The seventeenth century wreck rescued from the port of Cadiz was a strong, 50-metre-long ocean-going ship | Culture | EUROtoday

A bored carpenter killed time at an unknown second within the early seventeenth century with a knife and hand recreation, drawing symbols on the wooden and taking part in tic-tac-toe. That enormous oak plank ended up getting used as the ground of the maintain of a ship that should have been greater than 50 metres lengthy. And, on the finish of that century, the big galleon, sturdy and ready for transoceanic navigation, ended up shipwrecked at a depth of 19 metres for a nonetheless unknown motive, whereas it was anchored close to the port of Cadiz. Until this previous July 27, it emerged from the depths in a pioneering manoeuvre in Spain to hold out an in depth examine of the shipbuilding programs of the time.

What was the title of the ship? When and what occurred to it that it ended up wrecked? Where did it come from and the place was it going? These are a few of the questions that the specialists from the Cadiz Underwater Archaeology Centre (CAS) have got down to reply in regards to the Delta Ithe title it acquired when it was positioned in 2012 whereas works had been being carried out to broaden the port of Cadiz. “It is the first time in Spain that a ship from this period has been studied out of the water,” stated the Minister of Culture, Patricia del Pozo, on Monday throughout a go to to the tent that homes the preserved and extracted a part of the wreck, some 20 metres lengthy by seven metres large, which correspond to its decrease half, referred to as the ship's plan.

But the primary proof that this massive archaeological stays made from oak wooden – along with one other clearer species but to be recognized – exhibits that it was a lot bigger than what’s seen in the present day. “The seven meters of the stem are missing from the keel [una gran pieza que se curva hasta hacerse vertical]but there are another 20 metres left at the stern,” explained Milagros Alzaga, head of the CAS, an institution dependent on the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage. In fact, in the rear part of the piece extracted from the water there are vestiges of the cockpit, where the main mast of the ship was located. The joined frames of the structure speak of a strong and robust galleon, with a flat hold to accommodate important loads and capable of making “transoceanic voyages”, as the underwater archaeologist added.

In 2013, archaeologists found 27 iron cannons from Sweden under the sea, as well as 22 silver ingots from the mines of Upper Peru (now Bolivia), with markings dating them back to 1651. Now on land, these findings have been joined by the appearance of 10 fragments of old cannons and stones that were travelling as ballast in the hold to balance the ship, 75 cannonballs and American guaiac wood, highly valued at the time because of the belief that when infused it cured syphilis or rheumatism. However, this American cargo of silver and wood does not completely confirm that the galleon came from overseas when it sank. “Cádiz was one of the major ports with America and merchandise was unloaded here to be loaded onto other ships,” explained Alzaga.

Between now and November, the CAS specialists plan to dismantle the remains of the ship piece by piece, while documenting each phase and element with photogrammetry and three-dimensional scans that would make it possible to reproduce it on any scale. The final objective is to discover the construction details of a 17th-century galleon, given “the few examples that exist in the world,” as Del Pozo has pointed out. In the first few weeks, Alzaga’s team has already discovered that the Delta II There were no financial difficulties during its construction, “since square iron nails were used, which were more expensive”, but there was “a shortage of wood from large trunks, which meant that wood from other ships had to be reused”. On one of the oak planks already removed, on its inner face, there are cracks that are compatible with a carpenter killing his boredom, probably playing tic-tac-toe and sticking a knife between his fingers.

The ship's arrival on land – where it is kept in constant humidity under a tent – has been an odyssey made possible by “the chance of the circumstances themselves,” as Del Pozo explained. The works at the container terminal at the port of Cadiz already caused the wreck to end up being displaced underwater from where it appeared to a shallower area of ​​between six and eight metres in 2013. The straps and structure that were used then are what the technicians from the Port Authority of the Bay of Cadiz have now used to extract it, in a manoeuvre that will cost 2.6 million euros and which has been fully funded by this institution.

The missing 20 metres of the galleon introduce even more questions about what caused the ship to sink when it was anchored near the port of Cadiz. The archaeologists from the CAS do not rule out any hypothesis and the breakage could have been before, during or after the shipwreck. What does seem certain is that the galleon must have faced some kind of disruptive event, such as an attack or a great storm. Alzaga has pointed to this line when raising the question of whether a bell found in the 2013 excavation on which it read “Jesus, Mary and Joseph 1671” is linked to a strong cyclone that entered the bay of Cadiz at that time and caused several ships to sink in the area.

Whether the team can solve the mystery of the ship's name or flag with new findings from the dismantling will depend on the studies in the coming weeks. Then there will be the dendrochronology studies—to be carried out by the IAHP and the University of Wales Trinity Saint David—which may shed light on the provenance of the wood and when it was cut. With the board-by-board dismantling completed, the cataloging done, and the sampling done, the team will be able to determine the origin of the wood and the location of the ship. Delta I It will return to the sea, anchored in a georeferenced deposit. The Ministry of Culture has ruled out its museumization for now, given that “there are no techniques that guarantee conservation,” as Del Pozo has assured. Behind it, on land, it will leave so much information that it guarantees research work for months or years. Perhaps there, in some crack in history, the puzzle of the robust 50-meter galleon that emerged from the seas of Cadiz almost 400 years later will finally fit together.