Río de la Plata

Since he was a child, Rubén Collado relished the stories and legends of pirates and maritime warfare. In the 1980s he fully dedicated himself to his passion of shipwreck rescue and became a real-life treasure hunter. One vessel in particular became his great white whale—the Lord Clive.

That ship and two others were sent by the British to capture the Río de la Plata in 1763. Despite its heavy arsenal, the six-deck flagship Lord Clive was brought to an explosive halt when it strayed toward Colonia del Sacramento. It was bombarded by more than one hundred land cannons. A fire broke out on board and the substantial vessel sank, taking hundreds of crew members with it.

Collado learned about the botched voyage and became obsessed. His dream was to leave Colonia a Lord Clive Museum, and he spent the final years of his life leading the campaign to bring the sunken ship ashore. His research revealed that the ship had been carrying treasure from England and a tax from Buenos Aires. A pioneer in the field (having already created a Museum of Shipwrecks and Treasures), Collado drummed up investment to find the Lord Clive. As he wryly noted, even before the contents were known, “tales of treasure chests and vast stocks of rum prompt a frenzy of interest.”

He and his trusted crew spent months in search of the fifty-meter hull. With sonar as backup, professional divers worked by touch, as these murky waters afford no visibility. In May 2004, the men rose to the top with smiles in their eyes. Experts confirmed that they had found the Lord Clive, and Rubén began assessing if it could be brought to the surface. He was not seeking treasure this time; he wanted to remove the hull and its contents to create his museum.

Rubén passed away before receiving necessary authorization to haul it up, but his daughter and colleagues are keeping his efforts alive. They have inherited his hope—that one day visitors to Colonia del Sacramento will get to learn how much of the town’s thrilling history lurks just beneath the surface, if you’re willing to dive into it.

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