Archaeologists discover historic shipwreck on Oregon coast

MANZANITA Ore. (KPTV) – For years there’s been discuss treasure buried alongside the Oregon Coast. Many will keep in mind the Steven Spielberg film The Goonies, seemingly impressed by tales handed down by means of generations about shipwrecks alongside the coast and treasure to be discovered.

Now archaeologists are persevering with to piece collectively data following a discovery made final week after being tipped off to attainable wreckage in a cave. Making the most of low tide, they went out final week to look.

Scott Williams is an archaeologist who for 16 years has been trying to find Spanish Galleon that went lacking in 1693. The ship was carrying silk and beeswax from The Philippines to Mexico when it disappeared. Then two years in the past, a resident advised Williams he had discovered what seemed like wooden from an historic ship.

“When the beachcomer advised me he discovered shipwreck items I advised him I doubt it, you realize you simply don’t get shipwreck wooden preserving for 300 years,” Williams mentioned.

There have been a number of hurdles to recover from however lastly final week, crews took benefit of a low tide to recuperate the wreckage, lodged in a cave close to the Manzanita Coast.

“After we received on the market, we had been like, ‘Oh my gosh this actually is.’”

Crews discovered 13 items of timber which they consider to be from the Santo Cristo De Burgos. The timber was tough to entry, and one piece weighed a whole bunch of kilos. The native sheriff’s division helped with the restoration. It was a race in opposition to a rising tide.

“The previous couple of timbers, I ended up staying behind to get these bundled up so I needed to swim out to the jet ski as a result of I received trapped the place I couldn’t get out some other means,” mentioned Coastal Area District Archaeologist Stacy Owen.

Primarily based on the kind of wooden and the dimensions of the items, Williams says he’s 90% certain that is the wreckage of the Galleon. Archaeologists say the wooden is a tropical hardwood not native to Oregon and radiocarbon courting will decide when the wooden was harvested.

“The Spanish looked for it for years and couldn’t discover it and we now know the explanation they couldn’t discover it’s it wrecked up right here,” Williams mentioned. “They had been looking the western pacific and down round Mexico.”

The items recovered final week are simply a part of the ship. Archaeologists are nonetheless hoping to search out extra within the waters and ask in the event you’re out and discover one thing, please don’t attempt to transfer it your self.

Copyright 2022 KPTV-KPDX. All rights reserved.