Three researchers working for the Spanish ministry of Culture are leading a project to map and document hundreds of historic shipwrecks which sank near the Americas. The team uses information found in the archives of Seville and Madrid. Until now, the team has found 681 shipwrecks off the coasts of Cuba, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Bermuda, the Bahamas and the United States. With the map, the team hopes to be able to better preserve the sites.
Research
Other projectives are for researchers to be able to focus their future research and to provide more information on naval travel in the past. So far, the team calculated that 91,2% of ships were sunk by bad weather. They also found that moest ships perished near harbours and bays, at departure or arrival.
Read the full extensive article on The Guardian.