The Mansfield Cut Underwater Archeological District is an area located near the city of Port Mansfield, Texas, United States, in the waters off Kenedy County and

Willacy County, Texas Willacy County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 20,164. Its county seat is Raymondville. The county was created in 1911 and organized the next year. Willacy County comprises the Raymondville m ...

. Located offshore in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

near the Port Mansfield Cut, the underwater archaeological site is the location of the Mansfield Cut Wrecks and has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

since 1974.

Mansfield Cut Wrecks

The Mansfield Cut Underwater Archeological District contains three

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

shipwrecks caused by a 1554 storm off the southern

Texas Gulf Coast Texas Gulf Coast is an intertidal zone which borders the coastal region of South Texas, Southeast Texas, and the Texas Coastal Bend. The Texas coastal geography boundaries the Gulf of Mexico encompassing a geographical distance relative bear ...

near the Mansfield Cut. While the exact location of the site is unpublished, the three shipwrecks were found near the

Padre Island National Seashore Padre Island National Seashore (PINS) is a national seashore located on Padre Island off the coast of South Texas. In contrast to South Padre Island, known for its beaches and vacationing college students, PINS is located on North Padre Isla ...

. The Mansfield Cut Wrecks are listed in the National Register as part of an archeological district of national significance.NPS Archeology Program: Abandoned Shipwreck Act Guidelines
/ref>

Story

On April 9, 1554, four Spanish naosPadre Island NS Newsletter (Fall 2006)
/ref> departed from

San Juan de Ulúa San Juan de Ulúa, also known as Castle of San Juan de Ulúa, is a large complex of fortresses, prisons and one former palace on an island of the same name in the Gulf of Mexico overlooking the seaport of Veracruz, Mexico. Juan de Grijalva's ...

bound for

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba, the first leg of a return trip to Spain. The ships were loaded with precious metals and similar cargo. A storm off the coast of Cuba blew them across the Gulf of Mexico to the coast of Texas. On April 29, three of the ships ran aground with approximately 300 people aboard. The fourth ship, the ''San Andrés'', reached Havana but was too damaged to repair. Few of the survivors made it back to Mexico but there are records of a salvage operation during the summer of 1554 which retrieved about half of the cargo.

Remains

''Santa Maria de Yciar''

The scattered remains of the wooden vessel named ''Santa Maria de Yciar'' are buried off Padre Island, Texas near Mansfield. This vessel, which wrecked in 1554 when part of a treasure flota, lies within the Padre Island National Seashore. The anchor of the ''Santa Maria de Yciar'' was found when the Mansfield Channel was dredged in the late 1950s.Padre Island National Seashore - Administrative History
/ref> The original anchor is located on the campus of

Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi (Texas A&M–Corpus Christi, TAMU-CC, A&M-Corpus Christi, or A&M-CC) is a public research university in Corpus Christi, Texas. It is part of the Texas A&M University System and classified among "R2: Doctora ...

. A life-size replica may be found in the visitor's center of the Padre Island National Seashore.Sign at the Padre Island National Seashore Visitor's Center, viewed November 24, 2006 The ''Santa Maria de Yciar'' is owned by the State of Texas, Texas Antiquities Committee, and managed by the U.S. Government, National Park Service.

''Espíritu Santo''

The scattered remains of the wooden vessel named ''Espíritu Santo'' (

for "

Holy Ghost For the majority of Christian denominations, the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, is believed to be the third person of the Trinity, a Triune God manifested as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, each entity itself being God.Gru ...

") are buried off Padre Island near Port Mansfield. This vessel, which wrecked in 1554 when part of a treasure flota, lies within the Padre Island National Seashore. The ''Espíritu Santo'' was discovered by Vida Lee Connor while

scuba diving Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for " Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chr ...

in 1966. A salvage operation by a private company in 1967 was the subject of a court case and was responsible for the Antiquities Code of Texas, passed by the state legislature in 1969.

''San Esteban''

The scattered remains of the wooden vessel named '' San Esteban'' are buried off Padre Island, near Port Mansfield. This vessel, which wrecked in 1554 when part of a treasure flota, lies within the Padre Island National Seashore. The ''San Esteban'' was discovered in the early 1970s during a magnetometer survey of the area arranged by the Underwater Archeological Research Section of the state Antiquities Committee.

References

External links

* * * *
Artifacts from the Padre Island Spanish Shipwrecks of 1554
* {{Portal bar, National Register of Historic Places, Oceans, Texas, Tropical cyclones, Underwater diving Shipwrecks of the Texas coast Shipwrecks on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Geography of Willacy County, Texas Geography of Kenedy County, Texas Archaeological sites in Texas Underwater archaeological sites Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Texas National Register of Historic Places in Kenedy County, Texas National Register of Historic Places in Willacy County, Texas