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Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Sunken vessel a Chinese trader: Businessman
A RESTAURATEUR in Villa, Iloilo recently said that the sunken vessel between Guimaras and Villa beach is not a galleon but a Chinese trading vessel.
Honorato Espinosa, owner of Tatoy's Manokan in Villa Beach recently clarified that local fishermen salvaged several artifacts from a sunken galleon in the said area 20 years ago.
The statement of Espinosa came after the Underwater Archeologist from National Museum arrived in Roxas City early of June to check the sunken vessel in Roxas City.
Divers from National Museum were able to recover artifacts but they were able to establish that the vessel in Roxas is a 1900 trading vessel and not a galleon as earlier reported.
A week after the exploration team from National Museum dived in the seawaters of Barangay Barra, Roxas City, local fishermen from Iloilo and Oton asked the National Museum to also explore the sunken vessel between Villa and Guimaras.
Espinosa admitted that he was one of those who dived and explored the wreckage, which is found 30 feet deep between Jordan, Guimaras and Santo Niño Sur, Arevalo, Iloilo City.
Espinosa said that he could still recall how the vessel sunk after an American fighter plane bombed it.
In 1945, at the time of World War II and while he was only a teenager, he used to collect "tuba" from their coconut trees in Santo Niño Sur when he saw two Chinese trading vessels in the vicinity of the Guimaras Straight.
The two anchored vessels were not moving. One was near the Balaan Bukid in Guimaras and one was near the shoreline of Villa beach when the Usaf attack plane arrived and started dropping their bombs.
As the bomb hit the vessels, they sunk instantly.
That was the last time he saw the vessels.
In the early 1980s, he and other group of fishermen decided to dive in the said site where the said vessel sunk.
Several fishermen were able to retrieve debris of the vessel including their goods.
Several divers from Negros Occidental and Cebu joined their exploration activities in the vessels, said Lucio Tuares, 84, of Santo Niño Sur, Arevalo who was also a part of Espinosa's diving group. (JDB)
(June 27, 2006 issue)
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