Because during a night the Columbus’ screw members fell asleep, an inexperienced one caused it to run aground off the present-day site of Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, on 24 December 1492. A recent expedition led by Barry Clifford, a famous explorer, as part of a History Channel TV show, claimed that Santa Maria’s wreckage was found off the north coast of Haiti. A detailed archaeological excavation is needed to confirm this hypothesys . The Haitian government will protect and preserve the site. ‘I am confident that a full excavation of the wreck will yield the first ever detailed marine archaeological evidence of Coumbus’s discovery of America,’ said Clifford. During time, interest in reconstructing the Santa María started in Spain at around 1890 for the 400th anniversary of Columbus’s voyage. Many replicas was build, even a functional one which was created on the island of Madeira, between July 1997 and July 1998, in the fishing village of Camara de Lobos. But the interest to have the real ship is immense. It can be one of the most significant underwater discoveries in history.
