Williams SHA2013 Beeswax Geoarchaeology

The “Beeswax Wreck” is the name historically given to a 17th century source of marked beeswax blocks and candles found along beaches of the north Oregon coast, and particularly the sand spit at Nehalem. This paper summarizes the historical and archaeological data supporting the identification of the Beeswax Wreck as an eastbound Manila galleon lost between 1670 and 1700, and specifically as the Santo Cristo de Burgos lost in 1693. Artifact analysis and archival research indicate the Beeswax Wreck was an Acapulco-bound galleon that wrecked near Nehalem Bay prior to AD 1700. Thought by several researchers to be the wreck of the galleon San Francisco Xavier of 1705, geoarchaeological research and the historically documented occurrence of wreck debris suggest the wreck is most likely the remains of the galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos which sailed from the Philippines on July 1, 1693 and disappeared. Spanish archives are clear that no trace of the vessel was ever found despite years of searching by the Spanish in the Philippines and along the Mexican coast, despite claims by Schurz (1939) and later researchers that the vessel burned in the Marianas Islands as reported by survivors.

abstract At the start of the nineteenth century, Euro-American settlers along the Oregon coast learned of a shipwreck with a large cargo of beeswax blocks and candles that had foundered a century or more before their arrival. The wreck and its origin were a mystery, and some observers believed that no vessel could carry such a large cargo of beeswax and therefore the wax must be from a natural source of mineral wax. This paper summarizes archaeological, historical, and geomorphological data that demonstrate the wreck is that of a wayward Manila galleon that wrecked on the Oregon coast sometime after ad 1670 but before the last large Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake and associated tsunami in ad 1700. An exhaustive search of Spanish shipping records revealed only one eastbound Manila galleon was lost during this time, suggesting that the Beeswax Wreck is actually the missing Manila galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos, which left the Philippines in July 1693 and was never seen again.

A coincidence of the Beeswax galleon shipwreck (ca. A.D. 1650–1700) and the last Cascadia earthquake tsunami and coastal subsidence at A.D. 1700 redistributed and buried wreck artifacts on the Nehalem Bay spit, Oregon, USA. Ground-penetrating radar profiles (7 km total distance), sand auger probes, trenches, cutbank exposures (29 in number), and surface cobble counts (49 sites) were collected from the Nehalem spit (5 km 2 area). The field data demonstrate (1) the latest prehistoric integrity of the spit, (2) tsunami spit overtopping, and (3) coseismic beach retreat since the A.D. 1700 great earthquake in the Cascadia subduction zone. Wreck debris was (1) initially scattered along the spit ocean beaches, (2) washed over the spit by nearfield tsunami (6–8 m elevation), and (3) remobilized in beach strandlines by catastrophic beach retreat. Historic recovery of the spit (150 m beach progradation) and modern foredune accretion (5 m depth) have buried both the retreat scarp strandlines and associated wreck artifacts. The recent onshore sand transport might re-expose heavy ship remains in the offshore area if the wreck grounded in shallow water (20 m water depth of closure).

Cascadia Earthquake-Triggered Rockslide Burial of Beeswax Galleon Wreck Timbers in a Sea Cliff Wave-Cut Platform Site, North Smuggler Cove, Oregon, USA, 2023

Shipwreck timbers (n=27) from the Spanish galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos, also known as the Beeswax Wreck (lost in 1693), are examined for origins of multiple, simultaneous rockslide burials that protected and preserved the timbers on an intertidal wave-cut platform in the small Smuggler Cove in the Northern Oregon coast. The rockslides (n=3-4) that buried the shipwreck timbers are compared to nearby historic rockslide analogs to better establish the mechanisms of boulder distributions on the wave-cut platform. Large boulders (n=20), generally ≥1.0 m intermediate diameter, in the North Smuggler Cove (NSC) timber burial site were measured for estimated mass (1-41 t) and alongshore distribution below small gullies that routed the boulders to the wave-cut platform from overlying short (~100 m distance) but steep hillslopes (40-60% gradient). The multiple independent rockslides in the NSC site, dated to ~300 years by the buried Beeswax Wreck timbers, showed catastrophic, simultaneous activation by a widespread trigger. Anomalous rainfall and/or storm wave attack are unlikely mechanisms for these rockslide activations due to 1) hillslope protections from extended-upslope surface water discharge and 2) sea cliff protection from direct storm wave impacts. The most likely widespread trigger for rockslide activation in the NSC site is seismic ground shaking from an earthquake in the Central Cascadia subduction zone. Modern storm wind velocities (>10 s-1 sustained velocity and 170-225° bearing) and storm surge generated rip currents (≥0.5 km offshore distance) indicate that Beeswax Wreck timbers could have been transported north (1-10 km) to Smuggler Cove, within several winter seasons after the breakup of the Santo Cristo de Burgos. The most likely seismic trigger that could have activated the multiple rockslides in the NSC site, shortly after the brief accumulation of shipwreck timbers on the narrow, intertidal wave-cut platform in Smuggler Cove, is the 1700 Cascadia great earthquake (M w~9 .0). Additional sea cliff rockslide sites (n=8) in the central Cascadia margin are suggested for further investigations of seismically activated slope failures by the 1700 Cascadia great earthquake.

The results of a seven-year, multi-disciplinary investigation into the identity and origin of the “Beeswax Wreck” are summarized and discussed. The “Beeswax Wreck” is the name historically given to a 17th century source of marked beeswax blocks and candles found along beaches of the north Oregon coast. Artifact analysis, remote sensing, geoarchaeological investigations, and archival research indicate the Beeswax Wreck was an Acapulco-bound galleon that wrecked near Nehalem Bay prior to AD 1700, and is most likely the remains of the galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos which sailed from the Philippines on July 1, 1693 and disappeared. Despite claims by Schurz (1939) and later researchers, no trace or survivors of the vessel were ever found by Spanish authorities, even after years of searching in the Philippines and along the Mexican coast.

2019

Oregon Historical Quarterly, 2018

AMPLE EVIDENCE OF A VAST SHIPWRECK on Oregon's north coast appeared from the very beginnings of the state's written historical record. John Ordway of the Lewis and Clark Expedition mentioned trade with the Clatsop people of "bears wax," a misspelling for "beeswax." 1 Later chroniclers-fur trappers, explorers, and early historians-echoed Ordway's account, verifying that a large ship carrying tons of cargo had wrecked on or near Nehalem Spit long before the time of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Nehalem-Tillamook residents of the coast provided firsthand observations, incorporating their eyewitness accounts into oral traditions that were subsequently shared with non-Native listeners. Those Native residents also utilized and traded from the cargo, especially large beeswax blocks and delicate blue-and-white chinaware. In their raw form, or fashioned into traditional crafts, these distinctive items still sometimes appear in Native archaeological sites. Even now, storms, waves, and shifting sands occasionally cause pieces of beeswax and wooden debris to resurface. This much has been well known for most of Oregon's recorded history. The rest of the story has been shrouded by time, speculation, and a surprisingly rich and often contradictory Euro-American folklore. When the wreck occurred, where the unfortunate ship sailed from, where it was going, what happened to its crew, and how the wreck affected coastal Native communities have been questions of a premier Oregon mystery for two hundred years. Citing the early date, signature cargo, and many other lines of evidence, partial consensus had developed around the likelihood that the shipwreck was a Spanish galleon-specifically, a Manila galleon that, having left the Philippines and crossed the Pacific Ocean, was trying to reach Acapulco with Asian trade goods. Based especially on published lists of missing galleons, the earlier consensus settled on the San Francisco Xavier of 1705 as the likeliest candidate for the Oregon "Beeswax Wreck," so-called from the vast quantities of beeswax it evidently carried. The San Francisco Xavier was lost without a trace. No official cargo manifest has ever been located, but a contemporary

Crossroads. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Asian Interactions, 2022

The Manila galleon San Francisco sank off the coast of Japan in 1609 after almost two months of sailing through storms and hurricanes that damaged the ship to the point that it was carrying more than two metres of water in its hold. This article provides an account of the final journey of San Francisco according to primary and secondary sources. It also proposes a set of theoretical dimensions for the galleon based on its tonnage, contemporary vessels of similar tonnages, hull ratios provided in late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century shipbuilding treatises and ordinances, and archaeological parallels. In addition, the authors estimate possible distances from the wreck of the galleon to the shore, using the distances provided in accounts of wreck and contemporary marine leagues, and the theoretical draft of the vessel.

Maritime Contacts of the Past: Deciphering Connections Amongst Communities