PENSACOLA, Fla. — In 1559, a hurricane plunged as many as seven Spanish sailing vessels to the bottom of Pensacola Bay, hampering explorer Don Tristan de Luna’s attempt to colonize this section of the Florida Panhandle.
Almost 500 years later and 15 years after the first ship was found, another has been discovered, helping archaeologists unlock secrets to Florida’s Spanish past. The colony at the site of present-day Pensacola was abandoned in 1561, and no trace of it has been found on land.
Teams of University of West Florida archaeology students last summer found what they thought was the shipwreck, picking up pieces of artifacts from the site. A 32-by-24-foot barge now covers the site to give divers access.
The ship would likely have been built a few years before 1559, said Dr. Roger Smith, the state’s underwater archaeologist.
No human remains were found at the site, Williams said: “Most of the crew had gone ashore because of the hurricane.”
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