Wreck off Haiti not Columbus' Santa Maria, UNESCO says

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- A report from the UN cultural agency released yesterday concludes that a shipwreck found off northern Haiti could not be the Santa Maria, the lost flagship from Christopher Columbus' first voyage to the Western Hemisphere, as a U.S. explorer had claimed.

UNESCO said a team of experts who explored the site at the request of the Haitian government determined the wreckage was from a more recent vessel for reasons that included the discovery of copper nails and pins, used to fasten ship components, at the site. The Santa Maria would have used components of iron or wood, the agency said.

The report, which the agency said was conducted in a "neutral and scientific manner," found that it is possible the actual wreckage may be buried under what is now land because of sedimentation from nearby rivers. It recommended further archaeological investigation of the area.

U.S. explorer Barry Clifford announced in May that he believed he might have found the Santa Maria near Cap-Haitien. The ship struck a reef and was abandoned by Columbus in December 1492; about 40 crewmen were left behind.

Last month, Haiti's culture minister told The Associated Press that preliminary research indicated the ship was not the Santa Maria and Clifford said he expected that the UNESCO report would raise doubts.

But he stood by his claim yesterday, calling the UNESCO report flawed because the agency's experts did not consult him or the photos and charts he and his associates made of the wreckage site.

Clifford said the copper components could have been used on the Santa Maria or the material might have come from another shipwreck that cross-contaminated the site in an area where other ships are known to have sunk.

The explorer had reached his conclusion based on the location of the wreckage, the presence of the type of stones used for ballast in that era as well as a type of cannon that was there when he first took photos of the site in 2003 but had apparently been looted when he returned this year. -- AP