A UNESCO mission of experts has determined a shipwreck discovered near Haiti is not the Santa Maria, which was the flagship on Christopher Columbus' journey to the new world.
The mission was requested by the Haitian government after an American explorer claimed he had found the remains of the famous ship, UNESCO reported.
"There is now incontestable proof that the wreck is from a much later period," Xavier Nieto Prieto, who was selected by the Scientific and Technical Advisory Body of UNESCO's Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, wrote in the drafted report.
The researchers determined the copper fasteners trace back to shipbuilding techniques prominent in the late 17th and 18th centuries; before this period only iron and wood were used in shipbuilding. The Santa Maria is believed to have run aground around Dec. 25, 1492, long before these materials were used to make ship fasteners. The wreck is also believed to be too far from the shore to be the Santa Maria.
On May 14, underwater explorer Bill Clifford announced he had identified the wreck of the Santa Maria, one of the three ships believed to have carried Christopher Columbus and his crew to the Americas. After the announcement Culture Minister of Haiti, Monique Rocourt, asked for the support of the Scientific and Technical Body of the Underwater Cultural Heritage Convention to launch an expedition to the site.
The new report recommends further exploration in search of the ship through other major wrecks present in the area near the Coque Vieille Reef. It also asks Haiti to adopt legislative measures to work to protect underwater heritage sites through strategies such as honoring UNESCO's Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which Haiti has ratified. Some of these actions include warding off commercial exploitation and fighting illicit trafficking in the region.
