8A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL AUGUST 8, 2018
Off beat Oregon History No. 505: Shipwrecked
Nehalem Bay wasn’t on the
galleons’ regular trade route; the
San Cristo de Burgos would not
have come to the north Oregon
coast on purpose. In their Ore-
gon Historical Quarterly article
on the wreck site, Beeswax Proj-
ect investigators Scott Williams,
Curt Peterson, Mitch Marken
and Richard Rogers write that
most likely the ship was disabled
in a storm and drift ed 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 appealing parts of
the San Francisco Xavier hy-
pothesis was the large amount
of personal wealth that was be-
ing transported 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 fi nd a complete man-
ifest in the records of the old
Spanish colonial empire, they
were able to learn most of it; and
it appears that, in addition to the
beeswax, the vast majority of the
By Finn JD John
For The Sentinel
Since the beginning of Euro-
pean settlement along the Or-
egon Coast, people have won-
dered about the source of the
mysterious chunks of beeswax
that were continually turning
up there. It seemed there was an
endless supply of the stuff , slow-
ly being released from some-
where just off shore ... century
aft er century.
Th e 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, historians
and archaeologists have closed
in on the answers to these ques-
tions. By the mid-20th century
they had fi gured out that it was
a Spanish galleon out of Ma-
nila, on its way to New Spain
(Mexico, basically) sometime
in the 1600s or 1700s, and that
what remained of it — including
cannons and other heavy met-
al artifacts, as well as, possibly,
treasure — lay on the seafl oor
just off the north Oregon coast.
But, nobody really knew which
galleon it was. Most likely, they
fi gured, it was the San Francis-
co Xavier, which left Manila in
1705 and vanished from the face
of the Earth.
By the end of the 20th cen-
tury, though, the historical re-
cord on the beeswax shipwreck
had become badly confused and
polluted. Over the years, writers
and raconteurs — especially Na-
tive American storytellers hired
by resort owners to entertain
guests — had had some of their
professional fabrications and
exaggerations taken a little too
seriously, and the whole subject
had just about crossed over the
line from archaeology to folk-
lore studies. In other words, as
a topic of study for a serious
academic historian or archae-
ologist, Beeswax Wreck Studies
suff ered from the same stigma
as UFO Studies. And so, as with
UFOs, it went unstudied by se-
rious academics, for a long time.
But in 2006, a group of ar-
chaeologists and historians and
geologists came together and
decided they were going to take
the topic seriously, 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, aft er more than a
decade of research and explora-
tion, the Beeswax Wreck Project
— which has since expanded to
become the Maritime Archaeo-
logical Society, a nonprofi t orga-
nization based in Astoria dedi-
cated to the study of shipwrecks
— published its fi ndings in the
summer issue of the Oregon
Historical Quarterly. Th e editors
dedicated the entire issue to this
one topic.
Th e Beeswax Wreck Project
scientists won’t be able to say
with 100 percent certainty un-
less the wreck itself is located;
but there is, they have learned,
really only one galleon that it
could possibly be: Th e San Cris-
to de Burgos, which left Manila
in 1693. Of the 400-odd galle-
ons the Spanish built and sailed,
many sank or were captured by
This photo illustration accompanied a 1915 article about the beeswax shipwreck in the
Portland Sunday Oregonian. (Image: UO Libraries)
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.
Th e 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. Th e 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 off shore shipwreck could end
up in Nehalem Bay would be if it
was washed over Nehalem Spit
by a tsunami — and the only
tsunami 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-certainty
lies a fascinating story that we’ll
never fully know: Th e wreck
of the ship may have been es-
sentially caused by the Spanish
offi cials in Manila. When it left
Manila in 1693, the San Cristo
de Burgos was actually mak-
ing its second try at crossing
the Pacifi c. Th e previous year it
had tried to make the crossing,
but was dismasted in a sudden
storm. Aft er limping back to
Manila, the ship’s offi cers found
themselves in hot water with the
local authorities, who promptly
got busy trying to fi nd someone
to pin the blame on. Th e 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 galleon’s skipper,
Don Bernardo Iñiguez del Bayo,
with negligence, and demand-
ing a large payment from him.
To avoid paying this, del Bayo
cast off in the middle of the night
(metaphorically speaking, al-
though a literal midnight depar-
ture 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 cab-
in boys). It certainly can’t be
assumed that this short-staffi ng
situation caused the wreck; but,
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given that those 30 sailors rep-
resented about 25 percent of the
crew, it’s certainly a strong pos-
sibility. It’s also very likely that,
if the San Cristo de Burgos had
gotten into serious trouble as it
had the previous time, turning
back would not even be consid-
ered as an option.
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Worship
Directory
DRAIN:
HOPE U.M.C.
131 W “A” St. Drain, OR
541-315-1617
Pastor: Lura Kidner-Miesen
Fellowship & Song: 11:30am
Potluck Lunch: 12:00pm
Worship: 12:30pm
Delight Valley
Church of Christ
33087 Saginaw Rd. East
541-942-7711
Pastor: Bob Friend
Two Services:
9am - Classic in the Chapel
10:30am - Contemporary in the
Auditorium
COTTAGE GROVE:
6th & Gibbs Church of Christ
195 N. 6th St. • 541-942-3822
Pastor: Aaron Earlywine
Summer Service: 9:30 am
Christian Education:
Pre-K through 5th
www.6thandgibbs.com
First Baptist Church
301 S. 6th st • 541-942-8242
Interim Pastor: Reed Webster
Sunday School 9:30am
Worship Service 11:00am
Youth Wednesday 6:30pm
cgfi rstbaptist.com
Calvary Baptist Church
77873 S 6th St • 541-942-4290
Pastor: Riley Hendricks
Sunday School: 9:45am
Worship: 11:00am
The Journey: Sunday 5:00pm
Praying Thru Life: Wednesday 6:00pm
First Presbyterian Church
3rd and Adams St
541-942-4479
Pastor: Karen Hill
Worship: 10:00am
Sunday School: 10:00am
www.cgpresbynews.com
Calvary Chapel Cottage Grove
1447 Hwy 99 (Village Plaza)
541-942-6842
Pastor: Jeff Smith
Two Services on Sun:
9am & 10:45am
Youth Group Bible Study
Child Care 10:45am Service Only
www.cgcalvary.org
Hope In The Grove
700 E. Gibbs • 401-855-5668
Pastor: Wayne Husk
Sunday services:
Worship: 9am
Coffee Fellowship: 10:15am
Bible Study: 10:30am
Hopper upgrade fee $5/mo.
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cargo was textiles and fabrics:
silks and cottons. Th ere 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 doubloons and
pieces of eight.
Th e full report of the Bees-
wax Wreck Project, of course,
includes lots more information
than can be laid out here. To
learn more about the wreck, and
the galleon traffi c between Mex-
ico and the Philippines that it
was a part of, you should grab a
copy of the Summer 2018 issue
of Oregon Historical Quarterly.
But the bottom line on the
whole thing is, the identity of
the mysterious 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 af-
ter a winter storm, you’ll know
you’re holding in your hand a
piece of history nearly a century
older than the United States of
America itself.
Center for Spiritual Living
700 Gibbs Ave. (Community Center)
Rev. Bobby Lee
Meets Sunday 3:00 p.m.
cslcottagegrove@gmail.com
Church of Christ
420 Monroe St • 541-942-8565
Sunday Service: 10:30am
Cottage Grove Bible Church
1200 East Quincy Avenue
541-942-4771
Pastor:Bob Singer
Worship 11am
Sunday School:9:45am
AWANA age 3-8th Grade,
Wednesdays Sept-May, 6:30pm
www.cgbible.org
Cottage Grove Faith Center
33761 Row River Rd.
541-942-4851
Lead Pastor: Kevin Pruett
www.cg4.tv
Full Childrenʼs Ministry available
Service: 10:00am
Hope Fellowship
United Pentecostal Church
100 S. Gateway Blvd.
541-942-2061
Pastor: Dave Bragg
Worship: 11:00am Sunday
Bible Study: 7:00pm Wednesday
www.hopefellowshipupc.com
“FINDING HOPE IN YOUR LIFE”
Our Lady of Perpetual Help
and St. Philip Benizi
Catholic Churches
1025 N. 19th St.
541-942-3420
Father: Joseph Hung Nguyen
Holy Mass:
Tue-Thu: 8:30am; Sat:5:30pm
Sun: 10:30am
Confession: After daily mass,
Sat. 4-5pm or by appointment
St. Philip Benizi, Creswell
552 Holbrock Lane
541-895-8686, Sunday: 8:30am
St. Andrews Episcopal Church
1301 W. Main • 541-767-9050
Rev. Lawrence Crumb
“Church with the fl ags.”
Worship: Sunday 10:30am
All Welcome
Seventh-day Adventist Church
820 South 10th Street
541-942-5213
Pastor: Kevin Miller
Bible Study: Saturday, 9:15 am
Worship Service: Saturday, 10:40
Mid-week Service: Wednesday, 1:00
Trinity Lutheran Church
6th & Quincy • 541-942-2373
Pastor: James L. Markus
Sunday School & Adult Education
9:15am
Sunday Worship 10:30 am
Comm. Kitchen Free Meal Tue & Thur
5:00pm TLC Groups
tlccg.com
United Methodist Church
334 Washington • 541-942-3033
Pastor:Lura Kidner-Miesen
Worship: 10:30am
Comm. Dinner (Adults $5,
Kids Free)
1st & 3rd Monday 5-6:00pm
umcgrove.org
Non-Denominational
Church of Christ
1041 Pennoyer Ave
541-942-8928
Preacher: Tony Martin
“VICTORY” Country Church
Sunday Bible Study:10:00am
Sunday Worship:10:50am & 5:30pm 913 S. 6th Street • 541-942-5913
Pastor: Barbara Dockery
www.pennoyeravecoc.com
Worship Service: 10:00am
Message: “WE BELIEVE IN
Old Time Gospel Fellowship
MIRACLES”
103 S. 5th St. • 541-942-4999
Pastor: Jim Edwards
CRESWELL:
Sunday Service: 10:00am
Join in Traditional Christian Worship Creswell Presbyterian Church
75 S 4th S • 541-895-3419
Rev. Seth Wheeler
Adult Sunday School 9:15am
Sunday Worship Service 10:30 am
website www.creswellpres.org
Worship With Us!
Our Worship Directory is a weekly feature
in the newspaper. If your congregation
would like to be a part of this directory,
please contact the
Cottage Grove Sentinel
@ 541-942-3325
