On a trip down the research rabbit hole an author never knows when or where actual history and their story just might intersect!

One of the joys–and trials–of writing historical fiction, even historical fantasy, is the historical part. Especially in historical fantasy, nailing the historical details makes the world so much richer that it is easier to suspend disbelief when the dragons saunter in and take over.

I’ve written about how the dragon myths of Britain helped inspire the Blue Order and the characters and situations of Elizabeth and Darcy, In the latest dragon book, I found myself needing a source for a hoard of gold–hey, I’m writing dragons, and some of them are bound to hoard gold, right? But, as we all know, the stuff doesn’t just grow on trees. Trying to avoid spoilers here so I’ll just say there’s several dragons interested in getting their paws on gold in an historically believable way. That could only mean one thing…

A Trip down the Research Rabbit Hole

So where does one find a rather large stash of gold? Lost treasure, buried pirate’s treasure, and shipwrecks all blipped the radar as possibly candidates, But really, where were the chances the buried pirate’s treasure would have been lost somewhere in the vicinity of my plot? It’s never that easy.

Until it is. Seriously.

Every once in a blue moon, things land jelly-side up and you actually find history agrees with your story and provides you exactly what you need. I’m still gobsmacked.

I was half right. Pirate treasure was a no go. Absolutely nothing on that front. So I started looking for shipwrecks that occurred well before 1800. Lo and behold! Guess what?

Merchant Royal, a 17th-century English merchant ship was lost at sea off Land’s End, in Cornwall County, on 23 September 1641. The ship carried at least 100,000 pounds of gold, 400 bars of Mexican silver, and nearly 500,000 pieces of eight and other coins. That ought to be enough to satisfy several dragons, right?

Honestly, I had to reread every article I read several times before I could really believe there was exactly the sort of shipwreck the story needed, where it needed to be, and when it needed to be. And the icing on the cake? As of today, the wreck has not officially been recovered! (Insert the cry of a soccer announcer screaming ‘GOALLLLL’ here.)

I’m just about to write the part of the story that includes the lost gold and I’m just chomping at the bit to get started. So I’ll leave you with just a couple more details about the shipwreck before I run off to sink my teeth into some dragon gold!

The Merchant Royal

The Merchant Royal engaged in trace with Spanish colonies in the West Indies from 1637 to 1640. The Merchant Royal and her sister-ship, the Dover Merchant, called into Cadiz on their way home to London in need of repairs as she was leaking badly after her long voyage.

A Spanish ship in port at Cadiz at the same time caught fire, leaving the gold that was destined to pay Spanish soldiers in Flanders stranded in port. The Merchant Royal’s Captain Limbrey seized the opportunity to make a little more cash for his owners, volunteering to carry the treasure to Antwerp on his way home. Unfortunately, the leaky ship’s pumps broke down in the midst of stormy weather and the ship went down ff Land’s End in rough weather on 23 September 1641.

Eighteen men drowned in the wreck, but Captain Limbrey and forty of his crew escaped in boats and were picked up by the sister ship, Dover Merchant.

So how do you think the treasure of the Merchant Royal is going to figure a Persuasion-inspired Dragon story? Tell me in the comments.

You can find previews of Jane Austen’s Dragons here:
Pemberley: Mr. Darcy’s Dragon
Longbourn: Dragon Entail
Netherfield: Rogue Dragon

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