A 17th-century ship carrying contraband has been discovered off the coast of Spain
The sunken ship "Delta I," discovered off the coast of Cádiz, Spain, continues to reveal new secrets. Archaeologists have determined that the ship was carrying Swedish cannons and silver ingots from the territory of modern-day Bolivia, which may indicate large-scale smuggling in the Atlantic more than 300 years ago.
This is reported by WP tech.
The ship was found in 2024 during dredging operations prior to the construction of a new terminal at the Port of Cádiz. Since then, the wreck has been studied by a team from the Center for Underwater Archaeology at the Andalusian Institute of Historical Heritage.
Archaeologists immediately determined that the vessel dated to the 17th century, but only further research allowed them to reconstruct in detail the nature of the cargo and the ship’s possible origin.
During the investigation of the ship, scientists discovered:
- 27 Swedish iron cannons of the “Finbanker” type;
- a bronze bell inscribed with “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph 1671”;
- 18 silver ingots with a total weight of about half a ton.
One of the silver ingots clearly bears the date 1667.
According to the researchers, the cannons vary in caliber and degree of damage. Some of the artillery was incomplete or had damaged muzzles. Because of this, experts speculate that the cannons may have been used as ballast or were damaged shortly before the shipwreck.
Despite the findings, the ship’s actual name remains unknown. It was given the name “Delta I” after the discovery.
Experts suggest that the ship may have been built in France and later used by Dutch merchants who were actively involved in the arms trade in the 17th century.
What interests researchers most is the combination of silver and foreign artillery on a single ship.
In the 17th century, the trade in precious metals in Spain was strictly controlled by the state. The formal center of the monopoly was Seville, but the port of Cádiz, thanks to its advantageous location, was often used to service ships from the Americas.
This is why historians suggest that the Bay of Cádiz may have been one of the centers of illegal trade and smuggling of precious metals in Europe.
In addition, scientists are studying a unique merchant ship that sank off the southeastern coast of France over 400 years ago. The ship lies at a depth of more than 2.4 kilometers and is considered the deepest known sunken vessel in French territorial waters.
As a reminder, scientists previously revived an animal that had been frozen for 24,000 years.
Researchers revived a microscopic organism that had been buried in permafrost for about 24,000 years.
