El Cazador

The final voyage

By the early 1780s, Spanish Louisiana's economy was crippled by unbacked paper money and counterfeiting. King Carlos III ordered the brig El Cazador, under Captain Gabriel de Campos y Pineda, to carry hard silver currency from the royal mint at Mexico City (shipped via Veracruz) to New Orleans to replace it. She was loaded with roughly 450,000 silver reales — about 400,000 pesos in eight-reale coin and 50,000 pesos in smaller denominations.

El Cazador sailed from Veracruz on 11 January 1784 and was never seen again. Spanish authorities searched for her without success and officially listed her as lost at sea by June 1784. Popular accounts tie the resulting currency shortage to Spain's later 1800 cession of Louisiana to France and, indirectly, to the 1803 Louisiana Purchase — a connection frequently repeated but not established as a direct causal chain in the documentary record.

What was aboard

The Crown's shipping order specifying roughly 450,000 reales is documented in Spanish colonial records; no itemized cargo manifest beyond the coin shipment has been published, and the exact number of coins recovered in 1993 was not formally audited to a single published total.

Milled 8 reales: The bulk of the shipment — newly struck 'pieces of eight' intended to replace worthless paper currency in circulation.

Smaller-denomination reales: Approximately 50,000 pesos' worth of smaller silver coin accompanied the main shipment.

Ship's fittings: Corroded fittings and structural remains recovered alongside the coin finds confirmed the wreck's identity.

How to collect

Know the coin, not just the wreck name: El Cazador material is almost entirely milled 8 reales and smaller Spanish colonial silver — verify denomination and mint against the documented cargo.

Certification is standard here: Most genuine El Cazador coins carry NGC shipwreck-effect certification; uncertified 'El Cazador' coins deserve added scrutiny.

Condition varies by conglomerate: Coins recovered fused in silver-sulfide masses range from lightly toned to heavily corroded — do not assume uniform quality.

Treat exact cargo totals skeptically: The 450,000-coin shipment figure is documented; the precise number ultimately recovered was never formally audited, so avoid overly specific recovery claims.