Tsunami and Salvage: The Archaeological Landscape of the Beeswax Wreck, Oregon, USA

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

“…The locations of timbers that were selected for AMS dating are shown in Figure 6 and Table 1. All the calibrated (2 σ) radiocarbon ages are consistent with shipwreck timbers from the Santo Cristo de Burgos, lost in 1693 (Williams et al, 2017, Williams et al, 2018. 1 for Beeswax Wreck timber positions in the NSC site.…”

“…The field identification of shipwreck timber (wood) from the Philippines was aided by anomalous high density and color, such as Vitex parviflora (2.5Y 7/6 yellow) that is distinguished from local native conifer and hardwood driftwood. Calibrated ages of the shipwreck timbers (n=7 AMS dates), ranging cal 1425-1796 2σ, confirm that the origins of the shipwreck timbers were from the wreck of the Santo Cristo de Burgos or Beeswax Wreck (Williams et al, 2017, Williams et al, 2018. Twenty-three Beeswax Wreck timbers that were buried by rockslide boulders were identified in the subaerial wave-cut platform.…”

“…After geological studies established that tsunami cobbles and boulders were draped across the surface of the sand spit the across spit distribution of artifacts were attributed to nearfield tsunami surges (Peterson et al, 2011) resulting from the last Cascadia megathrust rupture (M w ~9.0) in 1700 (Satake et al, 1996). A renewed search of Spanish documents showed that another galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos had been lost in 1693, thereby permitting overland transport of artifacts by the 1700 Cascadia tsunami surges (Williams et al, 2017). The coincidence of the Spanish galleon shipwreck, referred to informally as the Beeswax Wreck, followed by the 1700 Cascadia earthquake and associated tsunami, explained the mystery of Beeswax Wreck artifacts transported across the bay spit and adjacent tidal flats (Williams et al, 2018).…”

“…In this study, the mechanisms of potential timber transport and preservation of shipwreck timbers in the NSC site are investigated, as are possible origin(s) of the burial of shipwreck timbers by large boulders. (Peterson et a., 2011;Williams et al, 2017), 3) Holocene dune field north of Manzanita, Oregon (dashed circle), 4) northward direction of net littoral sand transport (dashed line with arrow) (Peterson et al, 2009), 5) estimated decadal depth of closure (-20 m dashed line) for littoral sand transport, and 6) modern drift logs from satellite images 2005-2022 (bold lines) (Goggle Earth Pro, 2022). Historically reported shipwreck timber sites (marked X) (Williams et al, 2018) are now buried by prograded foredunes (half circles).…”

“…In this article, large boulders that bury shipwreck timbers from a Spanish galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos, lost in 1693 (Williams et al, 2017), are used to establish the age and origin of rockslides from sea cliffs and overlying hillslopes on the north side of a small cove in the central Cascadia subduction zone (Figure 1). Debris from the shipwreck included beeswax blocks, porcelain sherds, and tropical wood, which were distributed across the Nehalem Bay spit and tidal flats, located about 10 km south of the small cove (Mashall, 1984;Williams et al, 2018).…”