The 500 year old remains of Christopher Columbus’ Santa Maria may have been discovered off the coast of Haiti by experienced Massachusetts marine investigator Barry Clifford.

“All the geographical, underwater topography and archaeological evidence strongly suggests that this wreck is Columbus’ famous flagship, the Santa Maria,” Clifford said in a press conference at the Explorers Club in New York.

He discovered a cannon at this site in 2003, but it wasn’t until Clifford recently researched the canons of Columbus’ time that he made the connection. He returned with his crew to the site to continue excavations. Unfortunately, the cannon had been looted since his previous visit, along with other items.
Measurements and photographs have been taken, and the next step to confirming the find is evacuation and examination of the remains by archeological experts.

“[The team asserts that] the geographical location coincides with Columbus’ description of where the Santa Maria sank, and stones found at the wreck site match a quarry in Spain that provided ballast for Columbus’ ships,” the Chicago Tribune said.

If this ship is one of those that changed the course of human history, Haiti’s tourism industry could be hugely impacted, as the remains would be indefinitely held in museums and archives on the island. The impact of the discovery would extend beyond Haiti, however.

“I think that there would be a lot of historical information that we could get from the wreck,” history teacher Homa Lewis said. “We could get more details about what the crew had when they came over, and it would just help fill out the picture of the whole discovery of the Western Hemisphere.”