When news of the discovery of the Orgullo de Fernando reached Spain, and from there Europe, there was much talk and excitement. To celebrate the finding, there was to be an archaeological "ball" to both deal with the expensive food, celebrate one of the biggest finds in shipwreck archaeology, and salvage and catalogue the treasures of the Fernando. There were still plans to give Skull Island to the aquatic Dinotopians, but with the Fernando's discovery, there were plans to convert the old prison building into a museum to showcase the treasures.
While it was a big event, partly because Countess Irena would be hosting the event in the underground mansion in one of her family dresses, there were some who weren't able to make it. Nessa was one because she was already in Scotland for her own vacation.
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While engineers were looking at how to adapt the mansion for the aquatic Dinotopians, there were other people present at the event, especially Spanish appraisers and news people, although the PR-MD made sure that things were done tactfully and with respect. While many of them were enjoying the reception, there were a few shipwreck archeologists doing the salvage work as well as determining what brought the Fernando down.
Darla and Maya guided two shipwreck archaeologists to where they found the Fernando, and after the archaeologists fully suited up (including full face masks with microphones) they all dove down to the Fernando. According to the Spanish Colonial Naval records at the time, the Fernando had resupplied at Skull Island and shortly before sailing off, the island was hit by an enormous storm. In fact, the Fernando was registered as one of the ships that supposedly disappeared in what is now known as the Bermuda Triangle. But with Darla and Maya's help, they were finally going to get to the bottom of the mystery.
"This is one of the things we found when we were going over it." said Darla, leading the archaeologists to the stern.
"There appears to be no evidence of a rudder." said one of the archaeologists.
"That's what would have brought a ship down in a storm?" asked Maya.
"If it lost its rudder and tiller, it would have a very difficult time staying into the waves." said the other archaeologist, "Then the water would have filled up on the deck."
"Wouldn't the ship have been able to handle such waves?" asked Darla, a little confused.
"It should have," replied the first archaeologist, "unless the ship had a critical design flaw. If it was made without sufficient scuppers, the excess water wouldn't run out, and the ship would go down."
At that, Darla, Maya, and the two archaeologists swam toward the visible side of the ship. After some searching they managed to find what they were looking for.
"So there are four scuppers on the front half of the ship," said the first archaeologist, "But that's not enough to keep the Fernando afloat in a storm while carrying both large amounts of treasure to Spain and weapons to fend off pirates. So the sinking of the Fernando can officially be labeled an accident, caused by a simple, yet critical design flaw."
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After releasing a buoy marking where the Fernando was, the salvage work began. While the heavier stuff, like the cannons and cannonballs were loaded onto modern salvage ships for transport to the reception, the more easily transported chests were brought directly to the reception via the underwater tunnel (one of the archaeologists thought ahead to place submersible lights near the other end of the tunnel. While each chest contained mostly gold and rough cut gemstones, there were a few things that were confusing.
"Why would Spanish keep some of these treasures intact instead of melting them down before transport?" asked Molly as an Aztec idol was lifted out of one of the chests to a round of applause from everyone.
"Probably as curiosities." answered Irena, "One of the hallmarks of being an aristocrat at the time is being wealthy enough to buy weird stuff for your friends to gawk at parties."
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After the Fernando was emptied enough to return to the surface, another new plan was put into action.
"We're going to return the ship to Spain for restoration because it's an important part of their history." said Irena, after getting off the phone with the Spanish Government, "But before they put it on display, they're going to soak it in a preservative bath to prevent it from decaying out of the water. But they are going to build a replica to have as a kind of tourist attraction/play place for children for Skull Island."
"Having children learn by playing, as is the case in many Animalian Colonies." said Molly, approvingly.
"Also, apparently there's a plan to cover the Fernando's Replica in glow-in-the-dark paint for Halloween." continued Irena.
"Maybe we can also do famous aquatic fossils as part of the décor." said Molly, "One good one would be the fish-in-a-fish fossil."
"We'll have to talk to Clara and the council to finalize the theme." said Irena.