MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Major shipwreck discovery in South Atlantic

A group of Argentine archaeologists have discovered the remains of a sunken vessel dating back to 1615, offshore the province of Santa Cruz in the Southern Atlantic.

Apparently the Dutch vessel "Hoorn" belonged to an expedition that managed to discover the route joining the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

According to Buenos Aires newspaper La Nación, the artefacts found close to Puerto Deseado belong to the oldest shipwreck ever found along the Argentine coastline.

Apparently in 1615 the "Hoorn" the smallest of the vessels of the expedition that found the Cape Horn route caught fire and sunk.

"The wreck of this vessel is well known in world maritime history because the expedition commanded by William Schouten and Iacob La Maire opened the route which would become the most frequently used until the inauguration of the Panama Canal", said Christian Murray, a researcher for the Argentine Anthropology Institute.

Murray and archaeologist Damian Vainstub headed the "Hoorn" project responsible for the search of the vessel's remains in the area of Rio Deseado.

After twenty days of prospecting the "Hoorn" team found ballast rests, ceramic fragments, iron and copper nails, coal and other elements, identified as belonging to the wrecked vessel.

The team is scheduled to return next December, austral summer, to continue with submarine prospecting in search of the vessel's structure and other major elements from the expedition of almost four centuries ago.