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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2018
editor@dailyastorian.com
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SOUTHERN EXPOSURE
Myths crumble as
galleon history uncovered
Pieces of the Beeswax puzzle remain
T
he legends and lore of the Oregon Coast’s mystery of the
Beeswax wreck gave way to a new identity, when research-
ers positively identified the ship as the Manila galleon San
Cristo de Burgos.
For almost two centuries, beachcombers, treasure hunters and
historians have been both baffled and intrigued by the supply of
beeswax, porcelain, teak and other objects of the galleon trade
washed onto the North Coast.
Oregon’s shipwreck stories — and the apocryphal “Beeswax”
led the way — were filled with hyperbole and imagination, reported
Scott Williams, principal investigator for the Beeswax Wreck Project.
Until science and history converged in the past decade or so, the
Beeswax shipwreck was catalogued among those where information
was gathered, literally, from fiction — for years
a 1939 speculative account by William Lytle
Schurz has served as leading source material. A
1990s movie,“The Legend of Tillamook’s Gold,”
imagines those times — “a great movie,” Williams
commented, “but not a lot of truth.”
Past accounts tend to rely on “somebody telling
somebody” something, but eluding verification.
R.J. MARX
This summer, historian Cameron La Follette
and a team of researchers — including Williams —
provided compelling evidence to identify the San Cristo de Burgos.
Researchers pored through local sites, from mountain to sea,
archiving past finds and new ones, including international documents
chronicling the history of the Manila galleon trade. Traders were so
careful and the cargo was so valuable that they kept a close watch on
every ship that left harbor, originating in China with a final destina-
tion of Acapulco, Mexico, in the New World.
Meticulous records tracked goods and people, providing modern
historians with compelling links and a startling look at the Age of
Discovery. The Spanish kept detailed ledgers for taxes and insurance,
as the cargo could represent the colony’s income for a year. Those
pieces of information enabled researchers to identify the ship as a
Spanish galleon, and from what time.
Ships typically took four months to get across the Pacific from
the Philippines. Sometimes it took six. For the most unlucky a year,
when survival was unlikely.
Analysis of cargo provided more details. “In that period (the late
1600s), there were only four eastbound galleons that disappeared
without a trace,” Williams said at the opening lecture for the Cannon
Beach History Center’s new exhibit, “Oregon Coast Shipwrecks.”
Based on porcelain dating, only two of those eastbound galleons
fit that period, he said. “That narrowed our search.”
Relying on archaeological and historic evidence, Williams said
he is “99.9 percent certain” researchers have identified the San Cristo
de Burgos, built and paid for in 1687 and 1688 at the Royal shipyard
on the island of Bagatao at the mouth of Solsogon Bay. After an
aborted voyage in 1692, the San Cristo de Burgos underwent repairs
before setting off July 1, 1693 — departing port later than prudent
for avoiding ocean storms. Passengers included seamen, army com-
manders, soldiers, carpenters, a surgeon, sail master and about 20
passengers, among them six priests.
The ship left port hastily, lacking key supplies and crew. “A fierce
storm is the most likely culprit for the wreck, perhaps magnified by
the ship’s vulnerabilities,” La Follette and her research team wrote in
the Oregon Historical Quarterly.
As for the passengers, 30 crew members survived the wreck, but
survivors lived only six months before they were all killed in local
battles.
Hull, cannon to be found
Meanwhile, the wreckage of the San Cristo de Burgos lays tanta-
lizingly close to us today — maybe even underneath our feet.
Rigging blocks, teak wheels, holy oil jars, chest handles have all
been unearthed in recent years — but where is the lower hull of the
ship, 60 to 70 feet long and likely 1,600-2000 tons? Where are the
36 cannons known to be aboard every galleon of this type?
The ship may have hit Neahkahnie Mountain before breaking
and scattering, but it could be buried under the sand or picked up by
the tsunami and dumped somewhere else. “We may have a debris
field or a cannon here, there, a ballast scattered all over,” Williams
said.
Those are hard to find, especially if under the sand, he added.
“But we’re going to keep looking.”
Visitors discovered Spanish coins on the beach as recently as
Memorial Day 2017 and small pieces of Chinese blue-and-white
porcelain continue to wash ashore in the Neahkahnie area.
Williams and others will continue the hunt using “offshore
archaeology,” an occupation replete with its own set of hazards.
Magnetometers — considered essential to find the wreck — are
expensive and sensitive at best.
Getting boats is an issue, with the only option to set out from
Garibaldi, 25 miles away.
“To get out in the ocean we need the perfect combination of no
wind, no swell, no fog and the right tide — and we need to have
both boat owners available and all the volunteers available. Getting
those six things together on the same day is incredibly difficult,”
Williams said.
He figures it will cost about $100,000 for gear and research
equipment.
“I think what it will take is for us to get really lucky or a big
storm,” he said.
While the hunt continues, for treasure hunters, it will be a bit of
“catch and release.”
The ships are archaeological and historical sites, protected by
state law.
“Even if it had gold, we wouldn’t get to keep it,” Williams said.
First it would be offered to the government of Spain, then the
state of Oregon. “They would probably work it out,” Williams said.
“We don’t get to keep any of it.”
The Oregon Coast Shipwrecks exhibit will be on display at the
Cannon Beach History Center and Museum through November
2019.
R.J. Marx covers South County for The Daily Astorian and is edi-
tor of the Seaside Signal and Cannon Beach Gazette.
Courtesy of Roger D. Morris
Manila galleon in harbor, being loaded by Chinese vessels.
Edward Stratton/
The Daily Astorian
A man holds
a largish
block of
beeswax
collected
near the site
of the Bees-
wax Wreck at
Nehalem in
an undated
photo.
Beeswax Wreck
Project
R.J. Marx/
The Daily Astorian
Lead beeswax
wreck inves-
tigator Scott
Williams.
Researchers
with the Maritime
Archaeological
Society used
sonar aboard the
chartered vessel
Sovereign to create
underwater 3D
topographic models
in the search for
pieces of shipwreck
off Smugglers Cove
in Oswald West
State Park.
Beeswax Wreck Project
At one point, these Spanish shipping symbols were erroneously identified as mysterious in ori-
gin, spurring myths about the wreck of the Beeswax.