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Panama Discovers More Sunken Spanish Galleons
Monday, September 16, 2002
Reuters

Interest in Spanish wrecks resurfaced after vacationers diving off Panama's Caribbean coast last November chanced across the shell of the Vizcaina, a ship that was part of the fleet used by Christopher Columbus on his final voyage to the Americas in 1501.

PANAMA CITY, Panama -- Reuters
New research has doubled the number of wrecks of Spanish, Portuguese and British Conquest-era galleons, some laden with treasure, thought to be scattered along Panama's seabeds, the National Culture Institute said on Monday.

Some 30 wrecks were initially believed to be lying off Panama's Pacific and Caribbean coasts, but now researchers say there are as many as 59 sunken galleons, according to Panama's de factor Culture Minister Rafael Ruiloba, who heads the institute.

"New historical documents and deep water reconnaissance have helped us greatly to improve our knowledge in recent months of the whereabouts of the wrecks," Ruiloba told Reuters.

Wrecks recently located include those from the fleet of a 17th-century Scottish adventurer William Paterson, who founded the disastrous colony of New Edinburgh in Panama in 1698.
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2002 © Reuters, Ltd.

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