Pensacola's Underwater Treasures

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John Bratten, Ph.D, a maritime archaeologist at University of West Florida, examines a brick found underwater in Pensacola Bay. The shipwreck is from 1559 and the ill-fated de Luna Spaniish...

Photo Credit: Lucy Beebe Tobias, VISIT FLORIDA Authentic Florida Expert

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Old Christ Church in downtown historic Pensacola was built in 1832.

Photo Credit: Lucy Beebe Tobias, VISIT FLORIDA Authentic Travel Expert

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Deep blue purple pansies in full bloom in a window box at Dharma Blue, a restaurant facing Seville Square in downtown Pensacola.

Photo Credit: Lucy Beebe Tobias, VISIT FLORIDA Authentic Florida Expert

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The Tivoli High House at Historic Pensacola Village is the place to buy tickets for a tour of the Village. They also have free brochures for a self-guided walking tour.

Photo Credit: Lucy Beebe Tobias, VISIT FLORIDA Authentic Florida Expert

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The T.T. Wentworth,Jr. Florida State Museum in downtown historic Pensacola houses many collections and exhibits including artifacts from the ill-fated de Luna Spanish expedition in 1559.

Photo Credit: Lucy Beebe Tobias, VISIT FLORIDA Authentic Florida Expert

Under the waters off Pensacola’s coast, history is continuously unearthed to reveal the area’s hidden past. The treasures of ill-fated Spanish ships are dug up and on display for history buffs to view.

When Indiana Jones leaves the classroom and puts on his brown hat, moviegoers know the action adventure is about to begin. The professor picks up a whip, puts a map with an "X marks the spot" in his shirt pocket, and finds long-lost artifacts in some very bizarre places.

Move over, Indy. Make room for the real deal. John R. Bratten, Ph.D., is a nautical archaeologist/conservator and an associate professor with the Archaeology Institute at University of West Florida in Pensacola. He directs the Maritime Studies program at UWF's Archaeology Institute and is chair of the department.

Bratten and his students are finding long-lost artifacts in a surprising place: underwater. Getting out of the classroom, they don't put on brown hats. Instead these adventurers don wetsuits, strap on oxygen tanks and dive into Pensacola Bay.

What they are bringing up from early Spanish exploration shipwrecks – ballast, anchors, pottery pieces and encrusted armor – is centuries-old history come alive again. Read on to learn about the history of Florida’s underwater archaeology in Pensacola, and find out where you can go to view the encrusted past uncovered and revealed.

Divers went down. Target 2 turned out to be a ship that carried bricks and probably dates from just before the Civil War. Target 17 turned out to be the mother lode, the X on the treasure map, the find of the century.

Bringing Up History

In 1992, a survey team for the state of Florida was looking for shipwrecks using a magnetometer. A chart lighted up, leading to the discovery of a large lead ballast pile and a nearby anchor.

At the T.T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum, you can see a photo of the anchor being raised from its watery grave where it had been entombed for 451 years.

The state hired Bratten in 1994 to help conserve all the artifacts being found underwater. From 1992 to 1998, the state found 3,600 artifacts. Hired by UWF in 1996, Bratten was the first underwater archaeologist to join the Archaeology Institute.

In 2006, while dragging a magnetometer in a grid pattern across the Pensacola Bay and using the project to train UWF students, the machine picked up the presence of metal objects. Scientists call these "targets."

Divers went down. Target 2 turned out to be a ship that carried bricks and probably dates from just before the Civil War. Target 17 turned out to be the mother lode, the X on the treasure map, the find of the century.

Target 17 had Spanish ceramics, strips of lead hull sheathing and lots of stone ballast covering a preserved wooden hull.

More excavation in the summers between 2007 to 2010 proved the ship was part of the Luna expedition in 1559, the very first colonial attempt by Spain to settle in Florida.

In a word – this find was huge. It was found quite close to another Luna ship discovered in 1992. The two shipwrecks, almost side by side, are the oldest shipwrecks discovered in Florida.

History, Lunch and Shopping

You can see many artifacts from their dives, and underwater explorations by the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research, at the Luna Expedition Exhibit at T.T. Wentworth, Jr. Florida State Museum in historic downtown Pensacola. The Wentworthand nearby Historic Pensacola Village are owned and operated by West Florida Historic Preservation Inc, part of the University of West Florida.

After seeing the dive exhibit and other collections at the Wentworth, walk one block to Historic Pensacola Village. Sign up for a guided tour through historic houses. See re-enactors living life as it was in the 18th century and walk inside the elegant Old Christ Church, an Episcopal church built in 1832.

Follow this history tour with a walk around Seville Square. Check out the lunch possibilities. Several historic houses facing the square have restaurants with tables on the front porch and lawn. I enjoyed the American cuisine at Dharma Blue, (850) 433-1275. Sitting outside on the porch, my lunch companions that day were deep purple pansies in full bloom in a window box.

For an after-lunch stroll, head back to the square, walk two blocks and you go from the Seville Historic District to the Palafox Historic District. They merge with each other within blocks. Walk the wide brick sidewalks past shops, galleries and restaurants. You are sure to find dessert.

Want more artifacts? The past is also on display at the museum area of the Archaeology Institute on the UWF campus.

One display shows a breastplate like those worn by Spanish soldiers, carefully restored to its luminous glory. Next to it is a photograph of a deeply encrusted object. This is a breastplate. A reproduced breastplate sit sits next to the encrusted one. Nearby is a small rim of a bowl found underwater. A reproduced bowl and a painting from the Middle Ages showing the same bowl brings the artifact alive. Seeing the past is exciting. But the underwater adventure is not finished. Great finds keep happening and Bratten and his students are on the cutting edge.

Pensacola has the Fiesta of Five Flags annually in June. The event is a celebration of the founding of Pensacola. In 1559, Spanish conquistador Don Tristan de Luna established Pensacola as the first European settlement in the United States. Since that time, five different flags have flown over the city: Spanish, French, British, Confederate and American. This 10-day festival is one of the oldest and largest heritage festivals in the state.

By that time, the underwater archaeology teams hope to have a web cam, website and public lectures. The videos and web cam would be available at the Pensacola Bay Area Convention & Visitors Information Center, a large green building that looks out over the point and the bay.