Exclusive: New clue surfaces in underwater hunt for conquistador’s lost ships - 1
Published 19 Dec 2018, 08:21 GMT
This 16th-century anchor may help researchers eventually locate what's known as the 'Lost Fleet' of conquistador Hernán Cortés.
Photograph by Jonathan Kingston, Nat Geo Image Collection
An aerial view of the fort built by Hernán Cortés and his men in Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz in 1519.
Photograph by Jonathan Kingston, Nat Geo Image Collection
The Lost Ships of Cortés team of international marine archaeologists rides out to a dive target to near Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz.
Photograph by Jonathan Kingston, Nat Geo Image Collection
Founded 500 years ago as the first Spanish town in what is now Mexico, today Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz is a destination for weekend revelers escaping the city of Veracruz to the south.
Photograph by Jonathan Kingston, Nat Geo Image Collection
Project archaeologists prepare to search the seafloor with a magnetometer, which can detect buried metallic objects such as anchors and iron nails.
Photograph by Jonathan Kingston, Nat Geo Image Collection
Archaeologists review a map of anomalies detected during an underwater magnetometer survey near Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz.
Photograph by Jonathan Kingston, Nat Geo Image Collection
Archaeologists perform a magnetometer survey under the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. A tape measure is staked to the centre of a circle, providing a visual guide for the search.
Photograph by Jonathan Kingston, Nat Geo Image Collection
Project co-director Frederick Hanselmann fans sand away from the 16th-century anchor that may have belonged to from Hernán Cortés scuttled fleet.
Photograph by Jonathan Kingston, Nat Geo Image Collection
