Overview
On January 4, 1821, as the armies of Bernardo O'Higgins, Belfast-born, now of Chile, and Jose de San Martin of Argentina were in the middle of occupied Peru's fight for independence, a Spanish galleon filled with gold, silver, precious jewels and priceless artifacts left Lima's docks to begin the trip home to Seville. It was never heard from again. On May 1, 1915, only a few hours before the ocean liner Lusitania leaves on its ill-fated last run, a Canadian cop assigned counter-sabotage duty in New York Harbor makes record of a conversation regarding the sinking of one of the Lusitania's sister ships near a tiny uninhabited island off the coast of Brazil. The record, which also mentions a Spanish galleon shipwreck on the seafloor nearby, goes unnoticed for almost a century.
On August 3, 2008, Silencing Lusitania's heroine, a NYPD detective is asked by her parents to write a book based on her great-grandparents' memoirs. The historically relevant book the heroine was asked to write, which recounts events leading up to the Lusitania's last departure from New York and compares its sinking to a naval battle between a commandeered British ocean liner and Germany's Cap Trafalgar, mirrors the book the author's father asked him to write --- but is only part of the story.
When the link between the two ocean liners was investigated, the author confirmed the existence of the Spanish galleon shipwreck and decided all three belonged in his book. When the author shared his finds with an a-list of researchers --- including Kim Fisher, son of Mel Fisher, the only artifact rescuer to have ever recovered irreplaceable treasure from a galleon shipwreck, Eugene Lyon, Ph.D, the Spanish maritime trade system expert knighted by King Juan Carlos for his expertise and gifts of priceless artifacts, and Richard C. Phoenix, Ph.D, a former British Petroleum materials scientist with seafloor interrogation know-how --- the extensive historical research that gives Silencing Lusitania its authentic feel was the result.
Silencing Lusitania is a historical novel in which the search for truth in regard to the sinking of the Lusitania and the Cap Trafalgar, leads the heroine, Gretchen McGlone, and her champions to a tiny island off the coast of Brazil and the wreck of a Spanish galleon containing over a billion dollars worth of gold, silver, precious jewels, and a horde of irreplaceable artifacts.
After several attempts to kill Gretchen in order to silence her Lusitania and Cap Trafalgar inquiries, the heroine and her champions go down to the island to prepare for their artifact rescue, confront the would-be killers and eliminate their threats.
When they return home to New York City, they are confronted by Washington, DC lawyers and lobbyists determined to honor their clients' wishes and keep artifact rescue solely as a commercial venture --- and prevent the heroine and her champions from distributing a substantial portion of what is rescued to the world's poor.
The United Nations estimates there are over three million shipwrecks stranded on earth's seafloor awaiting rescue. Some are laden with a billion dollars worth of gold and silver ingot and specie and most contain irreplaceable artifacts and other priceless collectables. After the major portion of each rescue is delivered to the nations with claims and recovery expenses are offset, an equitable share of each rescue will be used to improve the health and living conditions of the world's poor.
