AH-WR-1199

Cuarenta Cañones (Site)

Sailing Warship · Spain · Lost If identified with the galleon Santiago, lost the night of 28 December 1658; the wreck's identity remains debated among researchers. · The Mexican Gulf Coast & Campeche

A cannon-strewn wreck on Chinchorro Bank, long known to local fishermen and treasure hunters, whose exact identity is still debated by Mexican researchers.

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Known locally since about 1960 as the Cuarenta Cañones ("Forty Cannon") site, this wreck lies in the interior lagoon of Chinchorro Bank, Quintana Roo. Divers removed artifacts and dynamited the hull between 1962 and 1982 in search of treasure, badly damaging the site before archaeological standards were applied. Researchers have proposed identifying it with the Spanish galleon Santiago, lost in December 1658, though this attribution remains debated. INAH's underwater archaeology program continues to study the site's guns and hull remains to establish its origin and date.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Possibly Spanish Crown (Armada), if identified as the galleon Santiago

Loss

Date: If identified with the galleon Santiago, lost the night of 28 December 1658; the wreck's identity remains debated among researchers.
Cause: Grounding
Location: Chinchorro Bank (historically called Quitasueño), Quintana Roo
Water: Caribbean Sea
Voyage: Not established
Cargo: Not established
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: If the site is the galleon Santiago, contemporary accounts describe over 200 crew, with Spanish rescue efforts for survivors; this identification is not fully settled.
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Heavily damaged; the site was dynamited by treasure hunters between 1962 and 1982, and roughly 36 of an originally reported 40 cannon remain after decades of looting.
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: c. 1960
Protection: Within the Banco Chinchorro Biosphere Reserve, administered with CONANP

Position

Coordinates: Not established
Accuracy: Position not established
Nearest: Chinchorro Bank, off Mahahual, Quintana Roo
Region: The Mexican Gulf Coast & Campeche

General site is within the Chinchorro Bank atoll; a precise published position was not found in the sources reviewed.

Evidence

Overall confidence: Sparsely documented (40/100)

The vessel's name, exact date of loss, and nationality of build are not conclusively established; identification with the galleon Santiago is a researched hypothesis, not a confirmed fact.

Arqueología Mexicana / INAH, Subdirección de Arqueología Subacuática
Discovery history, damage from looting, cannon count, and ongoing identification research.
CONICET / I Congreso Iberoamericano de Arqueología Náutica y Subacuática (CIANYS)
Site discovery, looting history, and proposed English 18th-century identification hypothesis.
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de Estudios Superiores Acatlán (Meyibó journal)
Alternative hypothesis identifying the site with the galleon Santiago, lost December 1658.