Archaeologist Carlos León assures that on the coasts of the Dominican Republic “there are more than 65 sunken Spanish galleons”

Carlos Leon doctor in archeology and specialist in underwater archaeology, has assured that on the coasts of the Dominican Republic “There are more than 65 Spanish shipwrecks of which only a dozen are known.”

“Its location, identification and preservation is an urgent task that must be addressed as common heritage between Spain and the Dominican Republic.“, León said this Monday during the conference ‘Archaeology under the sea: galleons, hurricanes and shipwrecks’ held at the Ramón Areces Foundation.

Specialists in the search for wrecks participated in the event along with cultural authorities from the Dominican Republic and Spain. All of them have demanded that we work in communion to preserve this sunken heritage that belongs to both nations.

The event has served to analyze the situation of the underwater archaeological heritage found in the Dominican Republic, coming, for the most part, from Spanish shipwrecks that occurred between the 16th and 18th centuries. Besides, This meeting was held just when it was 300 years since the shipwreck of the Guadalupe and the Tolosa in Samaná Bay.

“The quicksilver fleet of 1724, composed of the ships Guadalupe and Tolosa, was one of the shipwrecks with the most loss of life in Spanish shipping in the 18th century.“Carlos León recalled.

The Galeones de Azogue project, started in 1994, has studied more than 5,000 objects extracted from the Guadalupe, as well as the remains of the ship that are preserved under the sea at a depth of about six meters.

“Thanks to the study of this shipwreck, today we know what the ship was like, what the navigation was like, how it sank, how they survived the shipwreck, who lived and who died.what they were transporting, what products were shipped as contraband, and how the ship became part of the seabed,” León added.

Another of the researchers who spoke on this day was Cruz Apestegui, a specialist in Spanish naval construction of the 17th and 18th centuries and coordinator of the meeting: “The archaeological heritage submerged on the Dominican coasts is the most interesting in the world from the point of view of quantity and variety of shipwrecksbut this at the same time is a great responsibility for the country, which must inventory them, conserve them and preserve them for future generations.”

As Apestegui has stated, “the ship Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, built in 1703 and sunk in Dominican waters in 1724, is a unique example of a flagship equipped for the transportation of mercury.”

For this researcher of underwater heritage, “without public-private management it will be impossible to conserve the more than 100,000 objects from Spanish shipwrecks sunk in Dominican waters.”

As Gamal Michelén, vice minister of culture of the Dominican Republic, recognized in this meeting, “Dominican underwater archeology has gone through many phases since the discovery of the ship Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, the first shipwreck found in Dominican waters in 1976.” “Today, after ratifying the UNESCO Convention on Underwater Cultural Heritage, our country enters a new phase in harmony with the countries that want to conserve and defend the submerged heritage that we a”, has declared.

Mónica Gutiérrez, director of the Museum of the Royal Shipyards of Santo Domingo, is an exceptional witness of this new phase and of this new sensitivity towards this valuable heritage. “We have gone from a time in which fishermen and locals sold superficially found pieces to having a magnificent sample exhibited in the Museum of the Royal Shipyards“he stated.

As explained by Carlota Pérez-Reverte, a doctor specialized in Underwater Archaeology, it is necessary for people to know their heritage, “which is part of their history, and to forge a bond with it so that they too feel the impulse to protect and conserve it.” .

For her part, María Agúndez, deputy director general of management and coordination of cultural assets of the Ministry of Culture of Spain, explained that this Department, “in its desire to conserve and preserve the underwater cultural heritage of Spanish shipwrecks sunk outside our borders, has inventoried these shipwrecks, has favored inter-ministerial and international agreements, has participated in missions promoted by UNESCO and He has led different traveling exhibitions, such as ‘The Last Voyage of the Frigate Mercedes’ or ‘The Fleet of New Spain and the Search for the Nuestra Señora del Juncal Galleon’.“.