Is a sunken shipwreck off Haiti the long-lost remains of the Santa Maria, Christopher Columbus' flagship from his first voyage to the Americas?
Underwater explorer Barry Clifford, who led a team that found and investigated the wreck, says he's confident it is.
"Every single piece fits.
Now, of course, we have to go through the whole archeological process,
and we plan to do that within the next few months, but I feel very
confident that we've discovered the site," he told CNN.
"This is the ship that changed the course of human history," Clifford said.
Could sunken wreck be Columbus' ship?
If the claim is confirmed, it would go down as one of the most significant underwater archaeological discoveries ever.
"It is the Mount Everest of shipwrecks for me," said Clifford, 68.
But it isn't a new find
for him. Clifford's announcement involves a wreck he and his team
investigated in 2003. A cannon was found as part of the wreck. But,
Clifford told CNN, archaeologists at the time "misdiagnosed" the cannon.
Two years ago, after
having researched the type of cannon used in Columbus' time, "I woke up
in the middle of the night and said, 'Oh my God,' " Clifford told CNN.
He realized the 2003 find might have been the one.
A couple of weeks ago, he
returned to the wreck with a group of experts. The team measured and
photographed the ship. But some items, including the cannon, had been
looted from the ship in the intervening years, Clifford said.
The ship "still has
attributes that warrant an excavation to determine the site's identity,"
archaeologist Charles Beeker of Indiana University said Tuesday. "Barry
may have finally discovered the 1492 Santa Maria."
The evidence, Beeker said, is "very compelling."
The ship was found in
the exact area where Columbus said the Santa Maria ran aground more than
500 years ago, Clifford said. The wreck is stuck on a reef off Haiti's
northern coast, 10 to 15 feet beneath the water's surface.
Clifford plans to go back to Haiti next month to meet with authorities and decide what steps to take next.
Wrecked in 1492
It was the flagship of
Columbus' small fleet that set sail from Spain in August 1492 under the
sponsorship of King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I.
The voyage aimed to find
a westward route to China, India and the gold and spice islands of the
East. But the land the sailors set eyes on in October 1492 was an island
in the Caribbean.
Among the islands on
which Columbus set foot was Hispaniola, which is divided between Haiti
and the Dominican Republic. Columbus established a fort in Haiti.
That December, the Santa
Maria accidentally ran aground off the island's coast. Some planks and
provisions from the wrecked ship, which was about 117 feet (36 meters)
long, were used by the garrison at the fort, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Columbus set off back to Spain with the two remaining ships, the Nina and the Pinta, in January 1493.
May 14, 2014 -- Updated 0257 GMT (1057 HKT)
