Waitt Institute For Discovery -- Expedition to Campeche Bank, Mexico

(February 12, 2008) — The Waitt Institute for Discovery has partnered with Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) for an exploratory survey of the Campeche and Chinchorro Banks off the coast of the Yucatan in Mexico. Dr. Pilar Luna Erreguerena, a nautical archaeologist and Director of Underwater Archaeology at INAH in Mexico City will lead the expedition as Principle Investigator.

The reefs and islands of the Campeche Bank were a notorious navigation hazard for Spanish ships traveling between Havana and the Mexican port of Veracruz. It was among these shoals and hidden reefs that all 19 ships of the New Spain Fleet, under the command of Admiral Manuel Serrano, foundered and sank during a storm in 1631. Due to the threat posed by the reefs and islands of the Campeche Bank, the names and approximate locations of these ships appear on the earliest maps of the New World; yet they are among the least explored areas within the Gulf of Mexico.

Over the past several years, Dr. Luna Erreguerena has carried out research regarding the New Spain Fleet in the archives of Spain, Cuba, and Mexico. She and her team from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have identified 24 sites and recorded 150 targets along the Campeche Bank, the majority of which still await inspection.

The 18-day expedition set to embark next month will focus survey efforts on the search for the lost New Spain Fleet of 1630-1631 and its flagship, the Nuestra Señora del Juncal, which has remained elusive. The expedition will further investigate suspected shipwreck sites at Alacran Reef and along the reefs of Chinchorro Bank.

The Waitt Institute for Discovery aims to act as a catalyst in the preservation of underwater cultural heritage and is proud to partner with the National Institute of Anthropology and History on this exploratory expedition.

Dr. Pilar Luna Erreguerena is the Director of the Underwater Archaeology Department at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Mexico City, Mexico. Currently, she is directing the 1630-1631 New Spain's Fleet Research Project, an exemplary Latin American research effort. In January 1997, she received the Society for Historical Archaeology Award of Merit, "for pioneering in the recognition, exploration and preservation of the underwater archaeological heritage of Mexico." Her recent publication can be viewed here

The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) is the official department in charge of the Mexican cultural patrimony dating up to nineteenth century. In 1980, INAH created the Underwater Archaeology Department (DAS), in order to protect, research, conserve and disseminate the underwater cultural patrimony of Mexico, and to prepare future generations of underwater archaeologists. In 1995, the DAS was promoted to a Vice-Directorate.

About the Waitt Institute for Discovery
The Waitt Institute for Discovery is a non-profit research organization that serves as an exploration catalyst, enabling scientific pioneers to transform the ways in which discoveries are made. The Waitt Institute for Discovery implements innovative technologies in the field through collaborations with world-renowned scientific institutions, synthesizing global expertise and accelerating groundbreaking research. Founded in 2005 by Ted Waitt, the Waitt Institute for Discovery seeks to advance human understanding of the past and secure promise of a better future through exploration and discovery. The Waitt Institute for Discovery is supported by Ted Waitt and the Waitt Family Foundation. For more information about the Waitt Institute for Discovery, please visit: http://waittinstitute.org/WID.

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