Archaeology of Manila Galleons in the American Continent

Scott Williams has over thirty-five years of experience conducting archaeological research throughout the Pacific Northwest, Oceania, and Australia. He is the Cultural Resources Program Manager for the Washington State Department of Transportation, where he oversees the agency’s archaeology and history program. In addition to his full-time job with the Washington State DOT, he is on the Board of the Maritime Archaeological Society and serves as the Principal Investigator for the Beeswax Wreck Project, a non-profit, multi-disciplinary project investigating the wreck of the Spanish Manila galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos, wrecked on the north Oregon coast in 1693.  Dr. Roberto Junco is an archaeologist graduated from the National School of Anthropology and History (ENAH) where he studied a master's degree and PhD in Archeology. He received a diploma in Historical Archeology from the University of Leicester, United Kingdom. He is currently an Affiliated Scholar of the Institute of Nautical Archeology (INA), member of the Society for Historical Archeology (SHA), ICUCH, ICOMOS and Board Member of ACUA. He has been in charge of the Underwater Archeology office of INAH since 2017, where he has been working since 2004. Among the projects he has directed are: Underwater Archeology in the Volcano “Nevado de Toluca”; Manila Galleon, Baja California; Maritime Archeology of the Port of Acapulco and Underwater Archeology in Villa Rica.

• Chapter 1. Introduction: Lost on Lonely Shores.- Chapter 2. Making the Exotic Mundane: the Manila Galleon, The Flota, And Globalization.- Chapter 3. "What Happens in the Embocadero, Stays in the Embocadero": An Archaeological Interpretation of the Early Spanish Exploration of the Pacific and the Establishment of the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade.- Chapter 4. Excavating Acapulco. Archaeology at the Fortress of San Diego.- Chapter 5. Smuggling and Distribution Routes of the Manila Galleon. The Case of Some 16th Century Chinese Porcelains and Majolica on the Pacific Coast of Mexico.- Chapter 6. Spanish Shippers Marks on Wax, Pottery and Silver Bars.- Chapter 7. The Late 1570s Manila Galleon Shipwreck in Baja California.- Chapter 8. Metal Detecting on the Baja California Galleon Wreck.- Chapter 9. The Stoneware from the Baja California Manila Galleon.- Chapter 10. The Wreck of the Galleon San Agustin: a Case Study in Economics, Exploration, and European Development of the Pacific Rim.- Chapter 11. The Search for San Agustín:  National Park Service Investigations in Drakes Bay, Point Reyes National Seashore.- Chapter 12. The Beeswax Wreck Project: the First Ten Years.- Chapter 13. The Porcelain Cargo of the Beeswax Wreck.- Chapter 14. Methodological Convergence: Historical Sources and Authenticity Relating to the Manila-Acapulco Galleon trade, 1565-1820, and Specifically to the "Beeswax Wreck" of Manzanita-Nehalem Bay, Oregon.- Chapter 15. Discussion and Conclusion.- Index.​

“The volume delves deep through the lost maritime history of the Spanish in the Asia-Pacific region and wonderfully contributes to the maritime archaeological community. ... The keynotes, we realize from this volume, are that of 400 or so voyages made by Manila Galleons during nearly 250 years, slightly less than 15% ended in a wrecked or lost vessel, with few truly lost to the Spanish and never seen again after leaving the Philippines.” (Chunming Wu, Journal of Maritime Archaeology, Vol. 18 (1), 2023)