Lost 19th-Century Shipwrecks of Patagones

The coastline of Patagones, located in the southern Province of Buenos Aires, is significant for studying seafaring and related activities during the 18th and 19th centuries. Historical sources and accounts attest to the continued maritime importance of the area, where exploratory voyages, commercial enterprises, and armed conflicts developed. The area was the main privateering center and the scene of maritime combats during the war with the Brazilian Empire (1825–1828), and was visited by explorers such as Alcide d’Orbigny, Charles Darwin, and Robert Fitz-Roy. Seal-hunting and farming were also prolific industries and shaped local sailing and coastal settlement patterns. Patagones was also a haven on the way to the Pacific through Cape Horn. Yet the entrances to its safest harbors, the Bay of San Blas and the town of Carmen de Patagones on the Negro River, were surrounded by ever-changing shoals, shallow coastlines and strong winds and currents, turning them into utterly dangerous waters for inexpert and foreign sailors. Therefore, not only did these occurrences have relevance beyond the local scope, often embedded in regional and even global events, but they also left their footprint in various archaeological sites related to maritime activities, including shipwrecks. However, the available knowledge about the vessels that sailed and were lost in Patagones is not as prevalent.

The archaeological-historical research developed by this project since 2018 has delved deeper into the events that shaped maritime and coastal dynamics, integrating archival studies, interviews, surveys, and excavations. The research has placed special emphasis on wooden hull remains, mainly distributed in supratidal or intertidal zones between the Bay of San Blas and the Negro River, as well as other nautical sites located on the coast, such as the Negro River pilot’s house and a castaway camp related to the war with the Brazilian Empire. Recording, excavating, and analyzing these sites has provided novel information on the richness of the maritime cultural landscape of Patagones and its relevance for the maritime and nautical archaeology of the Modern era.