Caio Nuevo Shipwreck, Mexico (c. 1550)

Background

Found in 1979 in the bay of Campeche, Mexico, by two sport divers from Louisiana this Spanish wreck from the middle 16th century was surveyed by a joint team from Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia and the Institute of Nautical Archaeology, under the direction of archaeologist Pilar Luna. Although no hull remains were found, other than a small piece of timber and some pieces of lead from the calking, a bronze gun bearing the date 15?2, possibly 1552, was found together with five iron guns, two anchors, ceramic fragments, metal concretions and ballast stones. An anchor laying about 200 m from the shipwreck site may be related to this shipwreck, as a testimony of the last attempt of the crew to avoid the loss of this ship.

References

Smith, Roger "Treasure ships of the Spanish Main: The Iberian-American Maritime Empires" in Ships and Shipwrecks of the Americas, Ed. by George Bass, T&H, 1988 :87