Secrets of the Seas

		INTRODUCTION Each day of the excavations, the San Diego yielded more of the marvels hidden in its hold. Products from Europe, America and Asia were jumbled together, in quantities which define each continent's contribution to the intense commerce and trading taking place in the new Babylon that was Manila. Iberian Europe was represented as much by the arrogance of its armament as by the luxury of its clothing styles. America had exported its silver, while Asia had contributed its spices, silk and beautiful porcelain. All these treasures were now accessible to us, providing us with an accurate portrayal of the world in the year 1600. ARCHAEOLOGICAL INVENTORY OF THE OBJECTS Throughout the two archaeological excavations in 1992 and 1993, each object recovered from the wreck of the San Diego was assigned an individual serial number and recorded in the excavation inventory. The numbers of all the objects and fragments, from the largest to the smallest, run from 0 to 5262 and fill two oblong notebooks with 295 pages. The original of this inventory is now in the National Museum of the Philippines in Manila. Needless to say, the numbers in this catalogue represent objects of extremely diverse physical characteristics, such as size, weight, material and value. Every minuscule fragment of the hull, every lump of leftover curry and every coin has its own individual number, as does every ewer, jar and even every cannon. In any case, the classification of objects and fragments by category is a difficult undertaking, because it assumes both that we can identify the object and that we are certain about its utilization. That is not always the case, which explains why our inventory of the archaeological site is still not definitive, in spite of the care we have taken in its preparation. This explains the decision not to present an exhaustive list of all the objects, but instead a table of representative items, which serve to define the magnitude of the treasure of the San Diego. Naval construction: Ropes = 10 items Sheaves = 15 items Astrolabe = 1 item Compass = 2 items Ballast stones = 1 lot Resin blocks = 1 lot Life on board: Locks, keys, padlocks and handles = 41 items Pieces of stone and wood = 42 items Metal pieces = 51 items Buckles = 201 items Mortars = 11 items Pestles = 13 items Lighting equipment = 17 items Miscellaneous = 13 items Weights = 5 items Lead pieces = 13 items Containers = 18 items Alabaster objects = 3 items Window glass = 4 items Human skeletal remains = 93 items Animal skeletal remains = 48 items Vegetal remains = 1 lot Coins: 294 items(i.e. 408 coins) Armaments: Firearms = 6 items Shovels = 5 items Cannon = 14 items Helmets = 3 items Coats of mail = 10 items Rivets = 22 items Pin = 1 item Lumps of weapons = 19 items Pendants = 124 items Anchors (castings) = 2 items Swords = 12 items Tsubas and pieces of tsubas = 28 items Pieces of armor = 3 items Cannon balls = 1 lot Musket and harquebus balls = 1 lot Gold, silver and plate: Bronze objects or pieces = 38 items Silver fragments or pieces = 42 items Gold objects = 8 items Silver plate = 7 items Glasses = 12 items Cutlery = 7 items Ivory pieces = 9 items Blue-and-white porcelain: 433 porcelain items and shards = 1 lot