Whilst catching up on some episodes of “Cooper’s Treasure” on the Discovery Channel (where Darrell Miklos and his team used a map of the ocean floor taken from space by NASA astronaut Captain Gordon Cooper), I learned how the team discovered a 15th-century anchor believed to have originated on one of Christopher Columbus’ ships.
The raising of the anchor by Miklos and his team can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c2Kl9DyUPs .
The anchor discovered off the Turks and Caicos Islands ("Cooper's Treasure"/Discovery Communications)
The large bower anchor was discovered in the Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean. The anchor has been dated as being from between 1492 and 1550, and likely to have come from a 300-ton/272-tonne vessel based on its size.
According to https://www.foxnews.com/tech/experts-discover-christopher-columbus-anchor-at-caribbean-shipwreck-site “The overall size of the anchor and its estimated weight of between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds (545-680kg) indicates that it was a “bower” anchor from a 300-ton vessel, the typical size of a Columbus-era ship.”
According to https://www.foxnews.com/tech/experts-discover-christopher-columbus-anchor-at-caribbean-shipwreck-site “The Turks and Caicos discovery is believed to be linked to Vicente Yanez Pinzon -- a Spanish sailor, who, along with his brother Martin Alonso Pinzon, was part of the Columbus expeditions.
“Martin and Vicente were captains, respectively, of the Pinta and Nina on Columbus’ first voyage in 1492. Six years later, around the time of Columbus’ third voyage, Vicente Pinzon set off from Spain with four Caravels, or small sailing ships, including the Pinta, in what is known as one of the expedition’s “Minor Voyages.”
“In 1499 and 1500, Vicente Pinzon discovered Brazil and the Amazon River. In the spring of 1500, the captain met with Columbus in Haiti to discuss the Brazilian discovery before leading his four ships back to Spain. However, in July of that year Vicente Pinzon’s fleet was caught in a hurricane while anchored near the Turks and Caicos Islands and two of his ships were wrecked. In 1502, Vicente Pinzon returned to the area in an attempt to salvage cargo from the two vessels.”
According to the video footage of the raising of the anchor (in 2017?) by Miklos and his team at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbgl8_MHSYY , the anchor is some 12’ long (3.6576m) and about 6’wide (1.8288m). It is said to have been hand-forged and somewhat irregular in size. An ‘outside diameter’ of 22” (55.88cm) was mentioned, plus 6” and 5&3/4 “ (15.24 & 14.605cm) diameter arms either side of the crown.
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