This page is excerpted from "The Search for Columbus's Caravels at St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica."
 by J. Parrent, P. Willoughby, H. Tolson, M. Franklin, D. Ryter,  INA Newsletter 17.4 (1990): 4-7.

Edited for online publication January 2003.

From October 3 to November 28, 1990, the Columbus Caravels Archaeological Project (CCAP) led by Dr. James Parrent conducted an intensive survey of St. Ann's Bay, Jamaica, in search of two caravels abandoned there by Columbus in 1504.  The project's headquarters in the Seville Great House, a plantation house built in 1745 and now a museum, look out over a bay dramatically changed in the last five centuries.  When Columbus ran his ships aground in St. Ann's Bay, hardwood trees grew along the shore, several large Arawak villages populated the area, the bay was much deeper and pristine, and the sea teemed with fish.  In 1503, five fresh water streams and rivers flowed into the bay.  Today the trees are gone, replaced by mangroves, brush, and an occasional coconut palm that survived the yellow blight of the past few years.  Four of die streams have filled with silt and only flow during heavy rainfall.  Gone too are the Arawaks, and few fish are to be found in the silt-congested waters.  Fortunately, much of the beauty of the place has survived, and the local people are friendly and interested in the history of the area.

Because the bay has changed so much, archaeologists at the Institute of Nautical Archaeology brought in consultants from other fields to help in the search for the caravels.  Geoarchaeologists and geologists from Texas A&M University and geophysicists from Florida Atlantic University and Weston Geophysical in Boston were key members of the survey crew.  Planning for the Columbus Caravels Archaeological Project began almost two years ago.  Even with a proposed field season of only seven weeks, the logistical considerations for bringing crew, equipment, and special consultants from the United States to St. Ann's Bay, along with housing and transportation needs once on site, were considerable and complex.  In addition to these factors, it was necessary to outline a search strategy prior to our arrival in Jamaica.

In the CCAP headquarters at Texas A&M University, project staff members retranslated, reread, and evaluated a variety of contemporary and modern source materials in an effort to select primary search areas in St. Ann's Bay where Columbus may have beached the Capitana and Santiago.  Maps and charts of St. Ann's Bay ranging from modern to hundreds of years old were scrutinized and compared with aerial photographs.  Experienced cruising sailors were given the facts of Columbus's predicament and asked how they would have dealt with it.  All this information was combined to select what the crew believed were the most likely areas in which to begin the search for the lost caravels.

Historic documents indicate that the ships Columbus left in St. Ann's Bay were approximately 70 to 80 feet long and 21 feet wide.  Under normal conditions, the ships could have sailed in water about seven feet deep. Columbus's son Ferdinand states, "we ran them ashore as far as we could, grounding them close together board and board, and shoring them up on both sides so they could not budge; and the ships being in this position the tide rose almost to the decks."  Ferdinand's statement suggests that the ships were beached in 8 to 10 feet of water (allowing for the distance between the deck and the water line).  As for the ships' position relative to shore, Ferdinand states: "When we were thus fortified in the ships as strong as we could be, a crossbow shot from land, the Indians of that country, who proved to be kind and gentle people, presently came in canoes to barter their wares and provisions for our truck."  Various interpretations of the distance of " a crossbow shot" have been offered.  Some start at 300 feet while others go as high as 1,700 feet.

All of this information, coupled with our knowledge of other sixteenth-century shipwreck sites, indicates that the site should show itself as two distinct mound-like structures (the ballast piles) approximately in line with one another and about 20 feet apart.

For the full article please see INA Newsletter 17.4 (1990): 4-7.

  INA Newsletter 16/4 and 17/4

James Parrent, et al.
2003, Columbus Caravels Archaeological Project: The 1990 Season
Edited by Ralph K. Pedersen
URL, http://ina.tamu.edu/CCAP/CCAP1990/CCAP1990.htm

Design and map colorization by Ralph K. Pedersen