Archaeological mapping and salvage in marine nature reserve

Unique partnership

RWMT is the first private company in the world to enter into a multi-year partnership with the State of Ecuador and the University of ESPOL (Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral) to locate and investigate the remains of wrecks. The operation began in 2020 after receiving all of the necessary permits from the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Defense.

Challenging conditions

The surveying is conducted on stretch of ocean along the coast of Ecuador where there are many shipwrecks from the period when Spain ruled the region and transported valuable cargo home from the Inca Empire. The sunken ships are confirmed by the old cargo manifests—which have been preserved in Spain—that describe the cargo in detail.

The route along the coast is challenging to navigate, with unfavourable winds and complex currents. Many previous salvage attempts have been conducted but have failed because the conditions have been too difficult.

To make matters worse, the effect of the weather on the wrecks and the presence of shipworm have meant that no parts of the wrecks are visible on the seabed. The wrecks are buried in the bottom sediment and are inaccessible to traditional search methods such as a side scan sonar or magnetometer.

Locating and investigation

The operation’s primary objective is to locate and investigate the remnants of wrecks that were identified by an RWMT scan of the site. The initial surveying made clear that the wrecks were buried a few metres down in the solid seabed sediment at a depth of 20 metres.

Due to the challenging conditions, a team of experienced divers from Sweden, Spain and Norway was contracted for the operation.

In April 2020, the operation was suspended when the global COVID-19 pandemic hit Ecuador. As a result of the crisis, the country’s health services were overloaded, a state of emergency was declared, and the borders of Ecuador were closed. Before the operation had to be suspended, several interesting objects had been detected, further confirming wreck locations. The project is planned to resume in 2022.