Friday, December 4, 1987/The Battalion/Page 5
A&M archaeologists try to solve
case of 16th-century shipwreck
By Anne Neidinger
Reporter
The Institute of Nautical Archae
ology at Texas A&M is trying to
solve the mystery surrounding an
early 16th-century shipwreck at Mo
lasses Reef in the Turks and Caicos
Islands.
Nautical archaeologists are trying
to solve the mystery surrounding the
ship’s crew, their mission and why
their vessel was heavily armed.
The Molasses Reef wreck was first
publicized in the late 1970s when
treasure hunters from Miami discov
ered it and claimed it was Christo
pher Columbus’ Pinta, Tom Oer-
tling, a research associate for the
INA, said.
However, the treasure hunters
never arrived to salvage the ship,
which was wrecked on the 1 '/a-mile
reef, nor did they ever produce doc
umentary evidence to prove it was
one of Columbus’ ships, Oertling
said.
The institute was called in 1982 by
the government of the Turks and
Caicos islands — the last in the Ba
hama Island chain — to excavate the
wreck, believed to be a Spanish ves
sel.
The excavation was completed in
1986 and analysis should be finished
within the next 18 months, he said.
At that time, the artifacts will be re
turned to the islands where they will
be displayed at a museum estab
lished by the government.
Not much is known about the
ship’s crew, Oertling said. The few
personal items found at the site in
clude a sewing kit and a 3-inch-long
engraved lead box, possibly used as
an inkholder. Navigational tools and
Indian and Spanish pottery also
were found at the site.
At an average shipwreck, he said,
about ten percent of the wood of the
ship will remain. The Molasses Reef
wreck consists of only two percent,
he said, which makes it difficult to
determine the ship’s size, but the
wreckage site is about 91 meters
wide and 91 meters long.
Although the ship has little or
ganic or wood remains, 95 percent
of its wrought iron — including
bolts, spikes, ship hardware and ar
tillery — has been recovered, he
said. This has brought the INA most
of its new information. It is helpful
in the analysis of the date of the
wreck because wrought iron became
obsolete by the middle of the 16th
century, when cast iron was pro
duced, he said.
The artillery discovered includes
two large cannons, called bombarde-
tas, 18 versos, or swivel guns, and
two small hand cannons called ha-
quebutts, Oertling said. Fragments
of muskets also were recovered.
Hardware from the ship includes
ieces of the rudder, such as its
inges, he said. However, the rud
der itself hasn’t been found.
“It’s possible that when the ship
wrecked, the rudder came off and
floated away, which would have pre
vented the crew from getting off the
reef very easily,” Oertling said.
Lucayan Indian pottery found on
the ship has helped the institute es
tablish that the vessel went down be
fore 1513, he said. Historical records
have said the Lucayans, who inhib
ited the Bahamas, were extinct by
1513.
“There were no more Indians to
make the pottery; therefore, the
ship must have gone down before
1513,” Oertling said.
Oertling said the ship could have
been exploring, taking slaves or on
some sort of royal venture. The INA
knows a lot about the artifact collec
tion itself, but other questions re
main unanswered, he said.
“The biggest mystery is what the
ship was doing where it was,” he
said. “The only chance we will have
of identifying the ship is to find in
the archives some record of the voy
age, a manifest of the ship’s equip
ment and be able to match the arti
facts we have found with that
manifest,” Oertling said.
Although this may be a long shot,
he said, an archival researcher with
the INA, Denise Lakey, has been in
the archives in Spain searching for
such a record.
The research project has been di
rected by Donald Keith, research as
sistant of nautical archaeology, since
it began in 1982.
Funding for the project has come
from the National Geographic So
ciety, Morning Watch Research, the
National Endowment for Humani
ties, the Meadows Foundation and
other institutions and private dona
tions.
The INA hopes to discover and
excavate other ships which may help
them learn more about the Age of
Exploration and Discovery, dating
1492-1592, Oertling said.
Attorney working
on cocaine case
comes under fire
EL PASO (AP) — Former
County Attorney Danny An-
chondo is defending a man ac
cused of leading a large cocaine-
distribution network, but it some
times appears that Anchondo
himself is on trial.
Anchondo’s client, Audelio Ar-
zola Amaya of El Paso, is one of
six men on trial in federal court
here on cocaine possession and
distribution charges. The govern
ment accuses the men of belong
ing to the El Paso-based “Arzola
organization,” which it contends
is the largest cocaine smuggling
ring ever identified in West
Texas.
Anchondo, who was appointed
El Paso County attorney in Jan
uary 1986 and lost the Demo
cratic primary for the post four
months later, was mentioned
prominently in the trial’s second
and third days.
On Tuesday, a convicted co
caine dealer turned government
witness said Anchondo was pre
sent during a cocaine delivery at
the Big Spring Airport sometime
in 1983 or 1984.
The witness, Robert Marquez,
said Anchondo accompanied Ar
zola Amaya to the airport when
the defendant handed Marquez a
suitcase containing cocaine.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom
McHugh said later that Marquez
told investigators that Anchondo
was standing away when the
transaction took place.
On Wednesday, a woman who
said she transported cocaine for
Arzola Amaya when she could get
time off from driving a school bus
testified that the defendant had
an office in Anchondo’s law firm,
Anchondo and Anchondo.
The woman, Teresa An
chondo, told the jury that she
drove children to school during
the week for the Ysleta Indepen
dent School District and supple
mented her income by making
cocaine deliveries for Amaya dur
ing weekends and holidays. She is
not related to Danny Anchondo.
A&M veterinarians use surgery to help domestic animals see again
“The ultrasound machine is a very nifty, hollow needle that is put
in the eye of the animal. The needle vibrates and breaks up the
cataract which in turn is aspirated out of the eye. ”
—Joan Dziezyc, veterinary opthamologist
By Craig Calk
Reporter
Texas A&M veterinary specialists are
now using the most advanced eye surgery
technology to help domestic animals see
again.
Veterinary ophthalmologists Dr. Joan
Dziezyc and Dr. Nicholas Millichamp are
using laser surgery, helpful in post-cataract
surgery and in some types of glaucoma
treatment.
The eye surgeons also make use of two
different ultrasound machines for diagnos
ing eye problems and treating them.A
phaco-fragmentor uses high-energy ulra-
sound to break up cataracts.A low-energy
ultrasound machine is used as a diagnostic
tool.
“The ultrasound machine is a very nifty,
hollow needle that is put in the eye of the
animal,” Dziezyc said. “The needle vibrates
and breaks up the cataract which in turn is
aspirated out of the eye.”
Most of the animals treated by the A&M
specialists are dogs that local veterinarians
cannot deal with because of the lack of ex
pertise.
“The most common eye problem seen in
animals is cataracts,” Dziezyc said. “If the
lense in the eye gets opaque, then it’s a cat
aract.”
The ultrasound, if used to remove the
cataract in young dogs, will result in a nicer,
cleaner look with a less imflammation.
The ultrasound cannot be used in older
dogs because their eyes are too hard and it
takes too long to break up the cataract.
The laser is used most often after eye
surgery if the animal develops scarring in
the eye.
“When cataract surgery is done, the front
part of the lense to the eye is taken off and
everything behind the lense is removed un
til a clear membrane is reached,” Dziezyc
said.
“Surrounding the eye is the clear mem
brane in which the eye sees through,” she
said. “If the membrane gets opaque the ani
mal is looking through an opacity. The
laser is used to blast a hole through the
opaque membrane.”
This same process is done in people as
well.
Laser surgery at A&M is the only one of
its kind done in Texas.
The money for the laser was donated by
a retired schoolteacher who has had dogs
all her life with eye problems.
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