Crosscut Now
Jun. 2, 2021 - The shipwreck that still shares its bounty
6/2/2021 | 1m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
A Spanish galleon from Manila went down in a storm off the Oregon coast 327 years ago.
A Spanish galleon from Manila went down in a storm off the Oregon coast 327 years ago. It was carrying a cargo of beeswax for the Spanish colonies, and that beeswax is still being found on beaches today.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Crosscut Now is a local public television program presented by Cascade PBS
Crosscut Now
Jun. 2, 2021 - The shipwreck that still shares its bounty
6/2/2021 | 1m 15sVideo has Closed Captions
A Spanish galleon from Manila went down in a storm off the Oregon coast 327 years ago. It was carrying a cargo of beeswax for the Spanish colonies, and that beeswax is still being found on beaches today.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship(upbeat music) - I'm Starla Sampaco in the Crosscut KCTS 9 newsroom.
Summer is a time for beachcomning, and the Pacific Ocean can offer up surprising treasures, especially on the Oregon coast near Nehalem, where for centuries, people have found blocks of beeswax.
But where did it come from?
Knute Berger host of Mossback Northwest, tells us that in 1693, a Spanish galleon from Manila went down in a storm off Oregon.
Its cargo, tons of beeswax from the Philippines, used in candles to light the churches and institutions of the Spanish colonies.
After all, there were no native honeybees in the new world.
Early white explorers were confused when native tribes traded blocks of beeswax that had a European marking.
Have the ship's main remains ever been found?
Not yet.
Even now, people on the beach will occasionally find a lump of what may resemble old hard cheese.
It might be 328-year-old beeswax.
I'm Starla Sampaco.
Find more episodes of Mossback Northwest every day on crosscut.com.
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