PENSACOLA, Fla. -- U.S. navy construction crews unearthed a rare Spanish ship, which had been buried for centuries under sand on Pensacola's Naval Air Station in Florida.
The vessel could date back to the first Spanish settlement in the U.S. during the mid-1500s.
"It's possible that it's one of the earliest ships," said Elizabeth Benchley, director of the Archeology Institute at the University of West Florida.
"There are Spanish shipwrecks in Pensacola Bay, we have worked on two -- one from 1559 and another from 1705. But no one has found one buried on land, this was quite a surprise to everybody
The vessel could date back to the first Spanish settlement in the U.S. during the mid-1500s.
"It's possible that it's one of the earliest ships," said Elizabeth Benchley, director of the Archeology Institute at the University of West Florida.
"There are Spanish shipwrecks in Pensacola Bay, we have worked on two -- one from 1559 and another from 1705. But no one has found one buried on land, this was quite a surprise to everybody
