Beeswax wreck

The ship, thought to be the Spanish Manila galleon Santo Cristo de Burgos that was wrecked in 1693, was carrying a large cargo of beeswax, lumps of which have been found scattered along Oregon's north coast for at least two centuries.

The earliest written reference to the wreck dates from 1813, when fur trader Alexander Henry, of Astoria, noted that the local Clatsop tribe had "great quantities of beeswax" to trade, which they told him had come from a shipwreck near Nehalem Bay.

After his discovery and reporting it to fellow researchers including the state preservation officer they did some tests on what he discovered and with help of the identity of the debris that has washed ashore Over the years, determined the Beeswax wreck is most likely the Santa Cristo de Burgos Lost in the winter of 1692.

Such ships were often constructed from teak, and would have been carrying luxury Chinese goods such as porcelain to trade[5] – along with beeswax, which would have been needed in the Spanish colonies for making candles.

[2] The theory is strengthened by the fact that much of the beeswax is marked with Spanish shipping symbols, and the wings of bees native to the Philippines have been found trapped inside the wax.

According to the comprehensive records kept by the Spanish government of the time, only two Manila galleons went missing during that period – the Santo Christo de Burgos, in 1693, and the San Francisco Xavier, in 1705.

[8][9][10] In June 2022, state park officials and archeologists removed a large piece of timber discovered by Craig Andes from the rocky shore site north of Manzanita, confirmed to be part of the galleon.