In the late 1990s underwater archaeologists from the University of West Florida uncovered the remarkably well-preserved 17th century Spanish shipwreck of Nuestra Señora del Rosario y Santiago Apostal. Rosario was built in 1696 as a powerful warship for the Spanish navy. As part of the Windward Fleet, she protected convoys of ships loaded with valuable goods traveling between Spain and its New World colonies.
Throughout her career the ship performed many duties including hunting pirates and supplying far-flung settlements. The ship was lost in 1705 while resupplying the colony at Pensacola, then known as Presidio Santa María de Galve. This exhibit examines the excavation of this shipwreck and the clues archaeologists are uncovering about its construction currently under research. Several artifacts from the wreck are on display.
