One-Eyed Willy’s treasure is one step closer to being discovered by the world as reported by New York Post.
Pirate ship
Explorers in Oregon have discovered part of the real “pirate” ship that inspired the movie “Goonies.”
For 300 years, tales of the shipwreck spread, with the area’s indigenous tribes passing down the legend of a ship that had vanished off the Oregon coast around 1693, carrying porcelain, beeswax and pricey Chinese silk.
The new discovery “confirms that our ancestral people knew what they were talking about,” Robert Kentta, cultural resources director for the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz and a member of the Siletz Tribal Council, told National Geographic.
The recovery required a team of archaeologists, law enforcers and search-and-rescue specialists, who have been searching for the past 15 years.
According to National Geographic, powerful tides made for a tricky and dangerous operation that had to be perfectly timed.
Priceless loot
Sean Astin, Corey Feldman, and Josh Brolin feature in the cult classic movie that Steven Spielberg co-wrote and executive produced. It is said that Spielberg had read a newspaper article about the famous ships and their priceless loot.
Craig Andes, a local commercial fisherman who “belonged to a ‘Goonies gang’ of kids” growing up in the area, was afterwards inspired by it. He discovered lumber fragments that he believed might have formerly been a component of the Santo Cristo de Burgos as an adult in 2013.
Andes requested that a sample of the wood be tested and called the MAS, an all-volunteer organisation.
According to MAS president Scott Williams, “I was certain it was driftwood.” “It was strange to believe that timbers from a 300-year-old ship could remain on the Oregon coast.”
Nevertheless, a laboratory examination revealed that the tropical Anacardiaceae hardwood was of the kind and vintage that would have been used for the Santo Cristo, which led to the recovery operations.
Where is the ship?
The ship’s timbers are currently being examined by historians and specialists at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon.
According to cultural resource management company SEARCH, Inc. senior vice president and archaeologist Jim Delgado, “These timbers provide physical evidence for the stories that have been remembered and passed down through centuries.”
However, the “Goonies” ship will never be located: After filming, the 105-foot-long Inferno set that was constructed for the movie was dismantled.
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Source: New York Post
