4A • September 21, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
Views from the Rock
D
When Manila Galleons
ruled the Seven Seas
ecades of researchers have
called the ship the “wreck
of the Beeswax,” because of
the characteristic 17th-centu-
ry cargo found off the Oregon
Coast, beeswax, used for candles and
illumination.
But which boat was the “Beeswax”
— the Santa Cristo de Burgos, a Manila
galleon that sailed in 1693, or the Xavier
San Francisco, a galleon that launched
more than a decade later and has never
been accounted for since?
“When the wreck occurred, where
the unfortunate ship sailed from, where
it was going, what happened to its crew
and how the wreck affected coastal
native communities have been questions
of a Oregon mystery tale for 200 years,”
write the authors of this special issue of
the Oregon Historical Quarterly, “Ore-
gon’s Manila Galleon.”
The telling reads like a combination
of Robert Lewis Stevenson and Gabriel
Marquez, with pirates, untold riches and
drunken galleon captains.
North Coast author and historian
Cameron La Follette presented her
team’s findings — a result of three years
of research — at the Oregon Historical
Society in Portland. To research the
galleon itself, the team used resources in
Manila, Mexico City and Seville, Spain.
For the subsequent history of the trea-
sure hunt, authors focused on treasure
trove records stored within our state.
CANNON SHOTS
R.J. MARX
amounts of luxury goods and then it was
a life or death enterprise to cross the
Pacific for six or nine months and risk
death by starvation or worse, scurvy,”
La Follette said in a phone interview.
“But if you made it to Acapulco, the
return on profits was so great that you
would be wealthy beyond your dreams.”
Based on historical records, a fierce
storm is the most likely culprit for the
wreck of the Santo Cristo de Burgos.
A hasty departure from port, a short-
age of crew and construction vulnerabil-
ities may have also played a role.
One portion of the crew seem to
have survived, La Follette said. “Some
versions say around 30, some say most
of the crew,” she said.
Stories, including fictional accounts
and Native American lore, “get more
fractured.”
Survivors may have provided mem-
bers of the Tillamook tribe with their
first contact with non-native people.
“Because it was the first, it inaugu-
rated the native peoples of the area in
a worldwide commerce that they had
not been involved in and maybe would
not have wanted to be involved in,” La
Follette said.
Some reports say survivors tried to
leave the area and others report they
may have settled in within the commu-
nity.
No report of any survivor reaching
safety was ever received.
A fatal trip
Researchers know that the Santo
Cristo de Burgos launched from Manila
in 1693.
The ship was a Manila Galleon, with
an international crew of seaman, gunners
and officers entrusted with the transport-
ed of millions in gold, silk and commod-
ities in the midst of a burgeoning global
world trade between Asia and Europe.
The largest ships of their day, a
galleon’s value could build an economy
or sink it; navigation took extraordinary
courage.
“The ships were laden with massive
Cargo
Over the next 300 years, flotsam that
matches what was determined to be doc-
umented cargo on the Santo Cristo de
Burgos appeared on the beaches of the
Oregon Coast, along with reports seeing
portions of the “gigantic old wreck”
near the water line.
Because beeswax with a marking
consistent with those catalogued in the
Philippines was found east of Nehalem
Bay, researchers believe that the tsu-
nami of 1700 may have lifted or trans-
ported debris or cargo from the Santo
Cristo de Burgos, which would have
crashed seven years earlier. “How did
it get there? It didn’t walk,” La Follette
said. “The tsunami may have rolled
around even though it was underground
already.”
To positively identify the Santo
Cristo de Burgos as the source of the
beeswax — along with pieces of blue
porcelain — authors examined other
potential shipwrecks that
might have left such
cargo in their wake.
The San Francis-
co Xavier of 1705,
is also a candi-
date. But since
its disappearance
occurred after the
1700 tsunami, it is
considered unlikely
that wreckage from
the boat could have
been found where it has.
“It seems the evidence
is compelling it would be
very unlikely that it is the San Francis-
co,” La Follette said.
Both blue porcelain of the type
found in Nehalem and now stored in
the Tillamook Museum are listed as
items on the Santo Cristo de Burgos’
manifest.
“It’s relatively clear that the heavier
part of the ship is offshore and under-
water somewhere,” La Follette said. “It
probably moved just because of time
and sand covering it. The tsunami may
have rolled it around even though it
was underground already. Some of the
upper parts may have come off.”
If the cargo did come from the
Santo Cristo de Burgos, other clues
could be waiting underneath the sand:
teak, used in the ship’s construction,
and some of the 2½ tons of mercury
shipped from China and headed to
Mexico for the processing of silver.
Treasure hunters
So many people have scavenged on
Neahkahnie Mountain looking for clues
to the wreck of the Beeswax that it is
referred to as “The Mountain of 1,000
Holes.”
Treasure hunters like Pat Smith,
Charlie Pike and Dean Grimes started
what became something of a craze.
Early 20th-century developer
Sam Reed even offered prospective
home-buyers a chance to search for
treasure.
Beachcombers have
long found marked
blocks of beeswax,
like this piece found
in 1915, that the in-
vestigators with the
Beeswax Wreck Proj-
ect believe are from
the Santo Cristo de
Burgos, a Spanish
galleon
coming
back with commod-
ities from Manila, Phil-
lipines, when it sank in
the late-17th century.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Officials became so alarmed at the
environmental impacts of amateur
searchers that they passed a “treasure
hunting law” in 1967, requiring a per-
mit for digging. This backfired, as more
sophisticated and more invasive equip-
ment was utilized by professionals. The
law was repealed in the 1990s.
Treasure hunting is no longer per-
mitted on state lands, but the search for
clues continues.
Finding the wreck of Santo Cris-
to de Burgos is probably is a matter
precise technology, money and good
weather conditions. “The sands are
always uncovering something,” La
Follette said. “It’s a matter of time and
persistence.”
Manila Galleon in harbor, being
loaded by Chinese vessels.
COURTESY OF ROGER D. MORRIS
A sampling of deliciousness at city’s newest eatery
W
e were in the Osprey Café
in Seaside, one of our
favorite daylight haunts.
There are a lot of tempting items
on the menu, but I’m pretty down
with the avocado toast and the
house made granola with fresh fruit
and yogurt, or, as was true today,
a cup of their outrageously thick
and delicious Hungarian mushroom
soup. We discovered the Osprey
several years ago and have been
semi-regulars ever since.
Josh Bokish, the owner/chef was
in the house today and he stopped
by our table for a chat. We joked
we were taking a break from our
patronage at Surfbird, his new(ish)
restaurant located at 231 N. Hem-
lock St. in Cannon Beach.
We’ve been to Surfbird twice
since it opened early this summer in
the space that used to be occupied
by Bella Espresso. The room, which
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VIEW FROM
THE PORCH
EVE MARX
always felt to me dark and hemmed
in, is now a beautiful, naturally lit,
modern space. Josh and Jasmine,
his romantic partner, said as soon as
they saw the space they began imag-
ining. What they imagined seems
almost Swedish in design, at least to
me. You order at the counter from
an abbreviated but excellent menu
that has a lot in common with the
menu at the Osprey and then your
food is brought out. This is only a
sampling, but they have biscuits and
gravy; avocado toast; bacon and bri-
oche egg sandwiches; grab and go
sandwiches; Caesar salad. There’s
always clam chowder and a soup of
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EVE MARX
Chicken and waffles at Surfbird.
Yum!
the day. Hours of operation are 7:30
a.m. to 3 p.m., just like the Osprey.
The first time we went to Surf-
bird, Mr. Sax as I call him, had the
chicken and waffles. It was the best
rendition of the classic pairing I’ve
seen in ages, a beautiful filet of
free-range organic chicken sat on
top of an artisanal yeast waffle. It
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was neither too large, too small, or
overwhelming. Mr. Sax devoured
it in about two minutes. I had the
granola parfait which I was a little
disappointed was served in a plastic
cup and not an old-fashioned parfait
glass, but what the heck. In the cup
it’s a healthy, easy thing to take
on the run if you’re headed to the
beach or the office.
On our second trip, we both
had the baked french toast, which
was also perfect and delicious and
served with real maple syrup. I ate
mine in about two minutes, which
gave me plenty of time to survey
the pretty room and gorgeous light
fixture hanging from the high-ceil-
inged part of the dining area where
they put in a terrific skylight. It was
a weekday morning just before La-
bor Day and Surfbird was filled to
capacity with attractive couples and
their beautiful children. Surfbird
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does not have a specific children’s
menu although for smaller appetites
they do have fresh fruit and some
baked goods and handmade biscuits
and butter.
My husband asked Josh how it
was going running two restaurants.
He said he’d had a busy summer
and that he was glad to see he was
getting lots of thumbs up from Can-
non Beach locals who are enjoying
Surfbird. He said he’d moved one
of his cooks from the Osprey full
time to Surfbird, and that just this
week he was starting winter hours
for both places, which means closed
Tuesday and Wednesday.
I’m pretty sure Surfbird will
become one of our favorite places
to enjoy breakfast and lunch. Of
course I’ll have to divide my time
there with the Osprey. It’s really a
glut of good fortune to have amaz-
ing breakfast places in two towns.
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