Santa Maria Found? Evidence Shows Shipwreck Has Been Looted

The following is from the May 14, 2014 edition of the Washington Post.

Library of Congress via Reuters -  A replica of Christopher Columbus's Santa Maria is shown in this circa 1892 photo. An explorer says a shipwreck he found off the north coast of Haiti could be the 500-year-old remains of the ship.
Library of Congress via Reuters – A replica of Christopher Columbus’s Santa Maria is shown in this circa 1892 photo.

A shipwreck off northern Haiti may be the remains of Christopher Columbus’s flagship vessel, the Santa Maria, an explorer said Tuesday, though experts expressed caution about a discovery that was far from confirmed.

Explorer Barry Clifford said he has evidence that the wreck is the Santa Maria, which struck ground and slowly sank on Christmas Day in 1492. That evidence includes ballast stones that appear to have come from Spain or Portugal and what looks like a 15th-century cannon that was at the site during an initial inspection but has since disappeared.

Read the full article.

The following is from the May 15, 2014 edition of Fox News:

An explorer who believes he’s found the wreckage of Christopher Columbus’ flagship, the Santa Maria, off the coast of Haiti said Wednesday that the vessel has been looted and needs to be excavated immediately.

“I think this is an emergency situation,” explorer Barry Clifford said. “I think the ship needs to be excavated as quick as possible and then conserved and then displayed to the world.”

Clifford was at the Explorers Club in New York to show photos and video of what he said was a pile of ballast stones from the wreckage.

“I think the evidence is overwhelming that this ship is most probably the Santa Maria,” he said.

The Santa Maria ran aground on Christmas Day 1492.

Read the full article.

About Leland Meitzler

Leland K. Meitzler founded Heritage Quest in 1985, and has worked as Managing Editor of both Heritage Quest Magazine and The Genealogical Helper. He currently operates Family Roots Publishing Company (www.FamilyRootsPublishing.com), writes daily at GenealogyBlog.com, writes the weekly Genealogy Newsline, conducts the annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour to the Family History Library, and speaks nationally, having given over 2000 lectures since 1983.

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