Amidships Assembly of the Sixteenth-Century Emanuel Point II Shipwreck
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Amidships Assembly of the Sixteenth-Century Emanuel Point II Shipwreck Charles D. Bendig 1 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018
Abstract The Emanuel Point II (EP II) shipwreck was part of a 1559 Spanish colonizing expedition along the coast of Florida, under Tristán de Luna y Arellano. Initially discovered by University of West Florida archaeologists in 2006, over the last decade EP II has provided several generations of undergraduates and graduate students a platform for learning practical underwater techniques. Recent funding has allowed year-around work that included uncovering articulated hull structure in the amidships area. Archaeologists recorded the mainmast step and its associated pump well construction. Results from this analysis suggest that EP II was a relatively new ship with unique features, when compared to other known sixteenth-century vessels. Keywords Mainmast step . Pump well . Luna expedition . Shipwreck . Sixteenth century
Introduction Over the last several years a dedicated team of archaeologists at the University of West Florida has been investigating a mid-sixteenth century shipwreck associated with the Tristán de Luna y Arellano expedition. These efforts have provided an opportunity to record intact hull remains from a large ship, known as Emanuel Point II (EP II), which sank in 1559 due to a powerful hurricane. This article addresses the historical context of the initial Luna expedition and the subsequent discovery of the Emanuel Point shipwrecks. Recent focus on EP II at amidships included uncovering surviving components from the mainmast step assembly and pump well enclosure. These components provide additional information for archaeologists in understanding the development of
* Charles D. Bendig [email protected]
1
Division of Anthropology and Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL 32514, USA
International Journal of Historical Archaeology
shipbuilding practices along the European-Atlantic coastline at the beginning of modern globalization.
Historical Background On December 29, 1557, King Philip II of Spain (1556–98), wrote a letter to his Viceroy of New Spain, D. Luís de Velasco (1550–64), informing him that he had decided to lift the eight-year ban on colonizing the province known as La Florida, a region in North America incorporating everything north and east from the Rio de las Palmas (modern Rio Soto la Marina). Although Philip II did not include the reason why the ban was lifted, he was confident that placing his Viceroy in charge of all decision making and selecting a governor to oversee the colonization would lead to a successful extension of his empire (Priestley 1928a, I:42–47). After the loss of three ships from the 1554 fleet along the modern Texas coastline and the fate of the survivors that were forced to walk south, many had petitioned the Crown for a new settlement beside the Gulf of Mexico to act as a safe haven for shipwreck victims (McDonald and Arnold 1979:147; Priestley 1936:267).
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