The Manila Galleon - Concepion with Bill Mathers and Henry Parker
The Society for Asian Art held a presentation today by Bill Mathers and Dr. Henry Parker, an oceanographer, about their published book on "Concepcion" the Manila Galleon which was wrecked on the reefs of Saipan in 1638 and found again in 1987 by a group of marine archaeologists. 300 persons had been on board and all but 50 lost their lives; it took two years for the news of the loss of the galleon to reach Spain. The talk focussed on how they came to take on this project, a childhood dream for Mathers, and on their process, of underwater excavations and the finding of sunken Asian treausures and lost galleons. The effort cost them 1.5 million and they sold the thousands of objects for 5 million, to the government of the M isalands.
The article about this ship is found in the September 1990 National Geographic. A full archaeological report was made of the find, and the British Museum contracted the results. Stunning gold objects and beautifully set gems in gold rings were found, along with gold filigree necklaces. The jewelry was made in the Phillippines according to European pattern books. A pitcher and plate were made out of gold for the king and queen of Spain, and parts of both were found. Many storage jars for water, originally made in China, were found, out 200 yards from their shipwreck site. It all started when Bill scooped up a handful of shards from blue and white porcelain on the beach. They spent two years excavating, and showed us the equipment used and how they did the diving.
The route was very lucrative for more than 850 years. . Only 4-50 ships were lost out of 700 sailings. Silver was sent from Spain, mostly from Mexico, Bolivia and Peru, and exchanged for gold and other goods in China, through the port in Manila. 55 Ton of silver coins were shipped. 8 Silver coins could be exchanged for 1 oz of gold. They sent out researchers to many libraries to find out about this vessel and the information came from a Jesuit library in Rome.
The vessels were all built and in the Phillipines; they were very strong vessels fit to carry great loads of precious cargo. However, the ships were difficult to navigate. This particular ship did not have a good knowledgeable captain, but a family appointed friend, whose course the crew did not like. They did not have to worry about pirates in this period. The ship would leave with fruit trees on deck, pigs, cows, and other foodstuffs for provisions on their journey. They would disguise their precious cargo so the customs inspector would not charge them its true worth.
Bill Mathers founded Pacific Sea Resources, Inc, to find and recover lost shipwrecks around the world. They chartered a ship in Singapore, staffed by 30 volunteers from good universities such as Berkeley, and Princeton, Harvard, Yale. He employed men from his local construction company, who were natives and set the pace for diving. However, all but three people learned to dive and contributed in that area, as well as on their assigned job on board the ship.
. The ship was run as a "tight ship" with a strict schedule. Henry married and became a professor of marine sciences, and is presently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, and a writer, whose bioterrorism thriller will be published by Simon and Schuster in January 2017.
The article about this ship is found in the September 1990 National Geographic. A full archaeological report was made of the find, and the British Museum contracted the results. Stunning gold objects and beautifully set gems in gold rings were found, along with gold filigree necklaces. The jewelry was made in the Phillippines according to European pattern books. A pitcher and plate were made out of gold for the king and queen of Spain, and parts of both were found. Many storage jars for water, originally made in China, were found, out 200 yards from their shipwreck site. It all started when Bill scooped up a handful of shards from blue and white porcelain on the beach. They spent two years excavating, and showed us the equipment used and how they did the diving.
The route was very lucrative for more than 850 years. . Only 4-50 ships were lost out of 700 sailings. Silver was sent from Spain, mostly from Mexico, Bolivia and Peru, and exchanged for gold and other goods in China, through the port in Manila. 55 Ton of silver coins were shipped. 8 Silver coins could be exchanged for 1 oz of gold. They sent out researchers to many libraries to find out about this vessel and the information came from a Jesuit library in Rome.
The vessels were all built and in the Phillipines; they were very strong vessels fit to carry great loads of precious cargo. However, the ships were difficult to navigate. This particular ship did not have a good knowledgeable captain, but a family appointed friend, whose course the crew did not like. They did not have to worry about pirates in this period. The ship would leave with fruit trees on deck, pigs, cows, and other foodstuffs for provisions on their journey. They would disguise their precious cargo so the customs inspector would not charge them its true worth.
Bill Mathers founded Pacific Sea Resources, Inc, to find and recover lost shipwrecks around the world. They chartered a ship in Singapore, staffed by 30 volunteers from good universities such as Berkeley, and Princeton, Harvard, Yale. He employed men from his local construction company, who were natives and set the pace for diving. However, all but three people learned to dive and contributed in that area, as well as on their assigned job on board the ship.
. The ship was run as a "tight ship" with a strict schedule. Henry married and became a professor of marine sciences, and is presently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, and a writer, whose bioterrorism thriller will be published by Simon and Schuster in January 2017. 
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