By James Langton
THE sunken treasures of a nineteenth-century shipwreck located on the seabed off the coast of Benalmádena have been brought to land in an operation led by Guardia Civil officers, in order to avoid them being targeted by thieves.
The English ship, La Isabella, had set off on a trans-Atlantic journey from Genoa carrying Italian marble statues to Calcutta that would have been used to decorate an Indian mansion, when it sunk near Benalmádena on March 4, 1855 following a storm.
The wreck is located in waters that are around eight metres deep that are accessible to any diver. Since 2009, it has been legally protected by the Junta de Andalucía as a site of cultural interest. However a Guardia Civil statement said that changes to the currents in recent weeks had altered the sea-bed, making the treasures clearly visible.
