When it involves historic accuracy, historic exhibits and dramas are likely to focus extra on the drama than on actual historical past — which is smart, contemplating most historic exhibits are works of fiction. There will not be many exhibits that stability out historical past with storytelling. Black Sails, the 2014 Starz historic action-adventure collection, juggles drama, motion, and fiction with the actual historical past of the period. While Black Sails does function one thing of a prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson‘s 1883 novel Treasure Island, it additionally depicts treasure-hunting pirates from historical past. There are even some occasions in the 18th century that the present covers — like the sinking of the Urca de Lima, though Black Sails places a somewhat adventurous twist on what occurred to her.

What Happens to the Urca de Lima in ‘Black Sails’?

Black Sails‘ model of the Urca de Lima is very totally different from the real-life ship. In the present, she was constructed someday earlier than 1715 to move the King of Spain’s treasure from the Spanish Main to Spain. She was the flagship of the fleet and carried the most gold out of the total armada. Despite being a closely armed treasure galleon, the Urca de Lima additionally had two smaller ships to guard her from any attackers, on condition that her shops contained about 5 million Spanish {dollars} price of gold! The first season of Black Sails, in consequence, revolves round Captain James Flint’s (Toby Stephens) hunt for the Urca de Lima and the gold she carries.

It’s not till Black Sails‘ second season that followers see the treasure of the Urca de Lima stranded on Florida shores, with the surviving Spanish sailors and troopers establishing a camp there to look at over the gold. After that, Flint has a plan to get better the treasure in trade for a pardon for his crimes. Alas, he’s unsuccessful, as the gold from the Urca de Lima is stolen by the pirate Jack Rackham (Toby Schmitz) and his crew, all of whom return to the Bahamas with the treasure after a bloody struggle with the Spanish troopers.

What Was the Real Treasure of the Urca de Lima?

The actual Urca de Lima was a wooden-hulled crusing ship that was half of the 1715 Treasure Fleet, one of many Spanish fleets that sailed between Spain and its colonies to the Americas. The Urca de Lima additionally didn’t carry gold and silver like her Black Sails counterpart. Since this ship was half of a fleet bearing items, issues like vanilla, chocolate, and incense had been being transported. While there have been no big quantities of treasure, the actual Urca de Lima did carry chests of personal silver together with the items. Unfortunately, the fleet ran right into a hurricane after departing from Havana. The storm steered them in direction of the Florida coast, finally sinking or grounding all the ships besides one: the Urca de Lima. She was the solely ship of the fleet that grew to become grounded on the sandbank of Fort Pierce largely intact, her treasure fully secure.

At some level, the Spanish salvaged no matter items and silver remained on the ship earlier than burning her hull to the waterline, aspiring to masks her location from English pirates and privateers. The Urca de Lima’s location did not keep hidden for lengthy. In December 1715, pirates Henry Jennings and Charles Vane captured the Spanish salvage camp, stealing the treasure, and the relaxation is historical past — till 1928, when the Urca de Lima was rediscovered by William J. Beach. For the subsequent fifty years, the wreckage of the ship was closely salvaged. In the Eighties, the state of Florida ceased issuing salvage permits and opened her to the public. Since then, the Urca de Lima has been positioned inside the state’s Underwater Archaeological Preserve, which is open to the public year-round.

The actual Urca de Lima might not be as spectacular as Black Sails makes her out to be, however she was an necessary half of world historical past, the solely surviving shipwreck from the 1715 fleet, and continues to be being saved in good situation as properly in her surroundings deep below the sea. That nonetheless appears fairly extraordinary — even when she did not carry the similar precise treasure that Captain Flint needed from her fictional counterpart.

You can presently stream Black Sails on Netflix in the U.S.

Watch Black Sails on Netflix