2012 - Nov :  Open  Day  at  Martinhal  wreck  excavation  site

Members will recall that this year the AAA gave a grant to Tiago Fraga and George Schwarz from A&M University to assist in the search for the Patacho Pedro Diaz. We were invited to go to their site in November.

Tiago introduced the visit by explaining why the bay at Martinhal was so important, in that it gave shelter for vessels during bad weather. However the bay could still prove dangerous at times due to shoals which were invisible to ships and subsequently caused wrecks with the dispersal of finds along the coast due to the currents.
The project Patacho Pedro Diaz began in 2007 with a pre-project survey to determine the bay’s potential and to locate a specific ship typology which is one of the Iberian work-horses of the 17th century. Although the ship was bringing contraband from S. America, no proof exists for any precious cargo in it at this time – despite the recent rumours! It was common, however, for such ships to carry a small amount of ‘gold’ to be used as funds for purchases along the journey. From contemporary documents there were reports of the Pedro Diaz carrying 80 tons of cargo and in 1613, 1618 and 1633 reports were made to the king of finds of valuable trade goods having been found along the coast.
Tiago went on to explain how their survey was carried out – using magnetometry to identify ‘hot spots’, probes and a vacuum pump to remove sand and debris. When a find was identified it was then plotted and recorded. However due to the vast number of finds there has to be a non-retrieval policy on the site – as Tiago pointed out ‘we were swamped by our own success!!’

We were then introduced to the Logistics Officer and Dive Safety Officer. The latter explained her work in that she was responsible for deciding if it was safe to dive and also to check the suitability of individual divers. A boat trip to the site had been planned but due to the weather this was unfortunately not possible.

Towards the end of our visit Tiago and George expressed their immense gratitude to the AAA. It transpires that when this year’s dive season was planned, promises of financial assistance were made by various organizations and groups – the AAA being just one.  The Martinhal Resort, where they were based, had been very generous in that they provided accommodation for the team as well as an indoor pool for training purposes.
However we were told that only 10% of this year’s promised funding was actually received and ALL of this came from the AAA. Our funding has helped pay for food and fuel for the team, but even so, due to the withdrawal of other funding, vital equipment had to be left in the USA. Fortunately local dive shops gave their time and equipment and the government provided a dredger. Later we found out that Tiago had spent some of his own money to keep the project going this year.
We would like to thank a number of AAA members who have already given private donations to this project apart from the original AAA grant. Thanks to Tiago and the team for giving us their time on the open day.