Priceless Artifacts Recovered from 350-Year-Old Spanish Shipwreck – RisePEI

A brand new expedition has recovered a trove of priceless artifacts from a shipwreck over 350 years outdated within the Bahamas. The artifacts, which embody jewel-encrusted pendants and gold chains, might be on show on the new Bahamas Maritime Museum starting subsequent week.

The Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas (Our Woman of Wonders) sank with a cargo of gold, silver, and gems on the western aspect of the Little Bahama Financial institution in 1656. The Spanish galleon was a part of a fleet crusing to Spain from Havana with royal and privately-consigned treasures from the Americas. Failing to navigate shallow waters, nevertheless, it collided with the flagship of the fleet and hit a reef. Of the 650 folks on board, solely 45 survived.

Regardless of years of repeated ransacking, a group led by Allen Exploration and licensed by the island’s authorities launched a brand new expedition to analysis the ship and seek for misplaced treasure.

The Bahamian and US marine archaeologists and divers discovered scattered throughout the ocean ground an almost two-pound, six-foot-long gold filigree chain that includes rosette motifs, which might have been made for both rich aristocrats or royalty; a gold pendant depicting the Cross of Santiago framed by 12 inexperienced oval emeralds; and a scallop-shaped Indian bezoar stone, which was valued in Europe for its therapeutic properties and was a logo for vacationers on the non secular Santiago de Compostela pilgrimage. The stone is among the many finds linked to the military-religious knights Order of Santiago who protected pilgrims on their journeys and took part in Spain’s maritime commerce.

“Once we introduced up the oval emerald and gold pendant, my breath caught in my throat,” Carl Allen, founding father of Allen Exploration, advised the Guardian. “I really feel a higher reference to on a regular basis finds than cash and jewels, however these Santiago finds bridge each worlds.”

Including, “The wreck of the galleon had a troublesome historical past – closely salvaged by Spanish, English, French, Dutch, Bahamian and American expeditions within the seventeenth and 18th centuries, and blitzed by salvors from the Nineteen Seventies to early Nineteen Nineties. Some say the stays have been floor to mud. Utilizing trendy expertise and arduous science, we’re now monitoring an extended and winding particles path of finds.”

Carl Allen based Allen Exploration after retiring from a plastics enterprise and turning into a philanthropist. Not like earlier expedition groups, Allen’s group is working with consultants to trace and publish knowledge on the shipwreck. The group is utilizing cutting-edge expertise to grasp how the ship wrecked in addition to the wreckage sample. Moreover, they’re accumulating knowledge on the well being of the close by coral reefs, seafloor geology, and plastic air pollution.

Whereas the discoveries stay the property of the Bahamian authorities, Allen Exploration is sponsoring the Bahamas Maritime Museum, which opens on August 8 in Freeport, the place the objects might be on view.