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Date Published: 05/05/2021
ARCHIVED - Guardia Civil recover 16th century cannon from Spanish Armada looted by fishermen
The sunken vessel was discovered off the Galician coast by fishermen, who allegedly removed one of the cannon
Seven people, five men and two women, are now being investigated for crimes against historical heritage after the theft of a cannon, which is thought to have belonged to a ship sent by Spain’s Felipe II to fight the English in 1596 as part of the "2nd" Spanish Armada, in revenge for the English sacking of Cádiz in 1596.
Nearly 5,000 men died during the fierce storm which struck the Spanish fleet off Cape Finisterre, and 38 ships were lost.
The investigation by the Guardia Civil began after a group of shellfish fishermen reported discovering three bronze cannons in the sea on April 14 in Punta de Espiñeirido, northern Spain.
Excited by the possibility that this could be a major wreck site, the Xunta de Galicia sent a team to the site the following day, but were only able to locate two of the three guns in spite of a concerted search. Suspicion was immediately aroused that the third cannon had been stolen, a hypòthesis which was confirmed when video footage emerged showing one of the cannons being lifted by a rope whilst it was being stolen.
Police rapidly identified those who had taken part in the alleged theft and during the course of the investigation, one of the suspects handed the cannon over to the investigating officers.
The cannon was subsequently moved to the Museo del Mar in Vigo (Pontevedra) for assessment and conservation.
Work will now begin to stabilise the metal to prevent deterioration and experts will also work to learn more about the history of the three cannon and try to identify the vessel from which they came.
It's unusual for artefacts of this nature to be lying on the seabed without forming part of a wrecksite, for which reason it is completely illegal to remove any archaeological artefact from the seabed.
Divers or fishermen locating any historical artefact should photograph their find and take GPS co-ordinates, before reporting the find to the Guardia Civíl.
This is because the removal of artefacts can compromise the evidence about a wreck and destroy valuable archaeological information, as well as encouraging the illegal re-sale of historical artefacts recovered from the sea. It can also be extremely dangerous; many remnants of armed conflicts lie off the Spanish coastline and unexploded bombs, mines and artillery shells are still found frequently by leisure divers; on occasions, by now defunct leisure divers who ignored the instructions not to touch anything found on the seabed.
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