It’s a pleasant September morning in the year 1622 and a majestic Spanish galleon sits in the port of Havana, along with 27 other ships of the combined fleet, their crews awaiting orders.
The Nuestra Señora de Atocha sits low in the water, weighed down by 964 silver bars, 161 gold bars or disks, 255,000 silver coins, and uncounted chests filled with undeclared (and untaxed) emeralds. Smugglers be warned: punishment is 200 lashes and ten years spent in chains, rowing a galleon.
