Odyssey Marine Exploration, a pioneer in the field of deep-ocean exploration, recently published a new series of scientific papers on the Tortugas shipwreck, which was originally excavated in 1990 and 1991.
The Tortugas shipwreck is believed to be the remains of the 117-ton Buen Jesús Nuestra Señora del Rosario, one of the vessels sailing with the 1622 Tierra Firme treasure fleet bound for Spain.
The papers are included in “Oceans Odyssey 3: The Deep-Sea Tortugas Shipwreck, Straits of Florida: A Merchant Vessel from Spain’s 1622 Tierra Firme Fleet,” recently published by Oxbow Books, Oxford. This is the third volume of Oceans Odyssey detailing Odyssey’s pioneering archaeological work.
“This was one of the most important shipwreck finds of its time,” Odyssey Marine Exploration CEO Greg Stemm said. “The archaeological world had long wondered what a colonial shipwreck would look like in the depths of the ocean, and whether it was possible to actually conduct archaeological fieldwork using robotics. Both these questions were answered by the Tortugas shipwreck.”
Click here for the full press release from Odyssey Marine and click here for a report by the Washington Post that offers some historical perspective on the significance of the wreck at the time.
