THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2019 // 9
The public is invited to the event,
which features eight speakers giv-
ing 15-minute presentations on ship-
wreck research and discoveries from the
Pacific Northwest and around the world.
The keynote speaker, Oregon State
Archaeologist Dennis Griffin, will dis-
cuss legal and ethical parameters when
researching shipwrecks in Oregon.
Mind the Beeswax
One of the highlights: a panel dis-
cussion on the Beeswax Wreck near
the Nehalem spit. Dewey and Griffin
will sit on the panel, along with Scott
Williams, the director of the Beeswax
Wreck Project, and Cameron La Fol-
lette, a researcher who co-authored four
pieces on the wreck for the summer
2018 Oregon Historical Quarterly.
The Manila galleon at the center of
the project has tentatively been identi-
fied as the Santo Cristo de Burgo, which
sailed from Manila in July 1693.
“I am interested in shipwrecks in
general, mainly because the tragedy is
so stark in a shipwreck,” La Follette
said. “It’s just human beings against the
sea.”
In the Age of Sail, she said, mariners
could do little during disadvantageous
weather conditions.
“Fundamentally, if a gale wants to
blow you toward the shore, all you
can do is stand and watch your fate
approach,” La Follette said.
What makes the Beeswax Wreck
Chris Dewey/Maritime Archaeological Society photos
The SS Iowa lost on Peacock Spit in 1936.
unique among the approximately 3,000
known wrecks in and around the Grave-
yard of the Pacific is the date of the
wreck — the end of the 17th century
during the height of the Spanish empire
— and the cargo: an abundance of lux-
ury goods from Asia, including porce-
lain, silks, spices, lacquered furniture
and chunks of beeswax.
“It’s the most astounding, glittery
array of goods,” La Follette said, add-
ing in contrast, most other wrecked
ships were military warships or carry-
ing pedestrian cargo. “The galleon is, in
every way, in a class of its own.”
Maritime Archaeological Society volunteers at the site of the T.J. Potter shipwreck in
Astoria in spring 2016.
She and her co-author Dr. Doug-
las Deur of Portland State University
worked with archival researcher Esther
González to get information from the
Spanish archives regarding the Santo
Cristo and its captain, Don Bernardo
Iñiguez del Bay, a Basque nobleman.
She will present her findings as one of
the conference panelists.
‘The hunt is always exciting’
A variety of other shipwreck research
will be shared at the conference. The
presenters and their projects include:
• Ellen Raabe, “1909 Wreck of the
Argo: Pieces of the Puzzle”
• Rick Rogers, “European Influences
in Proto-Historic Hawai’i”
• Jim Sharpe, “Tragedy of the SS
Iowa”
• Bill Zanke, “Shipwrecks of the Red
Sea”
• Tom Beasley, “Search for the Ton-
quin and Cowichan/Coronado Wrecks”
• Kees Beemster Leverenz, “Global
Underwater Explorers Photogrammetry”
• Shawn Murphy, “Gilkey Tugs &
the BAHADA’S Final Demise”
Sharpe knew little about ship-
wrecks before joining the society, but he
worked as an archaeologist for about 25
years and found continuity between the
types of research required.
“It’s actually what you find — and
what you don’t find — that makes it
interesting,” Sharpe said. “Every project
is different. Sometimes you find a lot of
things, sometimes you find nothing. But
the hunt is always exciting.”
Upon completing a project, society
members write reports to augment infor-
mation in state archives. This research
can serve others who have new technol-
ogy or information that “allows them to
go further than even we could,” accord-
ing to Raabe, a former physical scien-
tist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s
Coastal and Marine Geology Program.
“You kind of want people to pick it
up,” she added. “You want your work
to be good enough that it could be
utilized.” CW
In the spring of 2017, volunteers from Maritime Archaeological Society surveyed the
remains of a small boat in Lewis and Clark National Historical Park at the request of
the National Park Service. Several members of the society will be presenting on their
various research at the Columbia River Shipwreck Conference 2019, a joint effort of the
society and the Columbia River Maritime Museum.