SISAL, MEXICO—Two shipwrecks, a total of 12 cannons, and a sunken nineteenth-century lighthouse have been discovered off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, according to a report in the Live Science. Helena Barba Meinecke of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History said the first ship is a Dutch warship dating to the eighteenth century. A letter written in 1722 by Antonio de Cortaire, who was then Yucatan governor, blames north winds for the sinking of two Dutch ships in 1722. The newly discovered shipwreck may be one of these two lost vessels. The lighthouse is thought to have been destroyed by a tropical storm. The second newly discovered shipwreck is a nineteenth-century British steamboat, thought to have been built sometime between 1807 and 1870. Porcelain, stoneware, and cutlery have been recovered from the wreck site. To read about another recent discovery in the Yucatan, go to “Where There’s Coal…”
