History Hunter: Carl Allen in The Bahamas

Carl Allen recovers priceless artifacts from the bottom of the ocean in The Bahamas.

This article was written by Bill Springer. Photography courtesy of Brendan Chavez and Nathaniel Harrington.

The 183-foot-long Damen Yacht Support vessel AXIS and his 164-foot-long Westport Gigi are just some of the “tools” American businessman and philanthropist Carl Allen uses to recover and preserve historic artifacts from the waters around the northern Bahamas. 

It’s no secret that Carl Allen and his wife, Gigi, own a fleet of yachts that include the AXIS, his hard-working Yacht Support ship; the Gigi, their comfortable Westport 164; the Frigate, his brand-new Viking 80 sportfish; and a host of other water- and aircraft. And the word has been out for a while that he and his family purchased the neglected, but once legendary, fishing destination Walker’s Cay in the northern Bahamas in 2018.

Meanwhile, any of the 40 or so teams that were lucky enough to compete in Allen’s second annual Walker’s Cay Blue Marlin Invitational earlier this year already know just how state-of-the-art the new marina that’s been open on the island since 2021 is. And now that the rebuilt marina can accommodate superyachts up to 200 feet long, it’s common knowledge that Allen keeps his fleet there, too.

What many people haven’t known until recently, however, is that in addition to all the work, investment, and philanthropy Allen and his family have dedicated to rebuilding Walker’s Cay, and helping surrounding islands in the Abacos, he’s also been searching for artifacts from the Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas, a legendary Spanish ship that sank in a storm in the area in 1656. 

IT’S LIKE SEARCHING FOR A NEEDLE… IN A DESERT… UNDERWATER.”

Carl Allen

In fact, he’s done more than just “search.” He and his AllenX team have found numerous artifacts from the Maravillas including gold and silver coins, jewelry, loose gemstones, weapons, pottery, etc., that will be displayed in the museum he’s recently opened in Freeport. 

“I’ve been in love with diving and looking for stuff underwater my whole life,” he says on the deck of the AXIS after diving on the site he and his team found. “Lots of ships sank in the area back then because the water gets shallow quickly, navigation was not very precise, and there was no such thing as weather forecasts, so powerful storms could drive ships onto the shoals. And some went down with their holds filled with gold, silver, and jewels that were being brought back to the King of Spain.”

As you might guess of a passionate underwater explorer, Allen is a wonderful combination of realist, romantic, and history bluff. He’s a realist when he talks about how hard, frustrating, and expensive it can be to recover artifacts (using AXIS and other boats) that have been strewn across countless miles of open ocean. “It’s like searching for a needle…in a desert… underwater,” he says. 

But he’s a romantic when he talks about the myth of the Maravillas that’s occupied his imagination since he was young. And he’s a total history bluff when he starts talking about what life onboard the ship must have been like in 1656. In fact, he can talk for hours— from memory—about all the historical documents that the archaeologists he works with have found (and translated from 17th-century Spanish) that paint a detailed picture of how the ship was built, who the crew and passengers were, as well as list the large number of priceless artifacts it was carrying when it sank. 

It’s clear that Allen’s fascination goes way deeper than just “looking for stuff underwater.” His recovery work is helping a team of archaeologists find and preserve historically significant artifacts that otherwise would eventually disappear forever. In fact, just acquiring the permit AllenX needed to work in Bahamian waters shows how committed he is. It was granted only after years of communication with the Bahamian government and other agencies and calls for a large percentage of whatever he finds to go back to the people of the Bahamas and the artifacts to be displayed in the museum he’s just opened in Freeport.

And since myth of the Maravillas also refers to a life-size, solid-gold statue of the Madonna—complete with a crown made of jewels that legend says was onboard when the ship sank—Allen and his team might end up recovering and preserving artifacts from one of the most historically significant shipwrecks in the world.

“It’s definitely been a childhood dream to be doing what I’m doing now,” he adds. “But Gigi and I started with our love of the Bahamas. We’ve helped out after the hurricanes hit and during the pandemic, too. Finding and preserving these artifacts is way bigger than just Gigi and me,” he says. “We’ve been building our operation for years. We’ve got the right people that are doing it the right way. And we’re doing some of the best archaeological data recording that’s ever been done.”

They started finding other artifacts almost immediately the first year. “The weather was good and we had lots of time on the site,” he says. “But it really wasn’t until the second year, when the weather was horrible, that I realized we were getting better. We found twice as many artifacts in half the time. That’s exciting.” 

And Allen’s team is finding truly priceless items that will be displayed in the museum. “Last year we found some amazing stuff including a brooch including a brooch that features a flawless 20-carat emerald embedded in gold and surrounded by twelve 2-carat emeralds around a Knights of Santiago cross,” he says.

“So what’s it feel like to be the diver who actually finds an artifact like that brooch on the wreck site?” I ask.

“You know, Bill,” he says. “I’ve been a diver my whole life. And I’ve found a half-dozen coins, a couple emeralds, pottery, and things like that. But I never find the big stuff. Or at least I haven’t yet. Gigi loves to dive and has found some things, too. The beauty is AllenX is always a team effort.

“But I can tell you what it was like when two members of the team found that emerald brooch and a massive, solid gold chain on the same day,” he says. 

“We only had two guys in the water that day. Andy who works on AXIS as one of the mates had just dropped down into the water when he saw something shimmer out of the corner of his eye. It was a little piece of gold sticking out of the sand that ended up being that amazing emerald brooch when he pulled it out. He told me both he and his dive buddy, Kenton, were in a state of shock when he found it.

“Shortly after they brought the brooch up to the surface, they went back down on the same spot. That’s when they saw a four-pound solid-gold chain that was just sparkling in the sun on the bottom. Can you imagine these two guys out there in the middle of the ocean finding those amazing artifacts so close together?” he says with a smile. “It really pumped everybody up in the whole organization.”

What do you think it would be like if Allen and AllenX actually find the mythical “Golden Madonna”? Stay tuned to find out!

All of the most stunning artifacts Allen and his team have found are now on display in the museum, including a gold pendant with the cross of Santiago, a second gold pendant that features a cross of St. James, and the massive gold chain. 

“I literally couldn’t breathe for 30 seconds when we brought up the oval emerald and gold chain,” says Allen. “I feel a greater connection with the everyday finds than coins and jewels, but these finds bridge both worlds. The pendant mesmerizes me when I hold it and think about its history.”

Since Allen’s team includes experienced marine archaeologists like James Sinclair, they’re learning more about the history every day. And since his team has also plotted over 8,800 magnetometer targets across three search areas measuring around 55 square miles each, they’ve only scratched the surface of what artifacts they still may find position of every artifact is tagged and mapped when it’s brought up, so they’re recovering and preserving priceless history as well.

And unlike former recovery projects that were purely commercial, Allen Exploration has a strict permit from the government of The Bahamas and is committed to keeping its entire collection together for public display. Nothing is being sold. In fact, quite the opposite. Allen has also purchased a collection owned by a former investor and a rare bronze Spanish navigational astrolabe found off Lucaya Beach that will be on display as well.

“For a nation built from the ocean, it’s astonishing how little is understood about The Bahamas’ maritime links,” says Dr. Michael Pateman, director of The Bahamas Maritime Museum. “Few know that the indigenous Lucayan peoples, for instance, settled in The Bahamas 1,300 years ago. Or that the whole population, up to 60,000 people, was forced out by Spanish guns, made to dive for pearls off Venezuela, and killed off in less than three decades. There was a dazzling Old World in The Bahamas long before European ships thought they found a New World. The Lucayans, slave trade, pirates, and the Maravillas are core stories we’re sharing in the museum.”

Be sure to check out bahamasmaritimemuseum. com, walkerscay.com, and allenexploration.com for more information. 

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