" I ca n’t imagine what else it might be , " Barry Clifford said earlier today at a press conference held at the New York headquarters of theExplorers Club . He was refer to the wreckagehe discoveredoff the northern sea-coast of Haiti that has been tentatively reported to be the stiff of Christopher Columbus ' flagship , theSanta Maria .
Clifford was all but adamant that this is the historical ship . " We ’re looking for a big pile of stones in a space the size of Yankee Stadium in clear water , " he said of the hunt . " It ’s not atomic physics . " So why , then , had the ship gone undiscovered for over 500 years ? Even Clifford did n’t actualize the wreck that he found and photographed in 2003 was theSanta Mariauntil lately .
COLUMBUS' CLUES
All studies of Christopher Columbus rely on a elaborated primary document : his diary . Like other explorers and archeologist , Clifford knew it would be the tonality to regain theSanta Maria:"[Columbus ] wrote it knowing it would be scrutinize . " And that instill a very valuable sense of importunity .
At 11:00pm on Christmas Eve 1492 , Columbus wrote that he went to log Z’s with theSanta Maria"standing " in the Bay of Campeche . An 60 minutes later , the ship ran ashore so quietly , according to Columbus , that no one on plug-in even fire up up .
Two things about the submission stood out : The first was Columbus ' notion that the ship was stand up still . " I knew after dive in this area that there ’s no way you’re able to brook still because of the current , " Clifford say . The 2d thing that remain firm out was the relative silence of the clank , which would have been impossible had Columbus play aground on a coral reef . Clifford ( and anyone else searching for theSanta Maria ) knew they were looking for a sandy patch consistent with modern understandings of the currents around the slide .
And yet for years , excavators find nothing — because they were look in the ill-timed place . Columbus wrote that the wreck was situate one and a one-half leagues from La Navidad , the first European colony build in the " New World " in the days after the shipwreck using quality stripped from the ship . ( Incidentally , La Navidad did not last long — when Columbus return the following yr , the fortress was in ruins and the 39 human being left behind had all been murdered by local kin group . ) But one by one , mark ( objects identify by gaussmeter resume ) at the correct distance from the assumed localization were ruled out — until a proposition by the University of Florida ’s Dr. Kathy Deegan that put La Navidad two naut mi further west than in the beginning thought .
THE SMOKING GUN
That open up a newfangled range of possible action , but Clifford still ab initio discounted the crash that is now thought to be theSanta Mariawhen he first break it in 2003 . He and his Logos photographed and surveyed everything at the internet site , but misidentified a long , tubular object .
" In 2012 , I sat up in the middle of the Nox and realized , that ’s not a vacuum tube , that ’s a lombard , " Clifford said , refer to a specific character of 15th hundred Spanish cannon known to have been aboard Columbus ' ships . It was just the 8th of its kind found in the Americas and , after comparing photos from the wreck to research on Langobard , represented the smoking hitman in the mystery of theSanta Maria .
AN EMERGENCY SITUATION
But the narrative is far from over . Clifford and his team returned to the site recently only to find many of the artifacts , include the telltale cannon , had been looted by what Clifford believes to have been opportunists from the Dominican Republic who get word of the worthful nature of the shipwreck . He calls this an " hand brake situation"—especially since he was forced to leave the site unattended after contracting Indian cholera .
Clifford expressed concern that Haiti is unprepared to take advantage of what could be a unique and valuable source of tourism and taxation . " It is a very of import imagination for Haiti and it has to be protected , " he said . " But they take helper . "
Professor Charles Beeker of Indiana University will lead the excavation , but Clifford has hopes for an international attempt to protect and preserve the wreck . He imagines that finally a traveling showing can be land to sprightliness showcasing the Santa Maria to the public , with yield benefiting Haiti .
SANTA MARIA PRESS VIDEOfromDov FreedmanonVimeo .
Password for the video : octoberfilms . All Photos Courtesy of Barry Clifford .
