University of West Florida archaeology student Bill Neal helps excavate "Emmanuel Point 2." The University of West Florida publicly announced Oct. 11 that after several months of evaluation, the shipwreck in Pensacola Bay formerly known as "Target 17" is the remains of one of the colonization ships of the Tristan de Luna fleet that sank in Pensacola Bay during a hurricane in 1559.

During the last week of Archaeology field school in the summer of 2006, two University of West Florida students found a few ballast stones lying on the floor of Pensacola Bay. John Bratten and Gregory Cook, both maritime archaeology professors at UWF, took a look further and found that they had a lot more on their hands than a few stones.

"It worked out perfectly this time. It doesn't always work this way," said Bratten. "All together we made a survey plan of where we thought would be a good place to look for another Luna shipwreck, secured the funding for it, trained the field school students how to search the targets and it turned out we were right that there could be other ships in that area."

Spanish ceramic artifacts found by the University of West Florida on "Emmanuel Point 2." The shipwreck now known as "Emmanuel Point 2" was found a quarter of a mile west of the first Luna ship, "Emmanuel Point 1," that was discovered in 1992. The second oldest shipwreck in the U.S. and the only multiple shipwreck find of a colonization attempt, "Emmanuel Point 2" is one of 11 ships that brought 1,000 colonists and 500 soldiers to Florida in the 16th century in the first attempt by Europeans to colonize Florida in 1559. A hurricane destroyed most of the ships at anchor in the bay, only five weeks after the fleet arrived in Pensacola.

"There is a lot of pride that gets invested in the sites and the shipwrecks that students and faculty are working on because they know they are a part of bringing the past into the present," said Judy Bense, executive director of the UWF Anthropology-Archeology Division. "The last time anybody saw that ship was in 1559 when it went down. The thrill of discovery in archaeology is just infused with that feeling and thrill, and we all feel it."

Florida Department of State Secretary Kurt Browning publicly announced during a press conference held Oct. 11 that archaeologists at the University of West Florida have discovered the second oldest shipwreck in the United States. With grant funding from the Florida Division of Historical Resources and equipped with a state-of-the-art magnetometer, the team found two exposed ballast stones, which were used to keep the center of gravity of the 16th century ship stabilized in rough seas. Probing further, UWF archaeologists discovered a 45-foot wide concentration of ballast rocks in the area of a weak magnetic signal which they thought could have been part of the first Luna shipwreck or possibly another ship of the sunken fleet. After thorough excavation and research, Bratten and Cook, along with the UWF field schools comprised of trained UWF students, found an abundance of supportive evidence, including the hull, 16th century Spanish ceramic artifacts and lead strips of sheathing placed over the hull seams that trace back to that specific time period.

"In some ways it's like they've found Jamestown, in knowing what's there and to feel that connection to Pensacola," said Bratten. "We've taught the students how to use the dredge, which is much like an underwater vacuum cleaner, to carefully remove the layers of sediment that are covering it in 10 centimeter increments. They record what they find and we help them to interpret what they are seeing, record it correctly and care for the artifacts."

UWF has state grant money to continue the excavation until next summer's field school. The university will try to learn how large the ship is and which key points to excavate for further information. Bratten and Cook were ranked number one in 132 state grant applications to conduct excavations on the "Emanuel Point 2" shipwreck. They will be able to complete the excavation the way they want through 2009, which is the 450th anniversary of the Luna landing in Pensacola.

The artifacts found from the "Emmanuel Point 2" will be displayed locally once the artifacts are conserved and stabilized.

"The public and the celebration of the 450th anniversary was part of the original research design and why we went looking for another Luna shipwreck," said Bense. "This is one of the most important finds in the country and it's in our backyard and we did it using students and sharing it with the public."

For more information, contact Bratten at jbratten@uwf.edu. Learn more about UWF's Archaeology Program at uwf.edu/archaeology.