved that was actually buried in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge. The author then informed federal agencies where the wreck would be found. They did nothing about it.In 1998, Sea Hunt, Inc. claimed it had found the wreck. But it was a mile north of the historic boundary line documented in the federal 1943 survey. The wreck they found was an American merchant wrecked in 1852.Sea Hunt filed its reckless claim in federal court and the federal government notified Spain and lured them into the litigation promising Spain free representation by the Department of Justice.The litigation ended with an award of the wreck to Spain without giving the court any evidence of its alleged discovery.
Number of Pages: 610
Dimensions: 1.35 x 9 x 6 IN
Publication Date: July 20, 2026
