Date - early 16th century
Depth - 6 meters (20 feet)
Location - Highborn Cay, Exuma Islands, Bahamas
Project Director - Donald H. Keith
Dates of Excavation - 1985-1987
“For a shipwreck in the Caribbean, the Highborn Cay Wreck contained substantial wood remains. Because it was a discovery period shipwreck in the Western Hemisphere—therefore a ship that had made a least one transAtlantic voyage—its information was vital.” - Donald H. Keith and Toni Carrell
This significant shipwreck site, one of the earliest European vessels discovered in the New World, was first located and stripped of its visible artifacts in the 1960s by souvenir hunters. Under the direction of Donald H. Keith, a Texas A&M University team excavated the site and documented its well preserved wooden hull. For the first time, the discussion of the early craft used by Europeans to reach the New World was based on fact, not conjecture.