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In 1644 the largest galleon built up until this time was launched from a shipyard in Guayaquil and little did anyone realize at that time that she would end her career ten years later wrecked on a reef with one of the biggest treasures ever lost in South America. She was the 1,150 ton galleon Jesus Maria de la Pura y Limpia Concepcion de Nuestra Senora.  At the time of her loss she was called the CAPITANA as she was the flagship of the Armada of the South Seas.

On 12 October 1654 four galleons comprising the Armada of the South Seas set sail from Callao for Panama with several years' accumulation of treasure from the mines of South America. Captain General Don Francisco de Sosa commanded the CAPITANA, carrying more treasure than the other three galleons combined. During a moonless rainy night on the 27^th of October, the CAPITANA wrecked on Chanduy Reef, near the mouth of Ecuador's Guayaquil River. After leaving Callao she passed Cabo Blanco, Peru and set a direct course for Isla de Plata, the normal route taken by these armadas. Due to faulty navigation or currents, she struck bottom and went to pieces. Within days of the disaster divers were busy salvaging what they could before shifting sands covered the site.  By January 1655 it is estimated they had recovered around 2,600,000 pesos in treasure and other cargo.

Confusion and controversy dominated the loss of this vessel from the beginning until the end. Two days before she sailed from Callao the Viceroy of Peru wrote to the King of Spain claiming the CAPITANA had 3,122,000 pesos (a PESO was the equivalent of an ounce of silver) and on this same day the head of Customs in Callao also writing to the King stated that she carried 3,985,000 pesos. Keep in mind that this was registered treasure.  It was later determined during a long drawn out investigation conducted in Lima that she carried at least 10,000,000 pesos in registered and contraband treasure. Of the first 386 silver bars (each weighing 80-pounds) recovered during the first week after the disaster, only 68 were on the ship’s cargo manifest, which means the rest were contraband. No one can ever say just how much treasure was on this ship. Considering that the ATOCHA of Mel Fisher fame lost in 1622 in the Florida Keys only carried 750,000 pesos, one can easily see how rich this ship was.

The divers had great success in recovering 40 of the 44 bronze cannon on the CAPITANA. (She normally carried 66 to 70 bronze cannon but on this voyage she was so heavily burdened with treasure she carried fewer guns.) The wreck site was in four and a half fathoms at low tide and six at high tide and the underwater visibility was excellent which made the diving easy compared with other wrecks. However the shifting sands covered over the site before the salvage could be completed. Notwithstanding this a letter written in 1661 from the President of the Audencia of Quito states that he believes that between six and seven million pesos still lies inside the CAPITANA.

An expedition sent to the site the following year failed to find any part of the wreck.  The same fate occurred again in 1696 and 1714 when salvors met the same fate. The general location was never lost as over the years storms threw coins and other objects from the CAPITANA onto nearby beaches and the locals knew they were coming from a nearby wreck.

In 1995 two rival salvage companies worked on a part of the CAPITANA after it was uncovered by a storm and located by local spear fishermen.  Accounts vary but it is believed they recovered several thousand silver coins and an unknown number of large silver bars and gold ingots before the Ecuadorian Government shut down the operations due to accusations that the company was stealing treasure.

While estimates vary as to the amount of treasure remaining, most reasonable estimates fall in the range of 10% to 20%.