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Posted on 06/18/2015 3:26:01 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Storms off the west coast of Ireland have disturbed the seabed to reveal two 16th century cannons wrecked from the Spanish Armada.
The cannons were brought to the surface this week by underwater archaeologists and are said to be in "extraordinarily good condition".
They are thought to come from the wreck of the merchant vessel La Juliana, which sank in storms off Stredagh, Co Sligo on Ireland’s west coast in September 1588 along with two others,La Lavia and Santa Maria de Vision.
The artifacts were recovered by the Underwater Archaeology Unit of Ireland’s Department of Arts, Heritage and Gaeltacht.
One cannon bears a dedication to and depiction of St Matrona, a saint venerated in Catalonia.
It is also inscriped with the date 1570, the year La Juliana was built in Barcelona, putting the identity of the ship beyond doubt, according to the Irish government.
"We have uncovered a wealth of fascinating and highly significant material, which is more than 425 years old," Heather Humphrey, the minister for arts, heritage and gaeltacht.said in a statement given to The Local.
"The National Monuments Service believes that all of the material has come from La Juliana, one of the three Armada ships wrecked off this coastline in 1588.
"On current evidence, the other two wreck sites remain buried beneath a protective layer of sand, but the wreck of La Juliana is now partly exposed on the seabed along with some of its guns and other wreck material.
"This material is obviously very historically and archaeologically significant," she said, adding that the material became exposed as a result of the major storms off the West coast over the last two years.
The cannons will go on display in Ireland’s National Museum.
La Juliana was a merchantman trading between Spain and Italy when it was commandeered by Philip II of Spain for his fleet of 130 ships deployed to invade England.
But after an aborted attack on Francis Drake’s fleet at Plymouth the Spanish attempted to regroup and withdraw north. But disrupted by severe storms in the North Atlantic, a third of the Spanish fleet were wrecked.
La Juliana was a large vessel, weighing 860 tons, carried 32 guns, 325 soldiers and had a crew of 70. Between it and the other two vessels wrecked at Streedagh, an estimated 1,000 soldiers and mariners lost their lives.
Very cool. Thanks for posting.
You are welcome.
Now the only question is.. what gov agency will steal them.
(Mel Fisher ref..)
Spanish Armada ping.
They look in mint condition. I never would have thought...
I’m no expert for sure, but I recall reading that a sunken warship remains the property of the country while a sunken merchant ship belongs to whoever finds it.
The laws of marine salvage are about as unjust as any law can be, how a nation (after several different gov’s) can claim ownership of something they abandoned (often for centuries) is truly grotesque.
Why are these shipwrecks, and tombs, disturbed? Sure, it’s cool to see all the cannons, etc., but these are TOMBS, the last resting place of dead sailors. Would we allow anyone to go mucking about the final resting place of any of our sunken ships?
No.
/feeling very Bah Hum Bug today apparently
It was a merchant ship-—pressed into service with the Spanish Navy—so it would be a Naval Ship—and property of his majesties Government in Spain. Lets hope some of the poor seamen made it ashore to become the Black Irish.
Thanks for posting this. Fascinating stuff.
It happens all the time, unfortunately. People have been arrested trying to bring home pieces of sunken American warships from around Guadalcanal and New Guinea (because, as any warbird fan will say with despair, the US Navy holds claim to any of its property downed anytime, anywhere), and some of our sunken warships around Java, such as the USS Houston, have been picked over by covert scrappers. Same is true for our old facilities in the Philippines, like Corregidor.
I’m a sailor, I know, but the government doesn’t go looking for, nor bringing up, the remains.
Cool
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