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About Cottage Grove sentinel. (Cottage Grove, Or.) 1909-current | View Entire Issue (July 25, 2018)
COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • JULY 25, 2018 • A7 The Flower Basket Offbeat Oregon: Archaeologists solve and Gift Boutique mystery of ‘Beeswax Shipwreck’ “A Flower Shop and so much more” Creative Floral Arrangements Jewelry • Balloons Home Décor • Fine Gifts Boutique Clothing & Accessories Deliveries Locally and Worldwide Locally owned and operated since 1984 Quality and Satisfaction Guaranteed 119 South 6th Street • 541-942-0505 RESTORE HOURS THURSDAY, FRIDAY & SATURDAY 10AM-6PM Habitat Offi ce and ReStore 2155 Getty Circle ~ Unit #1 in the Cottage Grove Industrial Park Donate to the ReStore Call 541.649.1104 for more information UP TO 40% OFF LAUNDRY UP TO 40% OFF SELECT TOOLS PRICES VALID THURSDAY, JULY 26TH THRU SATURDAY, AUGUST 4TH, 2018 Hours: Mon-Fri 8:30am-6:00pm, Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 11am-4pm 118 Gateway Blvd., CG (Next to Bi-Mart) 541-942-7377 century, though, the histor- ical record on the beeswax shipwreck had become bad- ly confused and polluted. Over the years, writers and raconteurs — especially Native American storytell- ers hired by resort owners to entertain guests — had had some of their professional fabrications and exaggera- tions taken a little too seri- ously, and the whole subject had just about crossed over the line from archaeology to folklore studies. In other words, as a topic of study for a serious aca- demic historian or archaeol- ogist, Beeswax Wreck Stud- ies suffered from the same stigma as UFO Studies. And so, as with UFOs, it went unstudied by serious academics, for a long time. But in 2006, a group of ar- chaeologists and historians and geologists came togeth- er and decided they were go- ing to take the topic serious- ly, and drill down through all the myths and legends to solve the mystery for real. And thus was the Beeswax Wreck Project born. Last month, after more than a decade of research and exploration, the Bees- wax Wreck Project — which has since expanded to be- come the Maritime Archae- ological Society, a nonprofit organization based in Asto- ria dedicated to the study of shipwrecks — published its findings in the summer is- sue of the Oregon Historical Quarterly. The editors dedicated the entire issue to this one topic. By Finn J.D John For The Sentinel S ince the beginning of European settlement along the Oregon Coast, people have won- dered about the source of the mysterious chunks of beeswax that were continu- ally turning up there. It seemed there was an endless supply of the stuff, slowly being released from somewhere just offshore ... century after century. The natives, when asked, shared their oral histories about the strange wax — a tale of a big ship wrecked on the shore near Nehalem Bay, from which it all came. But what kind of big ship? From where, and whither bound? And what had become of its crew? Over the years, histori- ans and archaeologists have closed in on the answers to these questions. By the mid- 20th century they had fig- ured out that it was a Span- ish galleon out of Manila, on its way to New Spain (Mex- ico, basically) sometime in the 1600s or 1700s, and that what remained of it — in- cluding cannons and other heavy metal artifacts, as well as, possibly, treasure — lay on the seafloor just off the north Oregon coast. But nobody really knew which galleon it was. Most likely, they figured, it was the San Francisco Xavier, which left Manila in 1705 and vanished from the face of the Earth. By the end of the 20th OUT WITH CABLE. IN WITH SAVINGS. Get a $ 100 AT&T Visa® Reward Card † when you sign up for DIRECTV SELECT ™ Package or above. W/ 24-mo. agreement. Redemption required. EARLY TERMINATION FEE OF $20/MO. FOR EACH MONTH REMAINING ON AGMT., $35 ACTIVATION, EQUIP. NON-RETURN & ADD’L FEES APPLY. New approved residential customers only (equipment lease req’d). 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Offer ends 6/30/18. DIRECTV SVC TERMS: Subject to Equipment Lease & Customer Agreements. Must maintain a min. base TV pkg of $29.99/mo. Programming, pricing, terms and conditions subject to change at any time. Visit directv.com/legal or call for details. ©2018 AT&T Intellectual Property. All Rights Reserved. AT&T, Globe logo, DIRECTV, and all other DIRECTV marks contained herein are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T affiliated companies. All other marks are the property of their respective owners. NEW: Digital X-Rays (use less radiation) verything for Your Eyes Only Implants •Teeth Whitening • Extractions Lumineers (no prep veneers as seen on TV) Comprehensive family, medical eyecare and optical services We provide exams for Cataracts, Glaucoma, Diabetic and Lasik Serving Cottage Grove since 2006 Book an appointment today! Medical, vision and fl exible spending plans welcome. Mon-Thurs 9M-5PM FRI 9AM-4PM 257 N. 8th St 541-942-5000 www.PCVI.com Cottage Grove Dental Dr. Brent Bitner, DDS 350 Washington, Cottage Grove (behind Better Bodies) 541.942.7934 The Beeswax Wreck Proj- ect scientists won’t be able to say with 100 percent cer- tainty unless the wreck itself is located; but there is, they have learned, really only one galleon that it could pos- sibly be: The San Cristo de Burgos, which left Manila in 1693. Of the 400-odd galleons the Spanish built and sailed, many sank or were captured by enemies, but only four vanished without a trace: two in the mid-1500s; the San Cristo de Burgos in 1693; and the San Francisco Xavier in 1705. The early ones were ruled out because of the shards of Chinese pottery that have been found washed ashore from the wreck; they were of a design that didn’t exist in the 1500s. The San Francisco Xavier was ruled out because those pottery shards, along with lots of beeswax, were found inside Nehalem Bay — and the only way detritus from an offshore shipwreck could end up in Nehalem Bay would be if it was washed over Nehalem Spit by a tsu- nami — and the only tsuna- mi that could do such a job happened in the year 1700. By process of elimination, therefore, it had to be the San Cristo de Burgos. Within that almost-cer- tainty lies a fascinating story that we’ll never fully know: The wreck of the ship may have been essentially caused by the Spanish officials in Manila. When it left Manila in 1693, the San Cristo de Burgos was actually mak- ing its second try at cross- ing the Pacific. The pre- vious year it had tried to make the crossing, but was dismasted in a sudden storm. After limping back to Manila, the ship’s officers found themselves in hot water with the local au- thorities, who promptly got busy trying to find someone to pin the blame on. The ship’s builder was accused of messing up the mast steps; the rigger, of not connecting the ropes right. Finally the authorities settled for charging the gal- leon’s skipper, Don Bernar- do Iñiguez del Bayo, with negligence, and demanding a large payment from him. To avoid paying this, del Bayo cast off in the middle of the night (metaphori- cally speaking, although a A “NUGGET” OF A SALE Start a yearly subscription or add a year for $31.00* (reg price $41.00) Includes digital access on cgsentinel.com. *Th is off er is not transferable and the off er is available those who have not subscribed in the last 31 days. Special introductory off ers are limited to no more than two special subscriptions in a twelve month period and must be paid in advance to qualify for special rate. Once the above discounted period ends, you will be billed at the regular subscription rates. S entinel C ottage G rove literal midnight departure does seem likely) leaving a large amount of food and other supplies behind, along with 30 sailors (out of a full complement in the 110-120 range, including gunners but not including cabin boys). It certainly can’t be as- sumed that this short-staff- ing situation caused the wreck; but, given that those 30 sailors represented about 25 percent of the crew, it’s certainly a strong possibility. It’s also very likely that, if the San Cristo de Burgos had gotten into serious trou- ble as it had the previous time, turning back would not even be considered as an option. Nehalem Bay wasn’t on the galleons’ regular trade route; the San Cristo de Bur- gos would not have come to the north Oregon coast on purpose. In their Oregon Histori- cal Quarterly article on the wreck site, Beeswax Proj- ect investigators Scott Wil- liams, Curt Peterson, Mitch Marken and Richard Rogers write that most likely the ship was disabled in a storm and drifted before the wind, wallowing in the trough of the sea, until it fetched up on Nehalem Spit. So: what about treasure? One of the more appeal- ing parts of the San Fran- cisco Xavier hypothesis was the large amount of personal wealth that was being trans- ported on that ship. But that doesn’t seem to have been the case with the San Cristo de Burgos. Although the Beeswax Wreck Project researchers were unable to find a com- plete manifest in the records of the old Spanish colonial empire, they were able to learn most of it; and it ap- pears that, in addition to the beeswax, the vast majority of the cargo was textiles and fabrics: silks and cottons. There was a fair amount of carved ivory, and quite a bit of elemental mercury that was to be used in the silver mines of New Spain; but, alas, no chests full of dou- bloons and pieces of eight. The full report of the Beeswax Wreck Project, of course, includes lots more information than can be laid out here. To learn more about the wreck, and the galleon traf- fic between Mexico and the Philippines that it was a part of, you should grab a copy of the Summer 2018 issue of Oregon Historical Quar- terly. But the bottom line on the whole thing is, the identity of the mysteri- ous beeswax ship is now solved, with more than 99 percent certainty. And the next time you stumble across a little chunk of wax on the beach after a winter storm, you’ll know you’re holding in your hand a piece of his- tory nearly a century older than the United States of America itself. 116 N. 6th St. • Cottage Grove CGSENTINEL.COM 541-942-3325 S Subscribe b ib ONLINE using code: mine18 Must “MINE” this deal by July 31, 2018. Finn J.D. John teaches at Oregon State Universi- ty and writes about odd tidbits of Oregon history. For details, see http://finn- john.com. To contact him or suggest a topic: finn2@ offbeatoregon.com or 541- 357-2222.