Concepción Shipwreck Collection

In 1638,  the Nuestra Señora de la Concepcion, a Spanish galleon enroute from Manila to Acapulco, wrecked off the southern coast of Saipan.  Her rich cargo of Chinese porcelain, silks, furniture, ivory, and spices bound for the New World and Europe was lost along with most of her crew and passengers when the ship crashed against the reef off Agingan Beach during a violet storm.  The wreck was partially salvaged by the Spanish nearly 50 years later with the help of Chamorro divers when most of the ships cannon were recovered but was then lost to history for another 300 years.  In the mid-1980s, the CNMI government authorized a maritime salvage firm to complete archaeological excavations to recover surviving artifacts from the wreck.  They included large ceramic storage vessels, ballast stones, shards of Ming porcelain, cannon balls, nails, musket shot, coins, and a sizable collection of golden jewelry items that were the personal property of wealthy Spanish passengers.  Revenues generated by this archaeological recovery project were used by the CNMI government in the 1990s to renovate the Old Japanese hospital to serve as today’s museum.

 More about Nuestra Senora de al Concepcion  – https://www.guampedia.com/galleon-concepcion/