SPANISH SHIPWRECK
UNEARTHED BY NAVY
Copyright 2006 www.tombraiderchronicles.com
[ March 27th 2006 ]
A Spanish
ship-wreck dated around mid-1500 has been discovered
hidden under sand by Navy construction crews during
a routine exercise on Pensacola's Naval Air Station,
Associated
Press reports. The vessel could be part of
a flotilla transporting the first Spanish settlements
to what is now the United States.
"There
are Spanish shipwrecks in Pensacola Bay," said
Elizabeth Benchley, director of the Archaeology
Institute at the University of West Florida. "We
have worked on two - one from 1559 and another
from 1705. But no one has found one buried on
land. This was quite a surprise to everybody."
According
to AP, archaeologists found ceramic tiles, ropes
and pieces of olive jars near the wreck. The settlement
was founded in 1559; its exact location is a mystery.
The Spanish did not return until more than a century
later in 1698 at Presidio Santa Maria de Galve,
now the naval station.
|