Finding The 1526 Flagship Of Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Plus Ultra: An examination of current research in Spanish Colonial/Iberian Underwater and Terrestrial Archaeology in the Western Hemisphere." , at the 2020 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

On a stormy night in 1526, the flagship from the Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón expedition hit a sandbar and sank at the entrance to the Jordan river. Slavers from Hispaniola had visited this new landmass five years earlier and reported on a native kingdom in the area. Ayllón had spent the subsequent years organizing and launching the colonizing expedition that would eventually include six ships and 500-550 colonists. Even after the loss of the flagship, the colonists salvaged what they could before traveling south and attempting to settle for six weeks only to abandon the endeavor after the death of their leader. Historians and archaeologists have debated for decades the location of Ayllón’s flagship and the ill-fated colony. Recent research suggests that the location of the shipwreck is off the coast of South Carolina at the entrance to a river network that has never been completely archaeologically surveyed.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2020   •
• Plus Ultra: An examination of current research in Spanish Colonial/Iberian Underwater and Terrestrial Archaeology in the Western Hemisphere.

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 701