Treasure Hunters Search For Spanish Gold

     For twenty two years, Sigurdson hunted Spanish doubloons and pieces of eight in the Gulf of Mexico. Much of his research on these wrecks of the famed Treasure Fleets took him to prestigious archives and libraries in Spain where the histories of these ill-fated vessels were kept for posterity. Yet, throughout his career, he encountered references to a mysterious northern outpost called "Malisal"---a remote village deep in the North American interior where wayward ships could avoid marauding English Sea Dogs until the coast was clear to voyage home.

     Now, he thinks he has found it.

     "In researching many of the treasure ships I've found mention of brief stays at this 'Malisal'. Most of the expert opinion had determined that it was somewhere on a river inland from the Gulf Coast. Some folks put it in Texas, others in Florida or up the Mississippi in Louisiana. I've always thought it was the Mississippi and I've walked up and down near every inch of this river and I found a couple of places that might have been Malisal. But finding that cross here last month clinched it. It's here in Iowa."

     How this far-flung outpost became established is a story of bad luck and pure chance. Sigurdson describes the voyage of the 150 ton caravel San Bernardo in September, 1567.

     "The ship got separated from the Treasure Fleet on the night of September 12 during a storm. Two days later, they sighted an English privateer. It chased them for two more days until they ducked into the Mississippi Delta. Another storm hit, this time a hurricane and the storm surge drove them northwards for three days. When the storm ended they discovered themselves lost far up river. The winds being brisk from the southwest and the captain keen to explore, the ship continued northwards. After 24 days, they found themselves sailing east between high bluffs. They came to a large native village where a dry streambed met the river. The water there was still, bad smelling and brackish. The Captain called the village 'Malisal'---or 'Bad Salt'. The streambed has silted up since then but you can still make out the original course in the swail of the soil deposited here."

     Sigurdson believes the Spanish used this secret outpost for 60 years or more. A residency long enough, he says, to establish a gold smelter and a mint.