INAH book collects a tragic case of the maritime history of New Spain

With the book The memories of a shipwreck: the history of the Galeon of Our Lady of the Juncal, Edited by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and the Editorial Mar in, one of the most tragic cases in the history of the Maritime of New Spain is exposed.

The work, the first title of the Arena de la Mar collection, was coordinated by Roberto Junco and the historian Flor Trejo Rivera, who together with the archaeologist Carlos León Amores narrates the sinking of the Galeon Our Lady of the Juncal, occurred on November 1, 1631 on the coasts of the Campeche probe, after supporting a storm that caused its tragedy.

In the accident they shipwrecked about 350 sailors, of which 39 survived; Under the water there was a portentous cargo that consisted of more than one million silver and real coins, thousand and a half of fine grana arrobas, just over a thousand arrobas of wild grana and another 4 thousand indigo, 2,500 pounds of Silk, 405 quintals and 26 chocolate drawers, just to mention some of the products. Each arroba consists of 12.5 kilograms of load.

30 years after the beginning of the investigation

The book, which compiles essays of more than 20 specialists, was presented last Saturday at the 46th International Book Fair of the Mining Palace; It coincides with the 30 years of the beginning of the investigation of the shipwreck in charge of the Subdirectorate of Underwater Archeology (SAS), of the INAH, directed to the public gathered in the gallery of rectors, which Our Lady of Juncal It was mentioned for the first time in 1971, in Wrecks of the western hemisphere, 1492-1825, by Robert Marx, becoming one of the most coveted pecios.

In addition, it was clarified that “by the end of the 20th century, the Juncal It was the most wanted ships. However, with the decision to form a project to locate it, it demonstrated the importance it had for Mexico because it was in our territorial sea, and of Spain, for being a warship of that nation, ”said archaeologist Junco Sánchez.

The last moment

The search was formalized in 2014 with the signing of a memorandum of understanding of scientific collaboration to study the fleet of New Spain between 1630 and 1631, which allowed from 2021 to 2022 an exhibition to be held in the General Archive of the Indies, in Seville , which attracted more than 100,000 attendees and whose catalog gathered the essays that are now presented in the book, along with a nautical infographic and illustrations of That sample.

Flor Trejo said: When I first read the narration of the shipwreck, my skin enchinated. Somehow, you are seeing the last moment of a story that later led to the search.

The researcher Matilde Souto commented that only 39 crew survived the tragedy, after 17 days of navigation. The ship came to pique due to the breakage of its helmet, derived from a chain of errors, such as excessive load, navigation with bad weather, the modifications it received when it was adapted to be used as a war ship and wear for having remained as long as stranded in the port of Veracruz. Even the death of the general and captain of the ship, Miguel Echazarreta (which Andrés de Aristizábal replaced, with whom he sank), was seen as a bad sign.

The director of the National Museum of History, Salvador Rueda Smithers, said that the book discusses topics of great interest in underwater exploration, such as naval technology, artillery and trade in the seventeenth century, daily life aboard the Galleons that made the career of the Indies, and their place in the politics and economy of the Spanish empire and its viceroyalty.