![]() ![]() The surviving parts of the hull showed construction techniques typical of 15th- and 16th-century Portuguese and Spanish ships, indicating this ship was a caravel. The ship had at least three masts metal parts of rigging found indicate that both square-rigged and lateen sails were used on the ship. The ship was about 19 meters long with a beam of five to six meters and a draft of two meters or a bit more. Structure of the ship from the distribution of ballast stones and from marks made in the sea floor by parts of the hull that had disintegrated since the wreck. While only a very small portion of the wooden hull had survived, the archaeologists were able to determine the size and some of the In 1990 all of the artifacts were returned to the Turks and Caicos Islands and placed in a new National Museum, opened in 1991, housing displays about the wreck. Responsibility for the wreck and artifacts was transferred to a non-profit entity, Ships of Exploration and Discovery Research, which was set up by the archaeologists working on the project. They shipped more than ten tons of artifacts to Texas for cleaning, stabilization and study. Over the next three years the archaeologists spent a total of six months excavating the site. Someone had used pipe bombs to dislodge artifacts from the wreck, leaving a large crater and damaged artifacts. When researchers from the Institute of Nautical Archaeology returned to Molasses Reef in 1982 they discovered that extensive damage had occurred since the earlier survey. The government then revoked the company's salvage license, and invited the Institute of Nautical Archaeology to excavate the Molasses Reef Wreck. After receiving permission to explore wrecks other than the Molasses Reef wreck, but not to remove any artifacts, this group proceeded to take artifacts without permission from numerous sites, including Molasses Reef. Later a new group arrived in the Turks and Caicos Islands, claiming to have inherited the rights of the earlier salvage company. Concerned about the salvage company's plans, the Turks and Caicos Islands government invited the Institute of Nautical Archaeology at Texas A&M University to survey the wreck site. ![]() After receiving the license, the company announced that it had discovered the wreck of Christopher Columbus' ship Pinta, and anticipated making large profits from marketing artifacts from the Pinta and other wrecks of treasure ships in the area. In 1980, a salvage company organized by those treasure hunters applied for a license from the government of the Turks and Caicos Islands to explore and salvage shipwrecks. The treasure hunters, who were looking for Spanish treasure ships, recognized that the ordnance in the wreck was from the 1490s or early 1500s, too early for a treasure ship. The remains of several other wrecks are scattered on top of and around the earliest wreck. The site of the wreck has been described as a "ship trap". In 1976, unlicensed treasure hunters discovered a wreck on Molasses Reef, on the southwestern edge of the Caicos Bank near French Cay. It is the oldest wreck of a European ship in the Americas to have been scientifically excavated. The Molasses Reef Shipwreck is the site of a ship which wrecked in the Turks and Caicos Islands early in the 16th century. For other uses, see Molasses Reef (disambiguation). ![]() The cost for groups is $5 per person.This article is about the shipwreck in the Turks and Caicos Islands. School groups or organizations wishing to schedule a 30-minute guided tour should email or go to the website /tour.html to schedule reservations. Self-guided tours are $8 for adults, $7 for people 65 and older and $6 for kids ages 5 to 16. The company hopes to have both the Niña and Pinta touring in the summer or fall of 2023. that morning, the dock that the Niña was tied to broke away from its pilings, and the Niña started spinning out into Pensacola Bay.Ī northwestern current pulled the Niña toward a rock jetty at the base of a seawall located at the shoreline on the outside edge of the peninsula that holds Community Maritime Park.Īccording to a Facebook post from Sanger Ships LLC, repairs on the Niña were underway earlier in 2022. 16, 2020, one day after the replica wrapped up tours in the area.Īround 6 a.m. Hurricane Sally hit the Florida Panhandle on Sept. The last time a tall ship visited Pensacola was in September 2020 when tall ship Niña, a historic replica of Columbus' flagship and an authentic floating museum of the same fleet, docked at Palafox Pier. ![]()
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