Projects supported by Submerged Archaeological Conservancy International.
The Lost Ships of Cortés Project
An international team of marine archaeologists from the U.S.A., Mexico, Spain, and Canada is searching for the remains of the Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés' fleet scuttled in the Gulf of Mexico in 1519.
Initiated in 2017 with an Explorer grant from the National Geographic Society, the Lost Ships of Cortés (LSoC) Project has been conducting high-resolution marine magnetometer surveys and diver investigations of magnetic anomalies just offshore of Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz, the first Spanish town established by Cortés in what is now Mexico. In partnership with Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH), the LSoC team is led by Christopher Horrell and Melanie Damour (SACI), Roberto Junco (INAH), and Frederick “Fritz” Hanselmann (University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science).
For more information:
Aquadive: The Lost Ships of Cortes Project
Press Release: Searching for the Lost Ships of Cortés - University of Miami
Follow the Lost Ships of Cortés Project:
Excerpt from The Arrival of Cortés in Vera Cruz. Second half of the 17th century. Oil on canvas. Jay I. Kislak Collection, Library of Congress. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/exploring-the-early-americas/conquest-of-mexico-paintings.html#obj1.