Investigation of Shipwrecks from the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in 1741

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.

The War of Jenkins’ Ear, or the Guerra del Asiento, took place from 1739 – 1748, with major operations ended by 1742. The largest action of the war took place at Cartagena de Indias, one of Spain’s principal ports through which all gold and silver passed prior to being shipped to Spain. The British Navy, led by Admiral Edward Vernon, launched an amphibious attack that became a prolonged siege against the outmanned and under gunned Spanish forces, led by Admiral Blas de Lezo, in March of 1741. The battle lasted for 67 days and resulted in tens of thousands of casualties, more than 50 shipwrecks, and a largely decimated British Navy. In 2012 and 2013, a multi-disciplinary, collaborative team of archaeologists and researchers from a variety of Colombian and American institutions investigated and documented of some of the sunken vestiges of this battle.

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): 989