The Manila Galleon San Felipe, 1576

A slide series tells the San Felipe's saga, shows how she was rediscovered, and describes the contents and meaning of her recovered porcelains and other artifacts. Our ten Mexico-United States expeditions from 1999 to 2011 to a wreck site along the desert shore of Baja California, and study of newly available documents, have enabled us to reconstruct the story of the earliest eastbound Manila galleon shipwreck. The results include identifying the ship as the galleon San Felipe, lost without trace in 1576, recovering her history, and explaining her tragic fate. We have discovered lead sheathing with iron nails from her lower hull, large amounts of wax from her cargo, more than fifteen hundred Ming porcelain and stoneware sherds, a piece of Iberian pottery, a set of compass gimbals, a Chinese bronze mirror, the ship's boat's sounding lead, a Chinese bronze buddhist lion on an incense burner, and a unique cloisonné plate rim. In addition, we have gained a remarkable insight into the Chinese-Philippine-Mexican trade at this early point in the history of the Manila galleons (1573-1815) and developed a bilingual traveling museum exhibit titled "Treasures of the Manila Galleons," which uses material from the wreck to reach a wide range of audiences.

Speaker:   Edward Von der Porten - Naval historian, nautical archaeologist, museum director, and educator

Red Barn Classroom