In 1990 Seahawk Deep Ocean Technology of Tampa, Florida, commenced the world’s first robotic archaeological excavation of a deep-sea shipwreck south of the Tortugas Islands in the Straits of Florida. At a depth of 405 meters, 16,903 artefacts were recovered using a Remotely-Operated Vehicle. The wreck is interpreted as the Buen Jesús y Nuestra Señora del Rosario, a small Portuguese-built and Spanish-operated merchant vessel from the 1622 Tierra Firme fleet returning to Seville from Venezuela’s Pearl Coast when lost in a hurricane. Oceans Odyssey 3 introduces the shipwreck and its artefact collection – today owned and curated by Odyssey Marine Exploration – ranging from gold bars to silver coins, pearls, ceramics, beads, glass wares, astrolabes, tortoiseshell, animal bones and seeds. The Tortugas shipwreck reflects the daily life of trade with the Americas at the end of the Golden Age of Spain and presents the capabilities of deep-sea robotics as tools for precision archaeological excavation.
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Astley, J. and Stemm, G., The Deep-Sea Tortugas Shipwreck, Florida: Technology.
Chapter 2. Stemm, G., Gerth, E., Flow, J., Lozano Guerra-Libre- ro, C. and Kingsley, S., The Deep-Sea Tortugas Shipwreck, Florida: A Spanish-Operated Navio of the 1622 Tierra Firme Fleet. Part 1, the Site.
Chapter 3. Stemm, G., Gerth, E., Flow, J., Lozano Guerra-Librero, C. and Kingsley, S., The Deep-Sea Tortugas Shipwreck, Florida: A Spanish-Operated Navio of the 1622 Tierra Firme Fleet. Part 2: the Artifacts.
Chapter 4. Kingsley, S., The Identity and Maritime History of the Deep-Sea Tortugas Shipwreck.
Chapter 5. Armitage, P.L., The Deep-Sea Tortugas Shipwreck, Florida: the Animal Bones.
Chapter 6. Tedesco, C., The Deep-Sea Tortugas Shipwreck, Florida: the Silver Coins.
