When the matter is researching and exploring a ship wreck, there`s the need for conscience and responsibility for a work on underwater archeology, bringing up a complete work on musems and history, what makes it always a requirement to have a professional marine official and a well-suited underwater archeologist and diver.

In wanting to record a documentary or to interview people related to the Utrecht Galeon, we were greeted with neutrality and that`s the way we left, following the diving works and in informal chat. We took some pictures and participated in the beginning of the first steps in a archeology field study.

In a summer afternoon in the beginning of the eighties, we went to Salvador, Bahia, Brasil to meet with a local diver, named Maré (Tide, in Portuguese), and we used a little boat to Itaparica. Our main goal was to find the Nossa Senhora do Rosário Galeon (from Portugal). Maré, as a wise local, knew all the stories told by the local fishermen, that, in fact, are a great source of information about the sea and it`s ship wrecks. 

So, Maré stopped and threw the anchor and said: "we`re over it!". We equipped and I asked him: "What`s the depth?", he replied "20 meters". 

We dived using the anchor`s cable, to 15 meters deep, with clear water, and we saw the Nossa Senhora do Rosário Galeon, totally destroyed, with some bronze cannons, together with Stones and other material. Following on, we went straight to the bottom, where we saw an archeological site.  At least that`s what we could understand, since it was night, with a beautiful sunset. We went back to Salvador, and stayed in a hotel close to the Namorados Beach.

On the next day we went to the wreckage and saw divers working on top of the Galeon, 22 meters deep. They didn`t pay attention to us, what was great, since we could take some pictures of the beginning of the underwater archeology project.

We then went back on the next day, and the water wasn`t so clear, and with bottom suspension, but we could see well, because the Air-Life dragging was already being used. It is a sucking system to take the material like sand and stone from the bottom. After that we could take pictures of some bronze cannons. 

The work was very interesting, and our mission was complete, the Nossa Senhora do Rosário Galeon was completely destroyed, because of the explosion, by order of the King of Portugal to destroy your own ship and the enemie`s, when in a loss-loss situation.

The Portuguese captain followed the orders by the numbers, and the Galeon Utrecht also sunk, but the Nassau, although damaged, was recovered by the Portuguese and got a new name: "Fortuna".

                                Julio Cesar Castello Branco

Project Coordinator, Professional Diver and Ship Wreck Technician

 

Source: http://www.sintasa.org.br/